It's obvious we can't all be a Gully Foyle, but most of us energize at such a low level, so far short of our real capabilities, we could all be more, do more.

One of the things that everybody knows about space travel but never mentions is its aphrodisiac quality.

Don't ask the world to stop moving because you have doubts.

Gully Foyle is my name And Terra is my nation Deep space is my dwelling place The stars my destination

Faith in faith' he answered himself. 'It isn't necessary to have something to believe in. It's only necessary to believe that somewhere there's something worthy of belief

The mind is the reality. You are what you think.

Millions for nonsense, but not one cent for entropy.

I'm not much interested in extrapolating science and technology; I merely use extrapolation as a means of putting people into new quandaries which produce colorful pressures and conflicts.

Life is a freak. That’s its hope and glory.

No matter how we defend ourselves against the outside we're always licked by something from the inside. Ther's no defense against betrayal, and we all betray ourselves.

I've handed life and death back to the people who do the living and the dying.

My generation of radicals and breakers-down never found anything to take the place of the old virtues of work and courage and the old graces of courtesy and politeness.

When they confronted her like this, she felt like a delicate freaking time bomb just waiting for a time and a place to explode.

Let no one be deluded that a knowledge of the path can substitute for putting one foot in front of the other.

This idea that there is generality in the specific is of far-reaching importance.

I learned to discipline myself to do things I didn't want to do

The genius-in work and in deed-is necessarily a squanderer: the fact that he spends himself constitutes his greatness.

I don't have a very clear idea of who the characters are until they start talking.

There are moments in a woman's life when her heart flips in her chest, when the world suddenly seems uncommonly pink and perfect, when a symphony can be heard in the tinkle of a doorbell.

One of the first things to be noted in business life is its imperialism. Business is exacting, engrossing, and inelastic.

I never quite understand the way society decides who is beautiful and who is not. But an open face and a capacity for kindness always feel like reliable signifiers to me.