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Philip José Farmer

106 quotes

“Many attributed this to a supernatural agency. Many more, among whom was Burton, did not think that there was any agency except an advanced science which accounted for this. There was no need to call in the supernatural. “No ghosts need apply,”—to quote the immortal Sherlock Holmes. Physical explanations sufficed.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nightmare in paradise. Or what could have been paradise if so many human beings did not insist on make in a hell of it.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Then she warned her self—for the ten thousandth time?—that she must not be as guilty of prejudice as others. Find the facts first and study them before judgment.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You must not stereotype!” Cyrano cried. “And you are right,” she said. “That is a feeling I loathe, and yet I find myself doing it all the time. However, so often…well, most people are living stereotypes, aren’t they?”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People who believed in Him were deluded. The believers in God might be intelligent, but they were mentally benighted. The gears in that part of the brain which dealt with religion had been put into neutral, and they were spinning. Or the circuit of religion had been disconnected from the main circuit of the intellect. That was a bad analogy. People use their intellect to justify the nonintellective, emotionally based phenomenon called religion. Often brilliantly. But, as far as she was concerned, uselessly.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Burton thought the man was crazy, though he was discreet enough not to say so. He and his crew had fallen into the hands of fanatics. Fortunately, the god had told Metusael that his worshipers must hurt no one unless it was in self-defense. However, he knew from experience that “self-defense” could mean whatever a person or group wanted it to mean.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Kazz thought that putting a lump on Oskas’ head was very funny. He would have considered it to be even a better joke if the chief had drowned. Yet, among his crewmates, he was as sociable, tender, and compassionate a man as anyone could ask for. He was a primitive, and all primitives, civilized or preliterate, were tribal people. Only the tribe consisted of human beings and were treated as such. All outside the tribe though some might be considered friends, were not quite human. Therefore, they did not have to be treated as if they were completely human.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What does that mean?” “I don’t know, but it sounds deep. I’ll think up an explanation later.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars but in our lousy genes. Or in the failure of one’s conquest of one’s self. The fault, dear Brutus, is in our fear of knowing ourselves.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“TV, the worst thing that had happened to the twentieth century. After the atom bomb and overpopulation, of course.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I do believe that man is a rope between animal and superman. But the superman I'm thinking of isn't Nietzsche's. The real superhuman, man or woman, is the person who's rid himself of all prejudices, neuroses, and psychoses, who realizes his full potential as a human being, who acts naturally on the basis of gentleness, compassion, and love, who thinks for himself and refuses to follow the herd. That's the genuine dyed-in-the-wool superman.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He looks like he’d be a hellcat in a fight. Tom and I agreed that he was easily the best qualified. But he doesn’t know anything about books, and I need educated people around me. That may sound snobbish, but so what?”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I, who hated the fat, smug, oily, stinking, ignorant, hypocritical, parasitical priests! And their unfeeling, merciless, cruel God!”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You prize rank too highly.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But he’s sincere. Which doesn’t mean he knows what he’s talking about.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As for the Bible, it was a book, and all books told the truth in the sense that their authors believed they were writing a kind of truth.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Chance, another word for destiny.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Peter would find out that that was superstition, a reasoning from effect to cause, totally invalid. It was in a class with the belief that if you eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while you were sitting in the outhouse, the devil would get you.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Take St. Augustine, for instance. "Asshole” was the only word that fit him. A monster of ego and selfishness. St. Francis was about as saintly as a person could be. But he was undoubtedly psychotic. Kissing a leper’s sores to demonstrate humility, indeed!”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The religions of Jesus, Paul, and Buddha had started to degenerate before their founders were cold in their graves. Just as St. Francis’ order had begun corrupting before its founder’s body was rotten.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The trouble with you, Peter—one of the troubles—is you worry too much about other people’s behavior. And you have too high ideals for them, ideals which you yourself don’t try to live up to.” “I know I can’t live up to them, so I make a no pretense,” Frigate said. “But it bothers me that others claim to have these ideals and to be living up to them. If I point out that they aren’t, they get angry.” The little Moor chuckled. “Naturally. Your criticism threatens their self-image. If that were to be destroyed, they, too, would be destroyed. At least, they think so.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Was destiny anything but chance? Probably. But the odds against this happening on Earth were infinity to one.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I had the honor to serve at the siege of Arras. Where I received a thrust through the throat, the second of the serious wounds that convinced me, along with all else I had seen of wars miseries and horrors, that Mars was the stupidest of the gods.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I thought that was just one of the wild tales those visionaries had invented,” Jill said. “I didn’t put any more credence in it than I did in the ravings of Earth prophets. Moses, Jesus, Zoroaster, Mohammed, Buddha, Smith, Eddy, the whole sick crew.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you’ve read your history…then you’ll know that the medieval noblemen were notorious for treachery. Their god was Opportunity, no matter how many churches they built for the glory of Church and God. They had all the morals of a hyena.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At least, they tried,” Johnston said. “So did the eunuch in the sheik’s harem.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don’t believe in women’s intuition,” Sam said. “They’re just culturally conditioned to observe different patterns of action and speech, different gestures and inflections from those men observe. They’re more sensitive to certain subtleties because of this conditioning.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Anyway, women are about as mysterious as a tin mine. All you have to do is carry a lantern into the dark places, and you see everything. But men like to think women are the eternally mysterious. That saves men the trouble of asking questions, taking a little time and effort.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He seemed to get along with just about everybody. Which, in my book, makes him suspect.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We’re not that stupid!” “No, but you’re that impulsive. Which is a form of stupidity.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Imagination was the great cozener of the past.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Suddenly, he was weeping. The tears were for the good things that had been or might have been, for the bad things that had been but should not have been.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Beauty is beautiful because it is doomed to perish!”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everybody should fear only one person, and that person should be himself.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Malory clung to his faith with fierce obliviousness to “facts”—in itself an indication that he had gone mad, if his critics were to be believed.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have been forced into this situation and may like it. To survive you must lie better than the liars, deceive more than the deceivers, and kill the killers first! To me it’s sheer necessity, though justified!”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I concluded that extreme mysticism was closely allied to madness.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you live very long time or are immortal, perhaps you learn everything about everything in order to pass the time.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sometimes you are arrogant, thinking you are better than others. More often you are humble. Too humble. I might even say, sickeningly humble. That is another form of arrogance. True humility is knowing your true place in the cosmic scale.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Monasticism, retreat from the world, reclusivism, that’s a lot of crap.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sometimes I regret we are forbidden any violence whatsoever. Right now, I would like to kick you in the ass.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“By now you must have accepted the fact that your religion, in fact, none of the Earthly religions, truly knew what the afterlife would be. All made guesses, and then established these as articles of faith. Though, in a sense, some were near the mark, if you accept their revelations as symbolic.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now, this is what the visitor said the Ethicals had learned from the Ancients. The Creator, God, the One Spirit, call it what you will, forms all. It is the universe; the universe is it. But its body is formed of two essences. One is matter, the other, for lack of a better word, is nonmatter.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let's give this entity which you call soul another name. Soul has too many incorrect meanings for humans, too many verbal reverberations, too many contrary definitions.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Clemens was afraid that he’d lose his temper and cuss out King John as no one else in the universe had ever been cussed out before.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And how in God’s name did Santiago find out about the laser? Even Queen Victoria’s sex life wasn’t a better secret.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“By the Providence that did not exist, events had worked out perfectly.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You should have waited to find out the true situation, madame. But then…scarcely anyone ever does.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Okay,” she said, “I’ll listen to the wise. Are you wise?” “Wise enough,” he said, “and mighty experienced, which is the same thing if you’re not too stupid.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Burton sighed. She was, on the whole, sane. But she was also a religious fanatic who managed to ignore the facts of life and also the contradictory elements in her faith.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source