Jack McDevitt Quotes

But the old man had provided his kids with one priceless gift: He’d encouraged them to read, and he didn’t bother too much about the content, subscribing to the theory that good books ultimately speak for themselves.

When do we reach a point where people become responsible for their own actions?

Most of my business comes from picking up the pieces when people get things wrong." She grinned. "I'll never lack for work.

Lasker mouthed, “Trust him,” and Max sighed. Trust a lawyer? It flew in the face of his most cherished principles.

Never confuse perfection with production. People who don’t make mistakes aren’t doing anything.

Ev was a careful man, a model of caution. He took pride in not committing to a view until all the facts were in. Which meant, of course, that he was never quite on board. Or in opposition.

He expected to have only one clear shot at the assorted joys of living, and he had no intention of risking it to meet someone else’s misconceived expectations.

Max was the exception. He had no taste for military life or for the prospect of getting shot at. His father, Colonel Maxwell E. Collingwood, USAF (retired), to his credit, tried to hide his disappointment in his only son. But it was there nonetheless, and Max had, on more than one occasion, overheard him wondering aloud to Max’s mother whether there was anything at all to genetics.

He was usually easygoing, one of those guys with little respect for authority because of a conviction that people in charge tend to do stupid things.

At night the sea is very loud,
And voices ride the tide.
At another time, in another place,
Beneath the silent moon,
We laughed together.

If you want data to survive, carve it in rock.

Technological civilizations don’t last long. You're all right until you get a printing press. Then a race starts between technology and common sense. And maybe technology always wins.

Technology is dangerous."
"How do you mean?"
"It can provide horrendous weapons to idiots.

The kids were both adolescents, at that happy stage where they could simultaneously make him confident about the future while they were sabotaging the present.

It's all PR," said Hutchins. "If we ever produced a person who was unrelentingly honest, everybody would want him dead.