The vampire legend, he might conclude, has served conveniently for many thousand years as a conventional folk expression of unconscious feelings of a… - Jack Williamson

The mystery of it gets me. The builders of the trilithons and the road were high-tech wizards, but their skills didn’t save them. I’ve been wondering how they died. Maybe they got too good at the science of war.

The criticism of SF has tapped rich new vines for researchers, and I can think of writers who seem to be trying harder to impress the critics than to please their readers. I’m afraid the critical tail has begun to wag the creative dog.

“I don’t see the necessity of this mummery—”
“Necessity?” Wu said. “Free will is a necessity. And the illusion is more important than the reality.”