Robert J. Sawyer Quotes

Canadian science fiction writer (born 1960)

Robert James Sawyer (born 29 April 1960) is a Canadian science fiction writer, dubbed "the dean of Canadian science fiction" by the Ottawa Citizen in 1999. He describes himself as a "hard science-fiction writer." His work often delves into metaphysics, à la Arthur C. Clarke, and philosophy; he very much comes from the school that says science fiction is the literature of ideas.

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Alternative Names: Robert James Sawyer • Robert Sawyer

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I’m old, and if that has one advantage, it’s perspective: I’ve seen so much change during my lifetime.

We cannot be afraid to look.
"But some things are best left unknown," she said.
"Nothing is best left unknown," said Toroca. "Nothing."

I have no choice, do I?
Afsan turned his blind eyes on his friend. "That's the funny thing about being a leader, Dybo: you rarely do."

Science holds our answer; knowledge—real knowledge, verifiable knowledge, not superstition, not religious nonsense—will be our salvation.

I am a priest. It’s my job to whip individuals or groups into a frenzy.

You know his dictum: nothing is anything unless it is something. That is, a concept without material reality is meaningless.

“That’s not an appealing thought.”
Afsan had never worried about how appealing any given idea was, only about how accurate it might be.

I've never heard you talk like this before.
"We all change with the passing of the days."

Afsan stood tall. “I am not afraid.”
“Fear is important, young one. Fear is the counselor. Those who don’t know when to fear wind up dead.”

It embodies, perhaps more clearly than anything else I've written, the central theme of all my work: namely, that clearheaded, unflinching, rational thinking is the only effective way to deal with reality.