Alastair Reynolds quotes - page 2

Naqi suspected that the ability to turn drunkenness on and off like a switch must be one of the most hallowed of diplomatic skills. (Alastair Reynolds)
But make no mistake. My counterpart is capable of a great deal of ruthlessness in pursuit of a just cause. He believes he has right on his side. And men who think they have right on their side are always the most dangerous sort. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
Who was it who said that a wise man speaks when he has something to say, but a fool speaks because he must? View quote
Alastair Reynolds
Clavain felt little in the way of regret; more a sense of quiet relief that they were past the negotiating stage and into the infinitely more honest arena of actual battle. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
Nothing he said indicated that he was that angry. I mean, there's a difference between angry and murderous. Isn't there? Less than you'd think. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
A single data point-even a single clutch of measurements-could not usually prove or disprove anything, but it might later turn out to play a vital role in a chain of argument, even if it was only in the biasing of some statistical distribution closer to one hypothesis than another. Science, as Naqi had long since realised, was as much a swarming, social process as it was something driven by ecstatic moments of personal discovery. It was something she was proud to be part of. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
I thought debate was supposed to be healthy,” she countered. "It is,” Auger replied, "so long as you don't disagree with me. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
This gets better, it really does. The odd thing is, I actually think you might be telling the truth. If you were going to lie, you'd at least come up with something that made sense. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
But at least you cared. At least you were ready to do something.” "This little mess,” Auger said, "is all because of people who were ready to do something. People like me, who always know when they're right and everyone else is wrong. Maybe what we need is a few less of us. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
Maybe if you weren't busy throwing rocks at each other, you could spend a little time on the other niceties of life, such as cooperation and mutual advancement. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
Welcome to politics, Doctor. We don't get to pick our allies. The best we can hope for is that we don't despise them quite as much as our enemies. (Alastair Reynolds)
You've been good to me, Inigo. But I really am like the weather. You can admire me, even love me, in your way, but I can't love you back. To me you're like a photograph. I can see right through you, examine you from all angles. You amuse me. But you don't have enough depth ever to fascinate me. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
I don't like this at all,” Hegazi said. "Believe me,” Sylveste said, "you're about to like it a lot less. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
Only trying to make conversation, friend.” "Don't bother-it's an overrated activity at the best of times. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
Khouri did not need to be told that Hades was a neutron star, any more than she needed to be told that there was no such thing as a safe close encounter with one. You either kept away or you died; those were the rules, and there was no force in the universe capable of negating them. Gravity ruled, and gravity did not take into account circumstances, or the unfairness of things, or listen to eleventh-hour petitions before reluctantly repealing its laws. Gravity crushed, and near the surface of a neutron star gravity crushed absolutely, until diamond flowed like water; until a mountain collapsed into a millionth of its height. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
The battle sunk towards the horizon. Presently it would be gone, leaving a sky unsullied by human affairs. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
The virus was not helping. He had hoped that it would, but the feelings it brought were too superficial. When he most needed their succour he could feel them for the paper-thin façades they were. Just because the virus was tickling the parts of his brain that produced feelings of religious experience didn't mean he was able to turn off the other parts of his mind that recognised these feelings as having been induced artificially. He truly felt himself to be in the presence of something sacred, but he also knew, with total clarity, that this was due to neuroanatomy. Nothing was really with him: the organ music, the stained-glass windows in the sky, the sense of proximity to something huge and timeless and infinitely compassionate were all explicable in terms of neural wiring, firing potentials, synaptic gaps. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
He's not really a religious man, but he knows which side his bread's buttered on. The churches pay his salary, so he doesn't want anyone rocking the boat with unorthodox rumours. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
It was bad, but it was some other slightly less piquant flavour of bad. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
I'm just saying that right now we could all use a degree of perspective. Because this is not the end of the world. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
"I don't know.” That was typical Sajaki; like all the genuinely clever people Sylveste had met he knew better than to feign understanding where none existed. (Alastair Reynolds)
We don't aspire to genetic unity, no matter what your propagandists think. The pursuit of optima leads only to local minima. We honour our errors. We actively seek persistent disequilibrium. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
The poor didn't have them and so the rich flaunted them, the larger and more conspicuous the better. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
Is he dangerous? "Anyone who lies for a living is dangerous. View quote
Alastair Reynolds
Grafenwalder shoots a sidelong glance at Ursula Goodglass, wondering what their marriage must be like. Clearly sex isn't in the cards, but he doubts that it was ever the main interest in their lives. Games, especially those of prestige and subterfuge, are amongst the chief entertainments of the Rust Belt moneyed. View quote
Alastair Reynolds