David Brin Quotes

85 Sourced Quotes

A neurosis defends itself by coming up with rationalizations to explain away bizarre behavior.

David Brin
Where were answers to the truly deep questions? Religion promised those, though always in vague terms, while retreating from one line in the sand to the next. Don't look past this boundary, they told Galileo, then Hutton, Darwin, Von Neumann, and Crick, always retreating with great dignity before the latest scientific advance, then drawing the next holy perimeter at the shadowy rim of knowledge.

David Brin
We are having extreme difficulty with local gangs of Survivalists. Fortunately, these infestations of egotists are mostly too paranoid to band together. They're as much trouble to each other as to us, I suppose. Still, they are becoming a real problem.

David Brin
All this talk of using tax policy to 'assess social costs'... what a dumb idea. The only way to stop polluters is to put them against walls and shoot them.

David Brin
From you, my boy, I expect no less than the completely preposterous and utterly calamitous.

David Brin
Self-awareness is probably overrated. A complex, self-regulating system doesn't need it in order to be successful, or even smart.

David Brin
One of life's joys was to have friends who gave you reality checks... who would call you on your crap before it rose so high you drowned in it.

David Brin
How did he get away with pushing a book like this? How is it anyone ever believed him?
Gordon shrugged. It was called 'the Big Lie' technique, Johnny. Just sound like you know what you're talking about—as if you're reciting facts. Talk very fast. Weave your lies into the shape of a conspiracy theory and repeat your assertions over and over again. Those who want an excuse to hate or blame—those with big but weak egos—will leap at a simple, neat explanation for the way the world is. Those types will never call you on the facts.

David Brin
It was silly to suppose that trials only hardened men, automatically making them wise. He knew many who were stupid, arrogant, and mean, in spite of having suffered.

David Brin
They saw the end coming, he thought, looking down the file of awful figures. But they were dead wrong about the reasons why. They assumed only gods had the power to wreak such havoc on their world, but people caused the devastation here.
Alex felt compassion for the ancient Pasquans—but a superior sort nevertheless. In blaming gods, they had conveniently diverted censure from the real culprit. The designer of weapons. The feller of trees. The destroyer. Man himself.

David Brin
He read about humanity's age-old racial struggles. Had it really been less than half a millennium since humans contrived gigantic, fatuous lies about each other simply because of pigment shades, and killed millions because they believed their own lies?

David Brin
It's clear that male human beings should never have been left in control of the world all these centuries. Many of you are wonderful beyond belief, but too many others will always be bloody lunatics.
Your sex is simply built that way. Its better side gave us power and light, science and reason, medicine and philosophy. Meanwhile the dark half spent its time dreaming up unimaginable hells and putting them into practice.

David Brin
Look at all the happiest, sanest people you've known, Nelson. Really listen to them. I bet you'll find they don't fear a little inconsistency or uncertainty now and then. Oh, they try always to be true to their core beliefs, to achieve their goals and keep their promises. Still, they also avoid too much rigidity, forgiving the occasional contradiction and unexpected thought. They are content to be many.

David Brin
You don't have conversations with microprocessors. You tell them what to do, then helplessly watch the disaster when they take you literally!

David Brin
Prison for the crime of puberty—that was how secondary school had seemed, when he really thought back on it.

David Brin
Words penetrated the tank from the outer room. They were tantalizing, like those ghosts of meaning in a great symphony—hinting that the composer had caught a glimpse of something notes could only vaguely convey and words could never even approach.

David Brin
History and geology show what an eyeblink it's been since our current, comfortable culture came about. And yet that culture is using up absolutely everything at a ferocious rate.

David Brin
Where is it written that one should only care about big things? I fought for big things, long ago... for issues, principles, a country. Where are all of them now?
The steely gray eyes were narrow and sad when next he looked up at Gordon. I found out something, you know. I discovered that the big things don't love you back. They take and take, and never give in return. They'll drain your blood, your soul, if you let them, and never let go.
I lost my wife, my son, while away battling for big things. They needed me, but I had to go off trying to save the world. Powhatan snorted at the last phrase. Today I fight for my people, for my farm—for smaller things—things I can hold.

David Brin
He was, after all, a diplomat, and understood that the best and firmest deals are based on open self-interest.

David Brin
Nation states are archaic leftovers from when each man feared the tribe over the hill, an attitude we can't afford anymore.

David Brin
Every marvel of our age arose out of the critical give and take of an open society. No other civilization ever managed to incorporate this crucial innovation, weaving it into daily life. And if you disagree with this... say so!

David Brin
All legends must be based on lies, Gordon realized. We exaggerate, and even come to believe the tales, after a while.

David Brin
There's no urgency, a third voice urged, pleading compromise. No duty calls. Hold onto the illusion a little longer.
So she tried to go on pretending. After all, can't believing sometimes make dreams come true?
No, it can't. Besides, you're awake now.

David Brin
He managed to lie by implication while speaking words that were the literal truth, a skill he had grown good at, if not proud of.

David Brin
He wasn't afraid of dying, only of having not done all he could, and not properly spitting in the eye of death when it came for him. That final gesture was important.

David Brin