David Brin Quotes
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The worst mistake of first contact, made throughout history by individuals on both sides of every new encounter, has been the unfortunate habit of making assumptions. It often proved fatal.
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Freedom was wonderful beyond relief. But with it came that bitch, Duty.
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Cultural contamination that is directed outward is always seen as 'enlightenment.'
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Some smart moves were little more than nicely padded traps.
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The notions she fought with needed more than the simple algebra she’d been grudgingly taught at Lamai Hold. More and more she resented how they had robbed her of this, arguably her one talent, driving her from math and other abstractions by the simple expedient of making them seem boring.
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Daisy had learned not to pay much heed to techno-fads. To her fell the task of preserving as much as possible, so that when humanity finally did fall, it wouldn’t take everything else to the grave with it.
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prudence to recklessness
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On this occasion, despite the wind and sparkling stars, they looked just like huge chunks of stone, pathetically chiseled by desperate folk to resemble stern gods. People did bizarre things when they were afraid...as most men and women had been for nearly all the time since the species evolved.
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You can’t fight biology. Only push at the rules, here and there.
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I hate the whole übermensch, superman temptation that pervades science fiction. I believe no protagonist should be so competent, so awe-inspiring, that a committee of 20 really hard-working, intelligent people couldn't do the same thing.
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You don’t have conversations with microprocessors. You tell them what to do, then helplessly watch the disaster when they take you literally!
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The same was true of the most popular girls. They had no empathy, no compassion for more normal kids.
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It was silly to suppose that trials only hardened men, automatically making them wise. He knew many who were stupid, arrogant, and mean, in spite of having suffered.
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He wasn’t afraid of dying, only of having not done all he could, and not properly spitting in the eye of death when it came for him. That final gesture was important.
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Every marvel of our age arose out of the critical give and take of an open society. No other civilization ever managed to incorporate this crucial innovation, weaving it into daily life. And if you disagree with this ... say so!
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In the end, both extremes had more in common with each other than either did with the middle.
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At her station in life, wisdom dictated keeping a low profile.And yet...
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It was better to imagine a sacrifice being for something.
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'It’s magic,' the chief cook concluded, in awe.'No, not magic,' the ship’s doctor replied. 'It’s much more. It’s mathematics.'
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He managed to lie by implication while speaking words that were the literal truth, a skill he had grown good at, if not proud of.
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The lesson they took home with them was simple; it takes a full belly before a man or woman gives a tinker’s damn about anything as large as a planet.
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The good side of the world media village was the sense it gave ten billion that each of them had at least some small connection with the whole. The bad side was that no one ever encountered anything, anymore, that was completely new.
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'All right,' she said. 'You’ve convinced me. Men are good for something, after all.'
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A neurosis defends itself by coming up with rationalizations to explain away bizarre behavior.