Brian Aldiss Quotes

Most of my poetry lies beyond the SF field, yet here I am corralled into 'SF poetry' as part of this poetry weekend. Of course, some might say, 'you've made your own bed — now you must lie in it!' But, while fully accepting that dictum, I'm not yet quite prepared to lie down...

Far from being unnatural, as you call, it is commonplace when you have evil conditions. Poverty is more strong than morality. That’s another reason why for the world must submit to progress. Misery must be decreased before everyone will choke to death on it.

If adolescence did not exist it would be unnecessary to invent it!

They were both sweating freely.

Many modifications in private and public life took place. Privacy ceasing to exist, all new houses were glass-built, curtains abolished, walls pulled down. Police went, the entire legal structure vanished overnight — a man does not litigate against himself. A parody of Parliament remained, to deal with foreign affairs, but party politics, elections, leaders in newspapers (even newspapers themselves) were scrapped.

There has always been a belief in miracles in the popular mind. As L. Sprague de Camp once said, the public would rather be bunked than debunked.

The ability to change should not be despised.

The directors of Synthank were eating an enormous luncheon to celebrate the launching of their new product. Some of them wore the plastic face-masks popular at the time. All were elegantly slender, despite the rich food and drink they were putting away. Their wives were elegantly slender, despite the food and drink they too were putting away. An earlier and less sophisticated generation would have regarded them as beautiful people, apart from their eyes.

I feel happy or sad. I love people. Therefore I am human. Isn't that so?

On Mars, Venus, Mercury, and the moons of Jupiter, human beings were more free — free to found their own petty nations and ruin their own lives their own way.

If more people had put their fellow human beings before abstractions last century, we shouldn’t be where we are now.

Family must rely upon family, since governments do not comprehend families.

Never, never let action become a substitute for thought.

One of the objections I have against Campbell's Astounding was that there was too little love in it. It was a very loveless magazine. They never took enough account of the feeling that is always in SF.

Sadness is just happiness in reverse. We humans have to put up with it. Just being human is an awful burden to bear.