The programmers have another saying: 'The question of whether a machine can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim.'

Back before the internet we had a name for people who bought a single copy of our books and lent them to all their friends without charging: we called them "librarians".

Idiots emit bogons, causing machinery to malfunction in their presence. System administrators absorb bogons, letting machinery work again.

Nothing stands for content-free corporate bullshit quite like PowerPoint. And that's just scratching the surface.

More often than not, piracy is a symptom of an under-provisioned market.

Steampunk is nothing more than what happens when Goths discover brown.

One ape's hallucination is another ape's religious experience - it just depends on which one’s god module is overactive at the time.

Unfortunately it's also true to say that good management is a bit like oxygen - it's invisible and you don't notice its presence until it's gone, and then you're sorry.

Any civilization where the main symbol of religious veneration is a tool of execution is a bad place to have children.

Fiction is about human beings, first and foremost. (It's not impossible to write fiction with no human protagonists, but it's very hard to keep the reader interested ...)

If an idea is compelling enough it'll stick in my head until I am forced to write it. If it's forgettable, who cares?

...the enduring human need to be remembered.

Perhaps you should speak more softly to me, then. Monsters are dangerous beasts, and just now kings seem to be dying like flies.

How may times can you lose the one you love?

There's nothing I believe in more strongly than getting young people interested in science and engineering, for a better tomorrow, for all humankind.

The presence of others who see what we see and hear what we hear assures us of the reality of the world and ourselves.

My whole life is a practical joke. Every evening and every show has really become about entertaining me. I was always like that. And now I've come full circle because that's what the TV show is too.

I’ll accept your apology on one condition.” He folded his arms across his chest. “Anything?” “You trust me.

I do what I do. Barack Obama does what politicians do.

And knowing money is a root of evil, in Christian charity, he'd take away whatever things may hinder your salvation.

The secret to a long-lasting relationship is perpetually imagining the worst. It's a world view tracing back to my Eastern European ancestry and one I draw upon regularly.