Philip K. Dick quotes - page 9

Philip K. Dick was an American writer renowned for his influential works of science fiction. His novels and stories often explored themes of reality, identity, and the impact of technology on society. He inspired countless movies, such as "Blade Runner" and "Total Recall," and remains a visionary figure in literature. Here are 283 of his quotes:

This one fact alone, Rachmael reflected, should have frightened the rational citizen. But- The people did not know. The media had not reported it.

Philip K. Dick

[Fiction] Appeals to the base lusts that hide in everyone no matter how respectable on the surface.

Philip K. Dick

Is it my fault?” Joe said. "Did I make that quarter you gave me obsolete?” He felt anger. "In some weird way,” Al said, "yes, it is your fault. But I don't know how. Maybe one day I'll figure it out.

Philip K. Dick

This hypnagogic condition. Attention-faculty diminished so that twilight state obtains; world seen merely in symbolic, archetypal aspect, totally confused with unconscious material.

Philip K. Dick

What does it mean, insane? A legal definition. What do I mean? I feel it, see it, but what is it? It is something they do, something they are. It is their unconsciousness...Do they ignore parts of reality? Yes. But it is more. It is their plans...Their view; it is cosmic...They see through the here, the now, into the vast black deep beyond, the unchanging. And that is fatal to life. Because eventually there will be no life; there was once only the dust particles of space, the hot hydrogen gases, nothing more, and it will come again.

Philip K. Dick

Explain it,” Hamilton muttered. "This place-this bar. Why doesn't God erase it? If this world operates by moral laws-” "This bar is necessary to the moral order. This is a sinkpit of corruption and vice, a fleshpot of iniquity. You think salvation can function without damnation? You think virtue can exist without sin? That's the trouble with you atheists; you don't grasp the mechanics of evil. Get on the inside and enjoy life, man. If you're one of the Faithful, you've got nothing to worry about.” "Opportunist.

Philip K. Dick

People just have no criterion left to evaluate the importance of things. I think the only thing that would really affect people would be the announcement that the world was going to be blown up by the hydrogen bomb. I think that would really affect people. I think they would react to that. But outside of that, I don't think they would react to anything. "Peking has been wiped out by an earthquake, and the RTD - the bus strike is still on."

Philip K. Dick

If you are wise, Matson said to himself grimly, you never take one-way trips. Anywhere. Even to Boise, Idaho...even across the street. Be certain, when you start, that you can scramble back.

Philip K. Dick

Sometimes I wish I knew how to go crazy. I forget how.” "It's a lost art,” Hank said. "Maybe there's an instruction manual on it.

Philip K. Dick

I am not in a position to enjoy sexual relations.

Philip K. Dick

What does a scanner see? he asked himself. I mean, really see? Into the head? Down into the heart? Does a passive infrared scanner like they used to use or a cube-type holo-scanner like they use these days, the latest thing, see into me-into us-clearly or darkly? I hope it does, he thought, see clearly, because I can't any longer these days see into myself. I see only murk. Murk outside; murk inside. I hope, for everyone's sake, the scanners do better. Because, he thought, if the scanner sees only darkly, the way I myself do, then we are cursed, cursed again and like we have been continually, and we'll wind up dead this way, knowing very little and getting that little fragment wrong too.

Philip K. Dick

A philosophical problem of no importance or meaning,” Joe said. "And incapable of being proved one way or the other.

Philip K. Dick

You were supposed to have been in the Sector when the adjustment began. Because of an error you were not. You came into the Sector late - during the adjustment itself. You fled, and when you returned it was over. You saw, and you should not have seen. Instead of a witness you should have been part of the adjustment. Like the others, you should have undergone changes.

Philip K. Dick

The Neanderthal probably thought the Cro-Magnon man had merely an improved line. A little more advanced ability to conjure up symbols and shape flint. From your description, this thing is more radical than a mere improvement." "This thing," Baines said slowly, "has an ability to predict. So far, it's been able to stay alive. It's been able to cope with situations better than you or I could. How long do you think we'd stay alive in that chamber, with energy beams blazing down at us? In a sense it's got the ultimate survival ability. If it can always be accurate -.

Philip K. Dick

That life had been one without excitement, with no adventure. It had been too safe. All the elements that made it up were right there before his eyes, and nothing new could ever be expected. It was like, he had once thought, a little plastic boat that would sail on forever, without incident, until it finally sank, which would be a secret relief to all.

Philip K. Dick

People like your wife are dangerous.” "Why?” Hamilton asked. "They don't belong to any group. They fool around with everything. As soon as we turn our back-” "So you destroy them. You turn them over to the lunatic patriots.” "The lunatic patriots,” McFeyffe said, "we can understand. But not your wife. She signs Party peace petitions and she reads the Chicago Tribune. People like her-they're more of a menace to Party discipline than any other bunch. The cult of individualism. The idealist with his own law, his own ethics. Refusing to accept authority. It undermines society. It topples the whole structure. Nothing lasting can be built on it. People like your wife just won't take orders.

Philip K. Dick

I saw Substance D growing. I saw death rising from the earth, from the ground itself, in one blue field, in stubbled color.

Philip K. Dick

Ramp hawkers were peddling "methods,” low priced sure-fire theories guaranteed to predict bottle twitches and beat the whole Minimax game. The hawkers were ignored by the hurrying throngs of people; anybody with a genuine system of prediction would be using it, not selling it.

Philip K. Dick

The vidphone company let me off the hook.

Philip K. Dick

Cats have no souls,” Hamilton said morbidly, watching his tomcat avidly feed. "The most majestic cat in the universe would balance a carrot on his head for a bite of pork liver.

Philip K. Dick

He now set down all the communications apparatus, rose stiffly from the chair and momentarily stood facing the misty, immobile, icebound shape of Joe Chip resting within its transparent plastic casket. Upright and silent, as it would be for the rest of eternity.

Philip K. Dick

Hands in his pockets he began to walk aimlessly down the sidewalk runnel. And, each minute, feeling more and more scared and desperate. Everything was falling apart around him. And he seemed helpless to halt the collapse; he could only witness it, completely impotent, snatched up and gripped by processes too powerful for him to understand.

Philip K. Dick