Jack Vance Quotes
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'Here you see the pattern from which my great work is derived. It expresses the symbolic significance of NULLITY to which TOTALITY must necessarily attach itself, by Kratinjae's Second Law of Cryptorrhoid Affinities, with which you are possibly familiar.' <br.> 'Not in every aspect,' said Cugel.
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And I understand they are, in a sense, artists? That is to say, they understand the creative process, the sublimation of fact to symbol and the use of symbol to suggest emotion?
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A barbarian is not aware that he is a barbarian.
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Count me not your friend but the enemy of your enemies.
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I gathered that the old fellow suffers from some advanced form of senile dementia, and so perhaps his analysis is not totally accurate.
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'I would define ‘avarice’ as a consequence of the human estate: a condition arising from turbulence and inequality. In none of the paradises, where conditions are no doubt optimum, does ‘avarice’ exert force. Here, we are men struggling toward perfection and ‘avarice’ is a station along the way.'
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His brain ached with the want of knowing.
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The life we’ve been leading couldn’t last forever. It’s a wonder it lasted as long as it did.
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'If ambush I must, then ambush I will,' Aillas muttered to himself. 'A fig for chivalry, at least until the war is won.'
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He’s like an imbecile with a pepper shaker; a little makes his food taste good, therefore a lot will make it wonderful.
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The mind was a marvellous instrument, thought Shimrod; when left to wander untended, it often arrived at curious destinations.
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A single question remained, the age-old cry of anguish: 'How could one so beautiful be so base?'
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'We are supposed to set you a good example,' said Devonet. 'As a start, I will point out that a lady of refinement would not wish to be found so high in a tree.''Then I am a lady of refinement well and truly,' said Madouc, 'since I did not wish to be found.'
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Nothing is more conspicuous than a farting princess.
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I suppose if you isolate yourself to such an extent, you more or less must expect a series of emergencies.
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I do not care to listen; obloquy injures my self-esteem and I am skeptical of praise.
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'Enter, my friend, enter. How goes your trade?''In all candor, not too well,' said Cugel. 'I am both perplexed and disappointed, for my talismans are not obviously useless.'
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Notice this rent in my garment; I am at a loss to explain its presence! I am even more puzzled by the existence of the universe.
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He adjudicated the case in a manner I still find perplexing, but which must have been equitable, since it pleased no one.
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The town’s lack of special quirks was almost a peculiarity in itself.
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Damned meddlers. It’s hard to know when their curiosity is official and when it’s just curiosity.
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Who is seducing whom? If we are working to the same ends, there is no need for so many cross-purposes.
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Ildefonse said ponderously: 'If your analysis is correct, we must undertake to secure the future against this pangynic nightmare.'
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He must approach the subject critically, alert for contradictions, pedantry and vagueness.