Jay Lake Quotes

Magic, the blessed curse that gnaws at the soul and leaves a void in the mind into which too much that is alien and deadly can settle.

Some things change a man slowly. Journeys. The passage of years. The love of a good woman. Imprisonment. The monk paused a moment. Horn sensed he was speaking from experience, looking back at his own paths. Then: Some things change a man swiftly. War. Disease. Shipwrecks. The love of a bad woman.

Because, really, what else is there? Life is years of sheer, endless boredom punctuated by bouts of the mildly interesting. Not much to do, not much to believe in. Just eat, sleep, shit, breathe, breed, grow old and die.

No, Horn replied. I am a seeker of wisdom. The old man squinted, taking in Horn's scars, motley head of fire-scarred hair, and ropy muscles. Looks like you haven't found it yet, or you'd have learned to stay out of trouble.

He’d volunteered for the Howard Institute program because of the most basic human motivation—tourism. Seeing what was over the next hill had trumped even sex as the driving force in human evolution.

Sarita placed little faith in such rumors. The fears of small people everywhere could speak louder than any voice, and with less reason. Legends were just that: legendary.

With age came wisdom. Sometimes wisdom came with an ass kicking, too. And nothing could kick ass like the whole world.

The problem with basing your entire economy and raison d’être on a constrained resource was that eventually you ran out of the resource in question. Decisions which had seemed canny two centuries ago during the bright days of the port’s founding and initial construction were now foolhardy in the blindingly obvious light of hindsight.

Art unexamined is, after all, art unexperienced.

All men are born to die…Once a fool pretends otherwise.