Robert J. Sawyer Quotes

Free will is an illusion. It is synonymous with incomplete perception.

And Canadians didn’t like guns, either—they had no Second Amendment, or whatever damned thing it was that made Americans think they could go around armed.

He who foresees calamities suffers them twice over.

The fundamental of war has always been dehumanizing the enemy, seeing him as a soulless animal.

Kyle was both deeply great and deeply flawed—peaks and valleys, more and less than she’d ever thought he was.
But, she realized, whatever he was now, she could accept it; the fit between them wasn’t ideal, and probably never would be. But she knew in her heart that it was better than it could be with anyone else. And perhaps acknowledging that was as good a definition of love as any.

Cheetah is an APE," said Kyle. "You know, a computer simulation the apes humanity."
"I really do find the use of the term 'ape' offensive," said Cheetah.
Kyle smiled. "See? Genuine-sounding indignation. I programmed that myself. It's the first thing you need in a university environment: the ability to take offense at any slight, real or imagined."

Well, that can happen. Memories can be implanted, even just through suggestion and constant repetition. And if a therapist augments that with hypnosis, really unshakable false memories can be created."
"But why on earth would a therapist do that?"
Heather looked grim. "To quote an old Psych Department joke, there are many routes to mental health, but none so lucrative as Freudian analysis."

'Justice,' he said, his breath coming out raggedly as he quoted another Nobel laureate—at that precise moment, he couldn't remember which one—'is always delayed and finally done only by mistake.'

He cursed himself for thinking anything this complex would end up not being a source of problems.

...but there, because there is no grace of God, go I.

There was a small crucifix above the door to his room; it had been there since he’d been a little boy. He stared up at the tiny Jesus—but there was no point in praying. The die was cast; what was done was done.

Children play with toy soldiers," said Keith, looking now at Jag. "Child races play with real ones. Maybe it's time all of us grew up a bit."

It had to begin somewhere—maturity, the stage after the midlife crisis, peace. It had to begin somewhere.

“What arrogant fools we are!” said Jag. “Don’t you see?” To this day, despite all the humbling lessons the universe has already taught us, we still try to retain a central role in creation. We devise theories of cosmology that say the universe was destined to give rise to us, that it had to evolve life like us. Humans call it the anthropic principle, my people called it the aj-Waldahudigralt principle, but it’s all the same thing: the desperate, deep-rooted need to believe that we are significant, that we’re important.

“But you get along with humans now, which is something my people are having trouble managing. How do you do it?”
Longbottle barked, “Accept their weaknesses, welcome their strengths.”
Jag was silent.