Jack Vance quotes - page 3

Guyal reined his horse and reflected that flowers were rarely cherished by persons of hostile disposition. (Jack Vance)
You drink only sparingly. Is the beer too thin?” "No at all. I merely wish to keep my wits about me. It would not do if both of us became addled, and later woke up in doubt as to who was who. View quote
Jack Vance
You must save yourselves,” Rogol Domedonfors told them. "You have ignored the ancient wisdom, you have been too indolent to learn, you have sought easy complacence from religion, rather than facing manfully to the world. View quote
Jack Vance
Aillas replied that while King Audry cited several points of technical interest, and used the resources of abstract logic in an adroit manner, he had actually made no connection with reality. View quote
Jack Vance
IF THERE BE HERE LESSON OR MORAL, IT LIES BEYOND THE COMPETENCE OF HIM WHO INSCRIBES THIS RECORD. View quote
Jack Vance
Are you yourself a Christian?” The young man made a negative sign. "The concepts of religion baffle me.” "This inscrutability is perhaps not unintentional,” said the ex-priest. "It gives endless employment to dialecticians who otherwise might become public charges or, at very worst, swindlers and tricksters. View quote
Jack Vance
We are sufficiently at the mercy of machines, Roger; if our music must necessarily be mechanical, then it is time for us to throw in the sponge, and abandon all hope for the future of humanity. View quote
Jack Vance
Shanne said, "You are quiet; are you sad?” "In a way. Do you know why?” She put her hand across his mouth. "Never speak of it. What must be, will be. What can never be-can never be.” Ghyl turned to look at her, trying to divine every last scintilla of her meaning. "But,” she added in a soft voice, "what can be-can be.”. View quote
Jack Vance
Ildefonse said ponderously: "If your analysis is correct, we must undertake to secure the future against this pangynic nightmare." View quote
Jack Vance
"Dame Fairy of the Silver Eyes: allow me to put you a question, which is this: where should I seek the Holy Grail?” "Determine its location and go to that spot; that is my wise advice.” Travante spoke tentatively: "If you could guide me to my lost youth, I would be most grateful.” Twisk jumped high in the air, pirouetted, settled slowly to the ground. "I am not an index of the world's worries. I know nothing either of Christian crockery nor truant time! And now: silence! View quote
Jack Vance
Music is like a language: you cannot understand it unless you learn it, or more accurately, are born into it. (Jack Vance)
Kings, like children, tend to be opportunistic. Generosity only spoils them. They equate affability with weakness and hasten to exploit it. View quote
Jack Vance
Sir, my life, drab and insipid though it may seem to others, is the only life given me to live. View quote
Jack Vance
Sir, your ideas are incorrect in every possible respect. View quote
Jack Vance
Sorry, I'm not at home. I have gone out to my world Fancy, and I cannot be reached. Call back in a week, unless your business is urgent, in which case call back in a month. View quote
Jack Vance
He adjudicated the case in a manner I still find perplexing, but which must have been equitable, since it pleased no one. View quote
Jack Vance
We need no chieftain; such folk eat more than their share. View quote
Jack Vance
Shimrod said: "Once I thought of you as a child in a woman's body.” Melancthe smiled a cool smile. "And now?” "The child seems to have wandered away.”. View quote
Jack Vance
The mind was a marvellous instrument, thought Shimrod; when left to wander untended, it often arrived at curious destinations. View quote
Jack Vance
Let him talk as he will!” scoffed Zamp. "His motives are not at all obscure. View quote
Jack Vance
It is no hardship whatever,” said Aillas. "You have never strained at the deed. Now the shoe is on the other foot, and suddenly you find the idea incredible. Do you not sense a taint of unreality? (Jack Vance)
In measured tones he answered Madouc: "Your condition lacks dignity; you bring ridicule upon us all.” Madouc gave a stony shrug. "If you do not like what you see, look elsewhere.”. View quote
Jack Vance
I gathered that the old fellow suffers from some advanced form of senile dementia, and so perhaps his analysis is not totally accurate. View quote
Jack Vance
Cease the bickering! I am indulging the exotic whims of a beautiful princess and must not be distracted. View quote
Jack Vance
Enough of this intolerable inanity! I propose that such loquacity passes beyond the scope of the nuisance and over the verge of turpitude. View quote
Jack Vance