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Robert Sheckley
181 quotes
“When the first man sets foot on the surface of Mars, we will participate only to the extent of watching a shadowy replay of the great event on television. You know already how it will go: announcers with sonorous voices will tell us exactly what is happening. And they will also cue us as to the proper emotions we should feel it every stage of the great adventure. That will be our share in the conquest of other worlds.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In this talk I have tried to present some of my own reality, as far as I am able, at one particular time in my life. These are the things that make up my momentary universe. No summary is possible, even though I am at the end of my time here. Everything must remain unresolved, just as it in fact is. My subject matter escapes the confines of my definitions, for there is no datum that is not somehow pertinent to my situation. It is all part of the vast and uncompleted jigsaw puzzle that is our lives.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is not very logical to look over the attributes you possess and then declare that they are the most important attributes in the universe.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In a Land of Clear Colors (published in Thomas M. Disch (ed.), New Constellations: An Anthology of Tomorrow’s Mythologies (1976)), p. 87
“I know you’re sane and you know you’re sane. But what if we’re both wrong?”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Death of the Dreammaster (published in Martin H. Greenberg (ed.), The Further Adventures of Batman (1989)), p. 24
“I took it with equanimity, however: I have long known that fortune’s a whore and life itself a kind of stupid muddle. I am not a religious man. Far from it. I hold, if anything, a belief which I believe was once ascribed to the Gnostics: that Satan won out over God, not the other way around, and the Dark Prince runs things in the dismal and disastrous way that suits his nature. I knew that everything was just chance and bad luck, in a universe in which things were stacked against us and even our ruling deity hated us.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Eryx in Martin H. Greenberg (ed.), Lord of the Fantastic, (1998), p. 112
“Flattery will get you nowhere,” I said, “unless you accompany it with large sums of money.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Eryx in Martin H. Greenberg (ed.), Lord of the Fantastic (1998), p. 116
“The last cigarette is a sort of souvenir and something to remember Earth by. It's the perfect symbol of men's greatest invention.” “And what would that be?” “Something desirable that's not good for you.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Visions of the Green Moon (published in Peter Crowther (ed.), Moon Shots (1999)), p. 200
“When the people have to leave a place, their dreams leave first.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Visions of the Green Moon (published in Peter Crowther (ed.), Moon Shots (1999)), p. 201
“I’ve heard that some of the larger spiders hunt songbirds. I have no objection to that. The spiders belong here, too. Let nature do what it needs to do. We who are people know more than to guide ourselves by nature’s practices.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Tales of Zanthias (published in Weird Tales (July-August, 2003); reprinted in David G. Hartwell (ed.), Year’s Best Fantasy 4 (pp. 400-401))
“This planet’s secret menace was—freedom!”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Paradox is the inevitable forerunner of chaos.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What kind of intelligent beings would evolve on a planet that is all mountains?” “Stupid ones!” Casker said.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now look,” Janice said. “If the king is so rich, why can’t he pay?” “The king never pays for anything he can get free,” the ferra said. “That’s why he’s so rich.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All very unreasonable, but Arthur Gammet was beginning to suspect that most wizards were unreasonable people.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ifs and buts could erode the soundest of principles.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Few individuals of any race murder for pleasure. There are perfectly adequate reasons to kill, though, reasons which might satisfy any philosopher. But, once accepted, there are more reasons, and more and more. And murder, once accepted, is hard to stop. It leads irresistibly to war and, from there, to annihilation.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Credit is, of course, an automatic privilege. But, eventually, everything must be paid for.” Collins didn’t like the sound of that. Pay? This place wasn’t as civilized as he had thought. No one had mentioned paying. Why did they bring it up now? “Why didn’t someone stop me” he asked desperately. “They must have known I didn’t have a proper rating.” Flign shook his head. “The credit ratings are suggestions, not laws. In a civilized world, an individual has the right to his own decisions. I’m very sorry, sir.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That’s so like you Terrans,” Melith remarked sadly. “You want responsibility only if it doesn’t incur risk. That’s a wrong attitude for running a government.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Love and war,” he said, “are Earth’s two staple commodities. We’ve been turning them both out in bumper crops since the beginning of time.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That’s the whole point! Anyone can buy sex. Good Lord, it’s the cheapest thing in the universe, next to human life.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The mind of Human Man is murky and dark,” said Gunga-Sam, “but it is as crystal compared to the mind of Human Woman.” “Where did you get that?” Flaswell asked. “It is an ancient robot proverb.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mr. Rath’s iron face registered a rather corrugated disgust. People were useless as witnesses. Worse than useless, since they were frequently misleading. For reliability, give him a robot every time.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We denizens of Earth have a common vice: We take what we’re offered, whether we need it or not. You can get into a lot of trouble that way.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I poured Franklin another cup of coffee and he looked at me, his big eyes pleading. The deadheads always look like that when we reach this point. They think that Mars is like Alaska in the ’70s, or Antarctica in 2000; a frontier for brave, determined men. But Mars isn’t a frontier. It’s a dead end.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Society as a whole, he reminded himself, must be protected against the individual, just as a human body must be protected against malfunction of any of its parts. As fond as you might be of your gall bladder, you would sacrifice it mercilessly if it were going to impair the rest of you.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You must remember,” the doctor said, “Society must be protected against the individual.” “Yes,” Feerman said drowsily, “but who is to protect the individual against society?”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You simply can’t throw strangers together at random and expect the fiery, quick romance to turn into love. Love has its own rules and enforces them rigidly.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Had he been right or was he just another visionary?”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sven had the sensation of discovering a new world, a world no civilized man had ever encountered. He was amazed to discover that weirder customs could be found on Earth than anywhere else in the galaxy.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A tremor ran through him. He had chosen, he reminded himself. He alone was responsible. The psychological test had proved that. And yet, how responsible were the psychologists who had given him the test? How responsible was Mike Terry for offering a poor man so much money? Society had woven the noose and put it around his neck, and he was hanging himself with it, and calling it free will.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hope could be dangerous, desire could be catastrophic.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was one hell of an inspection when you went around finding how many sane men you had left.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’m going to leave you here,” Margraves said. “I’ve got some unfinished business to attend to.” “Right,” Branch said, since it was all he could say. He knew that Margraves’ unfinished business concerned a bottle.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I found her charming, went home and thought no more about her. Or, I thought I would think no more about her. But in the following days and nights her image remained obsessively before my eyes. My appetite fell off and I began sleeping badly. My computer checked out the relevant data and told me that I might conceivably be having a nervous breakdown; but the strongest inference was that I was in love.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Charlie Gleister had invented a time machine, but he hadn’t invented it right because it didn’t work.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nothing happens for the first time, especially if what you’re trying to do is to invent something absolutely novel and unprecedented. Of course, if nothing happens for the first time, that leaves the apparent problem of how anything happens at all. But the difficulty is entirely semantic: in the eternal recurrence of subatomic configurations of which our world is a simulacrum, there is no question of beginnings or endings. There are only middles, continuations, repetitions. Originality is a concept possible only to a limited viewpoint.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is all so familiar! I suppose that an electron, traveling from one atom to another, also expects to enter a realm of unimaginable novelty. But perhaps the scenery in every part of the universe is roughly similar; since one sees in accordance with who one is rather than with what is there.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Linguistic accommodation as well. Are they speaking my language or am I speaking theirs? I can never know: the transaction cannot watch itself being transacted.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Not only can you not step into the same river twice; it is not even the same you who can’t step into the same river twice. Everything modifies everything. There is no niche in the past waiting for him to come back and occupy it. Nature will tolerate a paradox, but she abhors a vacuum.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“From one viewpoint there were (potentially) a multiplicity of Gleisters; but from another viewpoint there was only one, and he was that one. After all, it didn’t matter what these other people called themselves or where they came from; he was only the person he was here and now, the person whom he experienced. Reality is positional, ego is relational, and nature doesn’t deal in abstractions.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He turned to Mingus. “Why don’t you just leave them alone? I really don’t care what your motives are. Hasn’t Earth had enough emperors, dictators, generalissimos, war lords, Great Khans, Shahinshahs, Caesars, whatever you want to call them? Some of them had admirable motives—but the only people they really helped were themselves.” “I suppose you feel that a state of anarchy is preferable?” Mingus asked. “I think it probably is,” Hieronymous said. “The main defect of anarchy is its vulnerability to people like you.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Kettelman bristled. Nothing got him angrier than when people implied he was paranoid. It made him feel persecuted.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He exaggerated somewhat. In fact, not one word did he say that was true.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You argue too damned well!” “It is just my good luck,” Detringer said, “that logic happens to be on the side of helping me.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For information concerning the afterlife,” Miss Ophelia said, “kindly contact your nearest priest, minister, rabbi, mullah or anyone else on the accredited list of God’s representatives. Thank you for calling.” There was a sweet tinkle of chimes. Then the line went dead. “What did the Big Fellow say?” asked General Muller. “All I got was double-talk from his secretary.” “Personally, I don’t believe in superstitions like God,” General Muller said. “Even if it happens to be true, I find it healthier not to believe. Shall we get on with it?” They got on with it.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Love, the secret and unofficial heart of pair-bonding behavior, is a force to be reckoned with but never predicted. Love supersedes all other directives and cancels previous obligations. The shared look of love is love’s preview, presenting a foretaste of the joys and sorrows to come, and setting into motion the automatic mating machinery upon which the success and stability of the State depends.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It takes a particular kind of a man to endure the shattering immensities of space and the paranoid-inducing stresses of threats from the unknown. It takes a man with a large and impervious ego and a consistently high degree of aggressive self-confidence. It takes a kind of a nut.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What is the purpose of being really intelligent if not to have the substance of what you want without mistaking it for the shadow?”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But what’s it all for?” “That’s a stupid question. You might as well ask what reality is for.” “Well...what is reality for?”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Curly,” I say, “I know they can’t help being young, but isn’t there something they can do about being so stupid?” “I reckon not, Mr. Washburn,” Curly says.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source