John Scalzi Quotes

United States, Author
May 10, 1969

John Michael Scalzi II (born May 10, 1969) is an American science fiction author and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He is best known for his Old Man's War series, three novels of which have been nominated for the Hugo Award, and for his blog Whatever, where he has written on a number of topics since 1998. He won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2008 based predominantly on that blog, which he has also used for several charity drives. His novel Redshirts won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel. He has written non-fiction books and columns on diverse topics such as finance, video games, films, astronomy, writing and politics, and served as a creative consultant for the TV series Stargate Universe.

Human technology was good, and weapon to weapon humans were as well-equipped as the vast majority of their adversaries. But the weapon that ultimately matters is the one behind the trigger.

John Scalzi
- Good
- Technology
'I don’t appreciate the suggestion that I’m acting irrationally,' he said.'Then don’t act irrationally,' Jane said, 'because there will be consequences.'

John Scalzi

'This is Major Perry’s house?''I hope so,' I said. 'All his stuff is here.'

John Scalzi
- Hope
- House
Imagine if every species named itself after its greatest flaw. We could name our species arrogance.

John Scalzi
When you control communication, you can hide anything you want.

John Scalzi
- Control
- Communication
'Every creature has fear,' Jared said. 'Even the non-conscious ones.''No,' Boutin said. 'Every creature has a survival instinct. It looks like fear but it’s not the same thing. Fear isn’t the desire to avoid death or pain. Fear is rooted in the knowledge that what you recognize as yourself can cease to exist. Fear is existential.

John Scalzi
- Death
- Fear
- Knowledge
'I don’t know,' Davidson said. 'Maybe it’s not about politics. Maybe these guys are just assholes.''Seems the simplest explanation,' I said.

John Scalzi
The failure mode of clever is 'asshole.'

John Scalzi
- Failure
- Clever
- Asshole

'That’s a nice speech, Trujillo,' Rybicki said. 'It doesn’t make it true.''General, at the moment, I wouldn’t place you as an authority on truth.'

John Scalzi
- Truth
- True
- Nice
'Harry!' Boutin said. 'Nice guy. Didn’t know he was that smart. He hid it well.'

John Scalzi
- Guy
- Nice
- Smart
No, it's not fair. You're in the wrong universe for fair.

John Scalzi
- Universe
'I have drinks,' Hanson said, coming up behind Duvall.'Why, Jimmy,' Duvall said. 'That makes you my new favorite person.'

John Scalzi
- Up
- Why
'You and I don’t actually need to be here for this,' I said to the goat. The goat didn’t respond, but I could tell she agreed with me.

John Scalzi
- She
I guess I was just hoping there might be a way to do things other than the way that ends up with everyone getting killed.

John Scalzi
- Up

'I don’t think it would actually make you happier to be told you were right about this,' he said finally.'I don’t want to be happy,' Dahl said. 'I just want to know.'

John Scalzi
- Happy
'Why ‘threep’? Why ‘clank’? Slang happens.'

John Scalzi
- Why
Eight-year-olds can switch into acquisition mode pretty quickly.

John Scalzi
- Pretty
You are better at small talk than I am. That is not always a compliment.

John Scalzi
- Small
The recruit was Sam McCain; in one of our lunch sessions I recalled Sarah O’Connell describing him as more mouth than brain. Unsurprisingly, he’d been in sales most of his life.

John Scalzi
- Life
- Brain
- Sales
I had never seen so many old people in one place at one time. Neither had Harry. 'It’s like Wednesday morning at the world’s biggest Denny’s,' he said.

John Scalzi
- People
- Time
- World

Who are you and what medications aren’t you taking?

John Scalzi
In this universe, experience counts.

John Scalzi
- Experience
- Universe
You are sufficiently like me to officially be interesting.

John Scalzi
- Interesting
You don’t win by getting through all your life not having done anything.

John Scalzi
- Life
- Done