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Nothing is more conspicuous than a farting princess.
Jack Vance
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They call me a renegade.
The epithet is inaccurate and undeserved. I cannot be faithless to a cause which I never have endorsed. Indeed, I am absolutely faithful to the only cause I espouse, which is my own welfare. I take pride in this unswerving loyalty!
Jack Vance
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The mind was a marvellous instrument, thought Shimrod; when left to wander untended, it often arrived at curious destinations.
Jack Vance
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Down we go, said Paddy. Now pray to Saint Anthony if you be a good Catholic—
I'm not, snapped Fay, and if you'll give more mind to the boat and less to religion we'll gain by it.
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Aillas replied that while King Audry cited several points of technical interest, and used the resources of abstract logic in an adroit manner, he had actually made no connection with reality.
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Happiness is fugitive; dissatisfaction and boredom are real.
Jack Vance
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Claghorn had long insisted that no human condition endured forever, with the corollary that the more complicated such a condition, the greater its susceptibility to change.
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Of all questions, why? is the least pertinent. It begs the question; it assumes the larger part of its own response; to wit, that a sensible response exists.
Jack Vance
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This is no science, this is art, where equations fall away to elements like resolving chords, and where always prevails a symmetry either explicit or multiplex, but always of a crystalline serenity.
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The person who, let us say, expects generosity from a bank, efficient flexibility from a government agency, open-mindedness from a religious institution will be disappointed. In each purview the notions represent immorality. The poor fool might as quickly discover love among the mantises.
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It sees that you are wrong, that you are guided by faith indeed.
The Demie fell silent. His face seemed to stiffen.
Are these not facts? asked Joaz. How do you reconcile them with your faith?
The Demie said mildly, Facts can never be reconciled with faith.
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Why not alter the habits of a lifetime and speak with candour? asked Shimrod. Truth, after all, need not be only the tactic of last resort.
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I'm only giving orders because I'm more efficient and smarter than you are.
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Law cannot reach where enforcement will not follow. —Popular aphorism.
Jack Vance
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A man is like a rope: both break at a definite strain.... The solution is not splicing the rope; it's lessening the tension.
Jack Vance
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Your character, Apollon Zamp, is marred by a certain paltriness of spirit, a diffused universal distrust which I truly deplore.
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"Here you see the pattern from which my great work is derived. It expresses the symbolic significance of NULLITY to which TOTALITY must necessarily attach itself, by Kratinjae's Second Law of Cryptorrhoid Affinities, with which you are possibly familiar." <br.> "Not in every aspect," said Cugel.
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In the end, death came uniformly to all, and all extracted as much satisfaction from their dying as this essentially graceless process could afford.
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You have frightened and daunted me. I will stop stealing at once.
Jack Vance
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All is mutability, and thus your three hundred terces has fluctuated to three.
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I gathered that the old fellow suffers from some advanced form of senile dementia, and so perhaps his analysis is not totally accurate.
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The less a writer discusses his work—and himself—the better. The master chef slaughters no chickens in the dining room; the doctor writes prescriptions in Latin; the magician hides his hinges, mirrors, and trapdoors with the utmost care.
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It had been suggested to her that the flaw lay not in the universe but in herself.
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You emphasize morality. But the ultimate basis of morality is survival. What promotes survival is good; what induces mortifaction is bad.
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Your doctrines are remarkable! As if I existed only to fulfill your cravings! Then, since I do not care to do so, the cosmos must be considered insane.
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Quote of the day
Be a sinner and sin strongly, but more strongly have faith and rejoice in Christ.
Martin Luther
Jack Vance
Creative Commons
Born:
August 28, 1916
Died:
May 26, 2013
(aged 96)
Bio:
John Holbrook "Jack" Vance was an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer.
Known for:
The Dying Earth (1950)
The Eyes of the Overworld (1966)
Cugel's Saga (1983)
The Dragon Masters (1962)
Emphyrio (1969)
Most used words:
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cugel
understand
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truth
real
condition
thought
time
care
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universe
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madouc
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