John Scalzi Quotes

Imagine if every species named itself after its greatest flaw. We could name our species arrogance.

Human technology was good, and weapon to weapon humans were as well-equipped as the vast majority of their adversaries. But the weapon that ultimately matters is the one behind the trigger.

When you control communication, you can hide anything you want.

I have no idea what that means, Nick," Paulson said. "Talk normal human to me.

You are sufficiently like me to officially be interesting.

“I didn’t say that,” Szilard said, in a tone that implied that perhaps he had.

“Do you believe that?” I asked.
“It doesn’t matter whether I believe it or not,” Redhouse said.

I had never seen so many old people in one place at one time. Neither had Harry. “It’s like Wednesday morning at the world’s biggest Denny’s,” he said.

I don't appreciate the suggestion that I'm acting irrationally," he said.
"Then don't act irrationally," Jane said, "because there will be consequences.

Those people you saw—the realborn—are born without a plan. They’re born because biology tells humans to make more humans; but it doesn’t consider what to do with them after that. Realborn go for years without the slightest clue what they’re going to do with themselves. From what I understand, some of them never actually figure it out. They just walk through life in a daze and then fall into their graves at the end of it. Sad. And inefficient.

“I don’t know,” Davidson said. “Maybe it’s not about politics. Maybe these guys are just assholes.”
“Seems the simplest explanation,” I said.

Many people believe geekdom is defined by a love of a thing, but I think - and my experience of geekdom bears on this thinking - that the true sign of a geek is a delight in sharing a thing. It's the major difference between a geek and a hipster, you know: When a hipster sees someone else grooving on the thing they love, their reaction is to say "Oh, crap, now the wrong people like the thing I love." When a geek sees someone else grooving on the thing they love, their reaction is to say "ZOMG YOU LOVE WHAT I LOVE COME WITH ME AND LET US LOVE IT TOGETHER."

Who are you and what medications aren’t you taking?

Teenagers can be idiotic and stupid, but teenagers also model their behavior from the signals they get from adults.

You don’t win by getting through all your life not having done anything.