George Alec Effinger Quotes

“You shouldn’t be so critical,” said Mike the bartender. “Some people like this kind of thing, you know.”
“The kind of person who gets excited over that, I don’t care about,” said Ernest.

Useful! You want to talk about useful? Have you ever read anything about politics? Economics? You know what keeps a culture alive?
Yes," said Ernest sullenly, while M. Gargotier cleaned up the mess. "People not bothering other people.

I looked good, faster than light with a little money in my pocket. You know what I mean. I was the same as always: the clothes looked first-rate. That was fine, because most people only look at the clothes, anyway.

I was no more eccentric than your average raving loon.

Turmoil and revolution in their best guises serve to tear down ancient and meaningless customs, in favor of practical social reform.

“I think you should know that I’m a devout Christian.” I took that to mean that my new servant wholeheartedly disapproved of almost everything I might say or do.

I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked awful, but I always look awful in the mirror. I keep myself going with the firm belief that my real face is much better looking.

Brant felt a spasm of pain. “Uh,” she said. She closed her eyes tight until the pain went away.
“Can I do anything?” said Staefler.
“Yes,” she said. “Have my baby for me.”

Sometimes the only vitamins I get are in the lime slices in my gimlets.

I see unhealthy signs of a new regime of religiosity and conservatism.

Perhaps he could organize everyone. He could stand up on something and shout slogans until he had attracted enough attention. Then he could begin some rambling speech, hoping that the people around him would be so desperate for leadership they wouldn’t notice the absurdity of what he said.

“What do you know about the activities of the brain and the nervous system?”
I laughed. “About as much as any hustler from the Budayeen who can barely read and write his name. I know that the brain is in the head, I’ve heard that it’s a bad idea to let some thug spill it on the sidewalk. Beyond that, I don’t know much.” I did, truthfully, know some more, but I always hold something in reserve. It’s a good policy to be a little quicker, a little stronger, and a little smarter than everybody thinks you are.

Proper knowledge defeats the shouting minions of emotion.

Are you happy, Norman?" asked Brant.
Well, sure, I guess.
That's what I thought," she said bitterly. "Neither am I.

Any thought which is printed, either here or in the paper, without subsequent attack is generally believed to be true. This is not so much a logical condition as it is a fault of human nature. A longstanding or constant idea is often equated with a true one.