Greg Bear Quotes

Can’t own a woman, Mike. Wonderful companions, can’t own them.

The hardest theme in science fiction is that of the alien. The simplest solution of all is in fact quite profound—that the real difficulty lies not in understanding what is alien, but in understanding what is self. We are all aliens to each other, all different and divided. We are even aliens to ourselves at different stages of our lives. Do any of us remember precisely what it was like to be a baby?

8. “It’s not impossible,” Minelli said.
“No,” Edward admitted, “but it’s paranoid as hell, and that’s the last thing we need, more fear.”

More and more I am nothing without someone. To be alone is to be in bad company.

We have arisen as the result of purely natural processes; one of the great achievements of modern science has been the elimination of God or others teleologisms him as a necessity from our explanations.

We were innocent and did not know that the price of freedom—of individuality—is attention to politics, careful planning, careful organization; philosophy is no more a barrier against political disaster than it is against plague.

What he liked he despised for being likable.

Institutions, like any organism, hate to die.

I felt myself growing older. I didn’t see it as an improvement.

6. “That’s insane,” Lanier said.
“No very. It’s politics.”

Conflict of the sexes is not a disease; it is an unavoidable byproduct like the smoke and water from a fire.

1. “Being scared is nothing,” the old woman said. “Being bored, or ignorant—now that’s a crime.”

The slogan of those who advocated therapy was, “A sane society is a polite society.”

With a little ceremony, and not much in the way of clothing left to remove, we celebrated still being alive.

Whom could I blame?
Ultimately, one man who had started a strangely secular church, attracting people good and bad, faithful and cynical, starting an organization too large and too well-financed and organized to simply fade: promulgating a series of lies become sacred truths. How often had that happened in human history, and how many had suffered and died?