Larry Niven Quotes
-
The perversity of the universe tends towards a maximum. The universe is hostile.
-
A thrint was master over every intelligent beast. This was the Powergiver’s primal decree, made before he made the stars. So said all of the twelve thrintun religions, though they fought insanely over other matters.
-
5) Psi and/or magical powers, if real, are nearly useless.
-
1a) Never throw shit at an armed man. 1b) Never stand next to someone who is throwing shit at an armed man.
-
Species evolve to meet the environment. An intelligent species changes the environment to suit itself. As soon as a species becomes intelligent, it should stop evolving.
-
The majority is always sane.
-
10) Anarchy is the least stable of social structures.
-
Drugs: 'There’s no way to keep them from getting in. Anyone who wants drugs can get them. We make arrests where we can, and so what? Me, I’m betting on Darwin.''How do you mean?''The next generation won’t use drugs because they’ll be descended from people who had better sense.'
-
I sometimes wonder why the aristocracy isn’t extinct, the lot of you seem so stupid sometimes.
-
The Unexpected always comes at the most awkward times.
-
11) There is a time and place for tact. And there are times when tact is entirely misplaced.
-
The bleeding-heart symbol does not represent any known revolutionary organization. … Yes, the bleeding heart was something else again. A gruesome symbol on a vivarium floor. Fingers that broke without their owner noticing. An ink drawing appearing from nowhere on a dossier cover, like a signature. A signature.
-
Rod privately suspected the Scots studied their speech off duty so they’d be unintelligible to the rest of humanity.
-
Seen through the glow of a building orgasm, a woman seems to blaze with angelic glory.
-
The morning was blacker than the inside of a smoker’s lungs.
-
1) Writers who write for other writers should write letters.
-
It had been a long dull evening, with only the thought of leaving the party early to look forward to.
-
7) Any damn fool can predict the past.
-
2) Never be embarrased or ashamed about anything you choose to write. (Think of this before you send it to a market)
-
He liked everything about the university except the students.
-
Gambling was safer than war. More fun, too. Best of all, it gave him better odds.
-
In a universe the size of ours almost anything that can happen, will.
-
Anything you don't understand is dangerous until you do understand it.
-
As I said, it was inevitable, and I don’t let laws of nature upset me.