Jack Vance Quotes

My own concepts in this regard are easy and clear, and I am sure that the word “simplistic” will be used by my critics. These folk are callow and turgid of intellect; I am reassured by their howls and yelps.

My great pleasure is creation—of this I never tire. Some of my guests have complained of a gentle melancholy which hangs in the air; I agree that the mood exists. The explanation, I believe, arises from the fugacity of beauty, the tragic pavanne to which all of us step.

“No,” said Travec, “religions, cults, rituals—forms of insanity—don’t interest me.”

Which is better: cheap submission or expensive independence?

Notice this rent in my garment; I am at a loss to explain its presence! I am even more puzzled by the existence of the universe.

"The contingency is remote." (This is also a Jeeves quote in the PG Wodehouse Novels)

Sorry, I’m not at home. I have gone out to my world Fancy, and I cannot be reached. Call back in a week, unless your business is urgent, in which case call back in a month.

My brain, otherwise a sound instrument, has a serious defect—a hypertrophied lobe of curiosity.

What a strange and unfamiliar world if everyone were treated according to his deserts!

“I was trained in the old tradition! We found our strength in the basic verities, to which you, as a patrician, must surely subscribe. Am I right in this?”
“Absolutely, and in all respects!” declared Cugel. “Recognizing, of course, that these fundamental verities vary from region to region, and even from person to person.”

“I am not skilled at inventing punishments.”
“Nor are they to my taste. I enjoy creating conditions of justice. All too often, however, I must ordain harsh penalties. It is the disagreeable side to my work. The preferences of the criminal, of course, can’t be considered; as often as not, he will opt for leniency even no punishment whatever.”

“Navigation on this lake is forbidden to aliens,” he declared. “We are ordered to sink all intruding vessels. Prepare to drown.”

The purportedly free was seldom as represented.

Deeming the unsubstantiated dogma of a localized religious cult to be an undignified and unsuitable base on which to erect the chronology of galactic man, the members of this convention hereby declare that time shall now be reckoned from the year 2000 A.D. (Old System), which becomes the year 0. The revolution of Earth about Sol remains the standard annual unit.

Rute showed Maihac a sour smile. “You seem to lack confidence in my integrity.”
“You are wealthy,” said Maihac. “Your money did of the come to you because of your bonhomie.”