John Brunner quotes

John Brunner was a British science fiction author renowned for his innovative and socially critical novels. His works often explored themes such as overpopulation, environmentalism, and the impact of technology on society. He became especially famous for classic novels like "Stand on Zanzibar" and "The Sheep Look Up." Here are 156 of his quotes:

You have many years to live-do things you will be proud to remember when you're old. (John Brunner)
If there is a hell, perhaps it consists in living up to all one's promises. View quote
John Brunner
I'm myself, not a label. View quote
John Brunner
You don't have to know everything. You simply need to know where to find it when necessary. View quote
John Brunner
Yes, for most people nowadays television is their only contact with the world beyond their work. View quote
John Brunner
If the evidence says you're wrong, you don't have the right theory. You change the theory, not the evidence. View quote
John Brunner
Like living creatures, automobiles expired when their environment became saturated with their own excreta. We ourselves are living creatures. We don't want the same to happen to us. View quote
John Brunner
It's not because my mind is made up that I don't want you to confuse me with any more facts. It's because my mind isn't made up. I already have more facts than I can cope with. View quote
John Brunner
Papa Hegel he say that all we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history. I know people who can't even learn from what happened this morning. Hegel must have been taking the long view. View quote
John Brunner
First you use machines, then you wear machines, and then ...? Then you serve machines. View quote
John Brunner
What in Gods name is it worth to be human, if we have to be saved from ourselves by a machine? (John Brunner)
If there is such a phenomenon as absolute evil, it consists in treating another human being as a thing. View quote
John Brunner
There are two kinds of fools. One says, "This is old, and therefore good." And one says, " This is new, and therefore better. View quote
John Brunner
What people want, mainly, is to be told by some plausible authority that what they are already doing is right. I don't know know of a quicker way to become unpopular than to disagree. View quote
John Brunner
How do you whip up resentment against absentee landlords and pocketers of bribes when the highest ambition of the people is either to become the former or be in a position to receive the latter? View quote
John Brunner
Any society which gives lip-service to the idea of equal opportunity is going to generate jealousy of others who are better off than you are, even if the thing that's in short supply can't be carved up and shared without destroying it. View quote
John Brunner
There's one bright spot in the generally gloomy picture know as the Pacific Conflict Zone. According to my calculations, by the year 2500 or so we should have killed off every last member of our species who is stupid enough to take part in so futile a pastime as this war between "ideals," and with luck they won't have left their genes behind because they'll typically have been killed at an age when society thinks they're too young to assume the responsibility of childbearing. After that we may get some peace and quiet for a change. View quote
John Brunner
He was wondering what society would have been like if we'd socialised cannabis instead of dangerous drugs like alcohol and religion. View quote
John Brunner
At night, when he lay down to sleep, he felt that his brain was resonating with the heartbeat of the planet. View quote
John Brunner
Nothing short of religion could persuade a normal girl to make herself look so awful. View quote
John Brunner
NEGRO Member of a subgroup of the human race who hails, or whose ancestors hailed, from a chunk of land nicknamed-not by its residents-Africa. Superior to the Caucasian in that negroes did not invent nuclear weapons, the automobile, Christianity, nerve gas, the concentration camp, military epidemics, or the megalopolis. (John Brunner)
We are agreed that before we kill each other we should better serve mankind by killing those who order us to kill each other. View quote
John Brunner
We've always cared more about property rights than human rights in this country. You should know that. View quote
John Brunner
Most rich people get rich by taking what they want without paying for it. It's the way of the world. View quote
John Brunner
Who should know better than a cosmetician that human beings are less than rational creatures? View quote
John Brunner