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Philip José Farmer
106 quotes
“Can imagination act Perpendicular to fact? Can it be a kite that flies Till the Earth, umbrella-wise, Folds and drops away from sight?”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) first seen 1949 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Imagination" in America Sings (1949); re-published in Pearls From Peoria (2006)
“Miles above the Earth we know, Fancy's rocket roars. Below, Here and Now are needles which Sew a pattern black as pitch, Waiting for the rocket's light.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) first seen 1949 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Imagination" in America Sings (1949)
“Perhaps you could tell me how many angels may stand on the point of a pin?”… De Salcedo snorted. “I’ll tell you. Philosophically speaking, you may put as many angels on a pinhead as you want to. Actually speaking, you may put only as many as there is room for. Enough of that. I'm interested in facts, not fancies.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) first seen 1952 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sail On! Sail On! Originally published in the December 1952 issue of Startling Stories; reprinted in Harry Harrison (ed.), SF: Author’s Choice, (1968), p. 140. The ellipsis represents elision of one paragraph of descrip…
“Sawbeaked epitome of bodiless Idea, tossed by gusts of ether, dive Through abstract mists and raid the sea of fact Eat rich strange fish, grow long bright feathers, press Form's flesh around thought's rib, and so derive From the act of beauty, beauty of the act.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) first seen 1952 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Pterodactyl" in Sky Hook #16, (Winter 1952-53); re-published in Pearls From Peoria (2006)
“Beauty in this Iron Age must turn From fluid living rainbow shapes to torn And sootened fragments, ashes in an urn On whose gray surface runes are traced by a Norn Who hopes to wake the Future to arise In Phoenix-fashion, and to shine with rays To blast the sight of modern men whose dyes Of selfishness and lust have stained our days...”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) first seen 1953 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Beauty in This Iron Age" in Starlanes #11 (Fall 1953); re-published in Pearls From Peoria (2006)
“Reader, pray that soon this Iron Age Will crumble, and Beauty escape the rusting cage.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) first seen 1953 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Beauty in This Iron Age" in Starlanes #11 (Fall 1953); re-published in Pearls From Peoria (2006)
“Prometheus, I have no Titan's might, Yet I, too, must each dusk renew my heart, For daytime's vulture talons tear apart The tender alcoves built by love at night.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) first seen 1954 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In Common" in Starlanes #14 (April 1954); re-published in Pearls From Peoria (2006)
“Oh, I'd reach beyond the comma of you To the invisible phrase, the dangling Omega! No use. No act Of mine or mind denies the ante-cerebellum fact Of furry you, poised fleetingly, bright flex, Black reflex, too leaping for me to ink and fix As period to end what has no period, no, no End...”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) first seen 1954 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Black Squirrel on Cottonwood Limb's Tip" in Skyhook #23 (Winter 1954-55); re-published in Pearls From Peoria (2006)
“We too. No wisdom to utter. You've beauty, flux, and terror To tell. So've I. And they're Very hard to mutter Through so much chatter and stutter.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) first seen 1954 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Black Squirrel on Cottonwood Limb's Tip" in Skyhook #23 (Winter 1954-55); re-published in Pearls From Peoria (2006)
“Let those who think the soul is shallow rail, They must be warned before they dare to leap They'll plunge into the twilight depths where sweep In ceaseless thirst great teeth too swift to fail.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Job's Leviathan" in JD Argassy #58 (1961); re-published in Pearls From Peoria (2006)
“Drowned idols swirl like seeds in chaos' wine. Look, Job! Caught Beauty, held to light, now apes A good, now evil, thing — the shifting sign And spectrum of archaic, psychic shapes.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Job's Leviathan" in JD Argassy #58 (1961); re-published in Pearls From Peoria (2006)
“Liquor’s good for one thing. It makes you forget what you’re afraid not to forget.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The real heroes, and heroines, are those who deal heroically with the everyday cares of life, though God knows they’ve been multiplied enormously. It’s not the guy who kills a dragon once in his lifetime and then retires that’s a hero. It's the guy who kills cockroaches and rats every day, day after day, and doesn't rest on his laurels until he’s an old man, if then.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) first seen 1974 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Venus on the Half-Shell (December 1974); written using the pseudonym Kilgore Trout, with the permission of Kurt Vonnegut.
“Though Melville omitted it, Captain Ahab said, "In one sense, Aleister Crowley is lower than whale shit. In another, he's as high as God's hat. The true shaman knows that God's hat is made out of dried whale shit.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) first seen 1981 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Farmer on Wilson" an essay on Robert Anton Wilson in Heavy Metal #54 (September 1981)
“One thing is sure, O comrades, that the love That fights to keep us rooted in the earth, But also urges us to dare the stars, This irresistible, this ancient power Wedged in the soul, unshakable, is the light That burns our roots and leaves us free for Space.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The way is open, comrades, free as Space Alone is free. The only gold is love, A coin that we have minted from the light Of others who have cared for us on Earth And who have deposited in us the power That nerves our nerves to seize the burning stars.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Eyes forward! Sing a paean to the light That God gives us to net the distant stars In eyes that once were blinded with black earth. Man had no time for aught but toll, no space For aught but war. Yet God, in His great love, Has cleared our eyes and given a hint of Power.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now we have lit a candle to the power Of atoms; now we know we're heirs of light Itself...”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Yes, we hope to seed a new, rich earth. We hope to breed a race of men whose power Dwells in hearts as open as all Space Itself, who ask for nothing but the light That rinses the heart of hate so that the stars Above will be below when man has Love.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God, Whose hand holds stars, as we lump earth In our fingers, give us power, give us light To hold all love within our breast's small space.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And there is another feeling, one which he shares with most of humankind. He knows he's screwed up his life, or something has twisted it. Every thinking man and woman knows this. Even the smug and dimwitted realize this unconsciously. But a baby, that beautiful being, that unsmirched blank tablet, unformed [[angel], represents a new hope. Perhaps it won't screw up. Perhaps it'll grow up to be a healthy confident reasonable good-humored unselfish loving man or woman. 'It won't be like me or my next-door neighbor,' the proud, but apprehensive, parent swears.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Zeitgeist rides tonight, and the devil take the hindmost!”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Yesterday's monomaniac is tomorrow's messiah…”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Strong blasphemers thrive only when strong believers thrive.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“His wife had held him in her arms as if she could keep death away from him. He had cried out, "My God, I am a dead man!”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was like no hell or heaven of which he had ever heard or read, and he had thought that he was acquainted with every theory of the afterlife. He had died. Now he was alive. He had scoffed all his life at a life-after-death. For once, he could not deny that he had been wrong. But there was no one present to say, "I told you so, you damned infidel!" Of all the millions, he alone was awake.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In a frenzy, kicking his legs and moving his arms in a swimmer's breaststroke, he managed to fight toward the rod. The closer he got to it, the stronger the web of force became. He did not give up. If he did, he would be back where he had been and without enough strength to begin fighting again. It was not his nature to give up until all his strength had been expended.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The aerial canoe had no visible means of support, he thought, and it was a measure of his terror that he did not even think about his pun. No visible means of support. Like a magical vessel out of The Thousand and One Nights.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All the human beings I met were either sure that there would be no afterlife or else that they would get preferential treatment in the hereafter.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I did it!” she said. “I...I! I wanted to! Oh, what a vile low whore I am!” “I don’t remember offering you any money.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Burton did not believe in miracles. Nothing happened that could not be explained by physical principles — if you knew all the facts.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Burton, though an infidel, made it his business to investigate thoroughly every religion. Know a man’s faith, and you knew at least half the man. Know his wife, and you knew the other half.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Burton sighed, laughed loudly, and said, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.” Another fairy tale to give men hope. The old religions have been discredited — although some refuse to face even that fact — so new ones must be invented.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Resurrection, like politics, makes strange bedfellows.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A miracle: a chance distribution of events, occurring one time in a billion.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Of course, I’m only indulging in mankind’s vice of trying to make a symbol out of coincidence.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But we may not be able to climb high enough. Look at those mountains. They go straight up, smooth as a politician denying he ever made a campaign promise.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Where this area had been beautiful with its many trees and bright grass and the colored blooms of the vines that covered the trees, it was now like a battlefield. It had been necessary to create ugliness to build a beautiful boat.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It’s a nice toy and makes a lot of noise and looks impressive and will kill a man. But it’s wasteful and inefficient.” “You make it sound like a congressman,” Sam said.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was not that he was unintelligent. It was just that he was not emotionally able to comprehend democracy.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Actors didn’t have to be politicians, but politicians had to be actors.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“His thinking wasn’t logical. But whatever the philosophers claimed, the main use of logic was to justify your emotions.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I ought to arrest your assertions for vagrancy. They certainly are without any visible support.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He was stiff and sometimes a little strange, which was what you’d expect from an engineer, but he had a moral backbone as inflexible as a fossilized dinosaur’s.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Styles was an old Mississippi pilot, a handsome youth, no liar, though given to inflating facts.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Actually, the situation was intolerable. But then it was surprising how much intolerableness a man could tolerate.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Dreams haunted The Riverworld.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Would you like to talk?” “When I dream, I am talking.” “But to yourself.” “Who knows me better?” He laughed softly. “And who can deceive you better,” she said a little tartly.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Tell me, is this true or is it just one of those tales that people like to make up to worry others?”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source