The gods do not protect fools. Fools are protected by more capable fools.
Exercise is wonderful,” said Louis. “I could sit and watch it all day.
Once Louis Wu had sworn to live forever.
The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn’t have a space program.
The reader has certain rights. He bought your story. Think of this as an implicit contract. He’s entitled to be entertained, instructed, amused; maybe all three. If he quits in the middle, or puts the book down feeling his time has been wasted, you’re in violation.
Ethics change with technology.
In the world of words the imagination is one of the forces of nature.
One mark of a good officer, he remembered, was the ability to make quick decisions. If they happen to be right, so much the better.
Everything starts as somebody’s daydream.
Once every hundred years, the Los Angeles smog rolls away for a single night, leaving the air as clean as interstellar space. That way the gods can see if Los Angeles is still there. If it is, they roll the smog back so they won’t have to look at it.
My problem with new writers is that it takes me five or six years to memorise the right names.
We learn only to ask more questions.