Jerry Pournelle Quotes
Somebody's always getting me to come lecture to their writing class, and I don't talk about writing at all, I talk about the business of making a living at this racket.

Quotes to Explore
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The difference between a violin and a viola is that a viola burns longer.
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I like men who paint or write or do something creative.
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Rarely do we stop and consider whether the most prestigious of institutions is always in our best interest.
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There are no opportune times for a penalty, and this is not one of those times.
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I really believe that when you're playing a character that everything is contained in the script. If I'm pulling from things from my own life, then I think I'm being disingenuous to the character and the story.
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Capitalism has forced everyone to overoptimize in order to compete.
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'The Sound of Things Falling' may be a page turner, but it's also a deep meditation on fate and death. Even in translation, the superb quality of Vasquez's prose is evident, captured in Anne McLean's idiomatic English version. All the novel's characters are well imagined, original and rounded.
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I still find it hard to believe that the whole era of jazz is over.
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Hindi films are so deceptive. I thought Mumbai was this big, grand, beautiful city with sea-facing flats.
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I like certain subgenres within science fiction and fantasy, and one of those is urban fantasy, and another is steampunk.
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The one charm about marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary for both parties.
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But whether a couple is a man and a woman has everything to do with the meaning of marriage.
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Some friends are better shots than are casual enemies.
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Any beast can cry over the misfortunes of its own child. It takes a mensch to weep for others' children.
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I use to live on this street when I was a kid where there was an old person retirement home, and all of the old people would listen to that band Herman's Hermits, and they would wear white nursing shoes. And they would throw away stacks of VHS tapes, and I would go through the trash and take them.
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I haven't had that many weird encounters with fans, thank God.
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I fought well at 155, but I don't think I ever came close to my best at 155. I think I'll get to my best at 170 pounds.
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If a farmer fills his barn with grain, he gets mice. If he leaves it empty, he gets actors.
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If you feel well and happy, your face will reflect this, but if you are down in the dumps and having a miserable time, your face will soon show this, too. In fact, you get the face you deserve by the time you're forty, and one of the keys to looking and feeling younger is being active.
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Paint with freedom. It gives you more mastery of the nature of paint.
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It’s fairly intuitive that never exploring is no way to live. But it’s also worth mentioning that never exploiting can be every bit as bad. In the computer science definition, exploitation actually comes to characterize many of what we consider to be life’s best moments. A family gathering together on the holidays is exploitation. So is a bookworm settling into a reading chair with a hot cup of coffee and a beloved favorite, or a band playing their greatest hits to a crowd of adoring fans, or a couple that has stood the test of time dancing to “their song.
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Writing a novel is like knocking on a door that will never open. You are so desperate to get in, you will say or do anything. You feel: please take my novel.
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Faith is the heroism of the intellect.
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Somebody's always getting me to come lecture to their writing class, and I don't talk about writing at all, I talk about the business of making a living at this racket.