For our stories are not yet finished, and perhaps will never be.

Being terrified but going ahead and doing what must be done—that's courage. The one who feels no fear is a fool, and the one who lets fear rule him is a coward.

When one person makes an accusation, check to be sure he himself is not the guilty one. Sometimes it is those whose case is weak who make the most clamour.

When you steal from the library, you are preventing anyone else from reading that book, and the very notion makes me want to drop you in the Void.

One day you'll discover that the opinions of worthless people are worthless.

Happy children do not seem to grow up to be writers.

Information is power. --Humfrey

But one must go where one's road leads, even when it's a distressing road.

All things make sense; you just have to fathom how they make sense.

SF is the literature of the theoretically possible, and F is the literature of the impossible.

Obviously it could be, because it was.

I didn't want to pick at Micah and me until we unraveled. I wanted to leave it alone and enjoy it. I just didn't know how to do that.

I don't need to see the trail to know you're at the end of it. My grandfather's compass may not work, but mine is still true.

The doctors x-rayed my head and found nothing.

Slavery, if it can be legalized at all, can be legalized only by positive legislation. Natural law gives it no aid. Custom imparts to it no legal sanction.

The great thing about dealing with people about whom we have historical resources, is that if the writing needs work, there's everywhere to go to enrich it.

It doesn't really matter what "genre" your book is. What matters is that it's a good book of its kind. Whatever that kind may be.

I love teaching. I wouldn't take a job that didn't include it.

Comedy is a very personal thing, and some people will find it funny, some people wont.

I saw a man with a wooden leg and a real foot.

Life has no guarantees, though. What good is living if all you think about is dying?