Jack Vance quotes

Jack Vance was an American author renowned for his imaginative works in science fiction and fantasy. His vivid world-building and unique prose style earned him critical acclaim and a devoted following. He influenced generations of writers and remains a legendary figure in speculative fiction. Here are 266 of his quotes:

Human interactions, stimulated as they are by disequilibrium, never achieve balance. In even the most favorable transaction, one party whether he realizes it or not must always come out the worse. (Jack Vance)
Mischief moves somewhere near and I must blast it with my magic. View quote
Jack Vance
The less a writer discusses his work and himself the better. The master chef slaughters no chickens in the dining room; the doctor writes prescriptions in Latin; the magician hides his hinges, mirrors, and trapdoors with the utmost care. View quote
Jack Vance
If religions are diseases of the human psyche, as the philosopher Grintholde asserts, then religious wars must be reckoned the resultant sores and cankers infecting the aggregate corpus of the human race. Of all wars, these are the most detestable, since they are waged for no tangible gain, but only to impose a set of arbitrary credos upon another's mind. View quote
Jack Vance
What are your fees?" inquired Guyal cautiously. "I respond to three questions," stated the augur. "For twenty terces I phrase the answer in clear and actionable language; for ten I use the language of cant, which occasionally admits of ambiguity; for five, I speak a parable which you must interpret as you will; and for one terce, I babble in an unknown tongue. View quote
Jack Vance
A barbarian is not aware that he is a barbarian. View quote
Jack Vance
I categorically declare first my absolute innocence, second my lack of criminal intent, and third my effusive apologies. View quote
Jack Vance
Count me not your friend but the enemy of your enemies. View quote
Jack Vance
Nothing is more conspicuous than a farting princess. View quote
Jack Vance
Beauty compelled admiration and erotic yearning; such was its organic function. But never by itself could it command love. View quote
Jack Vance
Happiness is fugitive; dissatisfaction and boredom are real. (Jack Vance)
I suspect that the word (art) was invented by second-rate intelligences to describe the incomprehensible activities of their betters. View quote
Jack Vance
Since we are not permitted to act, we are obliged to know. View quote
Jack Vance
There are no absolute certainties in this universe. A man must try to whip order into a yelping pack of probabilities, and uniform success is impossible. View quote
Jack Vance
It is useless, after all, to complain against inexorable reality. View quote
Jack Vance
In the end, death came uniformly to all, and all extracted as much satisfaction from their dying as this essentially graceless process could afford. View quote
Jack Vance
Notice this rent in my garment; I am at a loss to explain its presence! I am even more puzzled by the existence of the universe. View quote
Jack Vance
I do not care to listen; obloquy injures my self-esteem and I am skeptical of praise. View quote
Jack Vance
How to know, oh how to know! All is relative ease and facility in orthodoxy, yet how can it be denied that good is in itself undeniable? Absolutes are the most uncertain of all formulations, while the uncertainties are the most real... View quote
Jack Vance
What is peace? Balance three iron skewers tip to tip, one upon the other; at the summit, emplace and egg, so that it too poises static in mid-air, and there you have the condition of peace in this world of men. View quote
Jack Vance
The void is a mouth crying to be filled, a blank mind aching for thought, a cavity desperate for shape. What is not implies what is. (Jack Vance)
An inch of foreknowledge is worth ten miles of after-thought. View quote
Jack Vance
I give dignity second place to expedience. View quote
Jack Vance
I must cite an intrinsic condition of the universe. We set forth in any direction which seems convenient; each leads to the same place: the end of the universe. View quote
Jack Vance
If there were no such creatures as minstrel-maidens, it would be necessary to invent them. View quote
Jack Vance