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Gene Wolfe

92 quotes

“There is more to be learned from any good teacher than the subject taught.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everyone who is grieved at anything, or discontented, is like a pig for sacrifice, kicking and squealing. Like a dove for sacrifice is he who laments in silence. Our one distinction is that it is given to us to consent, if we will, to the necessity imposed upon us.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When we're young, we notice things that are young, like ourselves. New grass on old graves. New leaves on old trees”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1994 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Volume 3: Caldé of the Long Sun (1994), Ch. 1
“The jokes of the gods are long in the telling.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What little I have learned in the course of a long life, regarding the gods, I have tried to forget.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are people who love birds so much they free them. There are others who love them so much they cage them.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A trooper fights for honor ... or from loyalty. Or for loot sometimes. But he waits for pay. He will not wait without it, because when there is no fighting there is no honor to win, no flag to die for, no loot to gain.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Volume 4: Exodus from the Long Sun (1996), Ch. 9
“He is not mad. He is only more clever than you. It is not the same.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When neither our fellows nor our gods spoil our plans, we spoil them ourselves.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Perhaps I need to begin before I can think clearly about the task. The chief thing is to begin, after all—after which the chief thing is to finish.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Volume 1: On Blue's Waters (1999), Ch. 1
“Be careful about extending credit, too, and doubly careful about refusing to extend it.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Paradoxes explain everything. Since they do, they cannot be explained.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is well not to spend one's symbols improvidently.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Experience is a wonderful teacher, but one whose lessons come too late.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Volume 2: In Green's Jungles (2000), Ch. 1
“We're going to fight to the end. But it's better if you fight to somebody else's end.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whenever a man and a woman come to words or blows, fools are quick to attribute it to the differences between the sexes. The sexes differ much less than they wish to believe, and such differences as are real tend less to promote strife than to prevent it.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Adolescents are simply those people who haven't as yet chosen between childhood and adulthood. For as long as anyone tries to hold on to the advantages of childhood—the freedom from responsibility, principally—while seeking to lay claim to the best parts of adulthood, such as independence, he is an adolescent. [...] Eventually most people choose to be adults, or are forced into it. A very few retreat into childhood and never leave it again. A large number remain adolescents for life.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do you know the story about the farmer who complained all his life about getting too much rain or too little, about the soil and the winds and so on? [...] The farmer died and went to Mainframe, and was soon called to the magnificent chamber in which Pas holds court. Pas said to him, "I understand you feel that I botched certain aspects of the job when I built the Whorl; and the farmer admitted it was so, saying, "Well, sir, pretty often I thought I could have made it better." To which Pas replied, "Yes, that's what I wanted you to do.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Volume 3: Return to the Whorl (2001), Ch. 6
“We don't harm the gods when we mingle their names with our curses and obscenities. We harm ourselves. I said that I didn't regard most gods as holy, but they don't have to be for our malice and mockery to recoil upon ourselves.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You have a walking stick. Suppose it could walk by itself, and that it chose to walk away from you. [...] It would no longer be a walking stick at all, only a stick that walked.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you rob someone who would help you if you needed help you only rob yourself. [...] Do you imagine you can be cruel without teaching others to be cruel to you?”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Just as mainstream literature shows us how our contemporaries view the present, and historical fiction shows us how they view the past (not, of course, what the present or the past were actually like), so speculative fiction shows us how they view the future. I happen to believe that my contemporaries' view of the past is not very important; but their view of the present is quite definitely important, and their view of the future is vital.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1978 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Right of Things to Come", presentation for the Science Fiction Research Association (1978), as published in Castle of Days (1992)
“My definition of a great story has nothing to do with "a varied and interesting background." It is: One that can be read with pleasure by a cultivated reader and reread with increasing pleasure. The business about a varied and interesting background belongs to my definition of a good story.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1982 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a Chain letter to George R. R. Martin and Greg Benford", 10 July 1982; as published in Castle of Days (1992)
“Does anyone know an effective way of keeping rabbits out of a garden that does not involve building a fence? I have tried that already, but the rabbit will not sit still long enough for me to get the fence all the way around him.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1982 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a Chain letter to George R. R. Martin and Greg Benford", 10 July 1982; as published in Castle of Days (1992)
“The slight criticism of evolution I offer should not be taken as evidence that I do not believe in evolution; I do. Let's not blame God for everything. I also believe in Lamarckism, as it was put forward by Lamarck. (The Lamarckism presented in standard textbooks is actually Lysenkoism, a straw man set up by the opponents of Lamarckism, palpably false and easily disproved.) There is no paradox in that: Lamarckism and Darwinism are not mutually exclusive, except politically.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1982 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sun of Helioscope", in Castle of the Otter (1982), Reprinted in Gene Wolfe, Castle of Days (1992)
“Most Christians know next to nothing about the life and teachings of Christ and are afraid to learn, sensing that the knowledge will upset their preconceptions.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1982 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sun of Helioscope", in Castle of the Otter (1982), Reprinted in Gene Wolfe, Castle of Days (1992)
“PARADOX: A statement that reduces the matter at hand to complete obscurity while clarifying it. [...] Paradoxes are sensitive and can be routed by sneering.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1982 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Words Weird and Wonderful", in Castle of the Otter (1982), Reprinted in Gene Wolfe, Castle of Days (1992)
“The Falklands War continues to fascinate me. What a conflict! What an unlikely pair of antagonists! The British have always fought, to be sure. No nation on Earth can be taken seriously in historical circles unless it has had at least one war with the British; it's like not having an American Express card. And yet the very idea of Britain in a contemporary war is a shock. Britain, one feels, fights in history books and not on TV.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1983 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Few Points About Knife Throwing", Fantasy Newsletter (1983), Reprinted in Gene Wolfe, Castle of Days (1992)
“It will come as no surprise to those of you in the book trade when I say that although books do not cause cancer, books in general do not sell as well as cigarettes.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1985 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Guest of Honor speech at Aussiecon Two (43rd World Science Fiction Convention, August 1985), as published in Castle of Days (1992)
“Here in two flat sentences are the best things I can say about our field on American television: Dr. Who is sometimes aired. Sometimes Battlestar Galactica is not.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1985 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Guest of Honor speech at Aussiecon Two (August 1985), as published in Castle of Days (1992)
“The same critics who spend hundreds of pages discussing various peculiarities of the author's supposed nature often devote none to that much more significant person, the reader for whom he wrote. [...] It is a failure that disqualifies a great deal of head-scratching and hypothesizing. It amounts to saying that the letter is more important than its recipient, the signal more important than the changing image created from it, the bait more important than the fish.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Endangered Species (1989), Introduction
“We may be damned at last, by God or our consciences; and though I've met a good many people who profess to credit no God, I've never met one who believed he had no conscience—this though he could no more produce it for my inspection than I could point out the God he demanded to see.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Introduction for R. A. Lafferty, Episodes of the Argo (1990), Reprinted in Gene Wolfe, Castle of Days (1992)
“The true dawn of adulthood, of intellectual maturity, if you like, is the realization that adults are all fools.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Pirates of Florida and Other Impossibilities", speech at the Conference on the Fantastic (1991), as published in Castle of Days (1992)
“Almost any interesting work of art comes close to saying the opposite of what it really says.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: What I Know About Writing (in no particular order)", as quoted in Michael Swanwick, "The Wolf in the Labyrinth", Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 2007
“Some are haunted by ghosts. I am haunted by stories.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009), afterword to "Kevin Malone", p. 355
“Every so often I get optimistic and explain the best method of learning to write for students. I don't believe any of them has ever tried it.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009), afterword to "The Boy Who Hooked the Sun", p. 381
“Animals in zoos (we are told) believe that their bars protect them. We Americans have forged our own bars, built our own cage, and live in it more or less content as long as someone feeds us.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009), afterword to "Petting Zoo", p. 432
“Of the nature of Death and the Dead we may enumerate twelve kinds. First there are those who become new gods, for whom new universes are born. Second those who praise. Third those who fight as soldiers in the unending war with evil. Fourth those who amuse themselves among flowers and sweet springs with sports. Fifth those who dwell in gardens of bliss, or are tortured. Sixth those who continue as in life. Seventh those who turn the wheel of the universe. Eighth those who find in their graves their mothers' wombs and in one life circle forever. Ninth ghosts. Tenth those born again as men in their grandsons' time. Eleventh those who return as beasts or trees. And last those who sleep.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1974 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Forlesen", Orbit 14 (1974), ed. Damon Knight; reprinted in Gene Wolfe, Gene Wolfe's Book of Days (1981); reprinted in Gene Wolfe, Castle of Days (1992); reprinted in Gene Wolfe, The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009)
“What I would like to know is what I should be doing." "I see what you mean," Freeling said, "but I'm afraid I can't tell you. If you were a lathe operator I'd say make that part, but you're a part of management, and you can't treat managerial people that way." "Go ahead," Forlesen told him. "I won't mind." [...] "What I meant was that if I knew what you ought to be doing I'd hire a clerk to do it. You're where you are because we feel—rightly or wrongly—that you can find your own work, recognize it when you see it, and do it or get somebody else to. Just make damn sure you don't step on anybody's toes while you're doing it, and don't make more trouble than you fix. [...] Don't come running to me with complaints, and don't let me get any complaints about you. Now what was it you wanted to see me about?" "I don't," Forlesen said. "You said you wanted to see me." "Oh. Well, I'm through.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1974 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Forlesen", Orbit 14 (1974), ed. Damon Knight; reprinted in Gene Wolfe, Gene Wolfe's Book of Days (1981); reprinted in Gene Wolfe, Castle of Days (1992); reprinted in Gene Wolfe, The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009)
“I have called these animals destriers, borrowing an old word for war-horses. I've given them clawed feet instead of hoofs because I think the genetic engineers will give them claws too. The horse's hoofs seem to be an evolutionary mistake. To speak in Lamarckian terms, the horse has lengthened its legs by standing on its toes until it has ended up standing on one toenail. [...] Cheetahs, wolves, and greyhounds all have nonretractile claws that serve them as their spikes serve runners and baseball players. Racehorses could not run as fast as they do if they did not wear aluminum or magnesium shoes.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1982 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cavalry in the Age of the Autarch", in Castle of the Otter (1982), Reprinted in Gene Wolfe, Castle of Days (1992)
“If those who despise us stone us as prophets, they must listen to us as prophets. If they curse us as sorcerers, they must learn to curse from us, as sorcerers. Let us enlighten the young, and let us be condemned for corrupting the young, like Socrates. Let us awaken the old before they sleep forever, though they must read us in secret like the Kabbalah. [...] The difficulties and successes of our books and magazines, and the rejection and misinterpretation of the films made from our ideas—are the flounderings of the human mind upon the Paleozoic shore. We are the sand in its gills; let's not lose our grit.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1985 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Guest of Honor speech at Aussiecon Two (August 1985), as published in Castle of Days (1992)
“This, then, is the new illiteracy, the illiteracy of those who can read but don't. [...] This new illiteracy is more pernicious than the old, because unlike the old illiteracy it does not debar its victims from power and influence, although like the old illiteracy it disqualifies them for it. Those long-dead men and women who learned to read so that they might read the Bible and John Bunyan would tell us that pride is the greatest of all sins, the father of sin. And the victims of the new illiteracy are proud of it. If you don't believe me, talk to them and see with what pride they trumpet their utter ignorance of any book you care to name.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a house on the Borderland", Horrorstruck (1987), Reprinted in Gene Wolfe, Castle of Days (1992)