“Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.”
-Sarah Williams, “The Old Astronomer to His Pupil”
“Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?”
-Garth Nix, “Sabriel”
“It is important that we know where we come from, because if you do not know where you come from, then you don’t know where you are, and if you don’t know where you are, then you don’t know where you’re going. And if you don’t know where you’re going, you’re probably going wrong.”
-Terry Pratchett
“Facts are for people who can’t create their own truth. Fact.”
-Bucky Kat
“Life is like a black hole. You don’t know what lies ahead. You can’t ever turn back. All you can do is move forward.”
-Hiroshi Yamamoto, “The Stories of Ibis”
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
-Carl Sagan
“Everyone’s a gamer. Some just haven’t realized it yet.”
-GameInformer Magazine
“I am so far out of sane that you appear a tiny blip on the distant coast of sanity.”
-Bucky Kat
“Why else do any of this if not to become who we want to be?”
-Anthony Doerr, “All the Light We Cannot See”
“A child is born, and the world sets in upon it. Taking things from it, stuffing things into it. Each bite of food, each particle of light entering the eye – the body can never be pure.”
-Anthony Doerr, “All the Light We Cannot See”
“What mazes there are in this world. The branches of trees, the filigree of roots, the matrix of crystals…None more complicated than the human brain; one wet kilogram within which spin universes.”
-Anthony Doerr, “All the Light We Cannot See”
“I see that it is by no means useless to travel, if a man wants to see something new.”
-Jules Verne, “Around the World in Eighty Days”
“As long as science advances, as long as mathematics discovers incredible worlds where twice two would never dream of equalling four: so new ideas will come tumbling into the mind of anyone who will let his thoughts wander, passport in hand, along the borders of Possibility. There are no Customs regulations; anything you see in your travels in those neighbouring lands you can bring back with you. But in the country of the Impossible, there are many wonders too delicate and too fragile to survive transportation.”
-Arthur C. Clarke, “Reverie”
“‘I don’t suppose he could even integrate e to the x.’
‘Is such ignorance possible?’ gasped someone.
‘Maybe I exaggerate. Let’s say x e to the x'”
-Arthur C. Clarke, “Silence Please”
“How wonderful it will be if the universe really contains other intelligences and other societies! Bystanders will have the clearest view. Someone truly neutral will then be able to comment on whether we’re the heroes or villains of history.”
-Cixin Liu, “The Three-Body Problem”
“Turbulence was everywhere, within every blade of grass, every drop of dew on a leaf, every cloud in the sky, and every star beyond. The turbulence was purposeless, but in huge quantities of purposeless turbulence, purpose took shape.”
-Cixin Liu, “The Dark Forest”
“‘Do you know what the greatest expression of regard for a race or civilization is?’
‘No, what?’
‘Annihilation. That’s the highest respect a civilization can receive. They would only feel threatened by a civilization they truly respect.'”
-Cixin Liu, “The Dark Forest”
“Even when you have doubts, take that step. Take chances. Mistakes are never a failure – they can be turned into wisdom.”
-Cat Cora
“We are made of stardust; why not take a few moments to look up at the family album?”
-Natalie Angier, “The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science”
“One’s life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, and compassion.”
-Simone de Beauvoir
“I was up late tailing a phoenix
migrating under galaxies unheard.
Its fury never shy, its magic in great supply
this wonder, my second favorite firebird.”
-Rocket Ship Resort, “Blue Eyes”
“Gravity’s just a habit you’re pretty sure you can’t break.”
-OK Go, “Upside Down & Inside Out”
“This our cry, this our prayer: for building peace in the world.”
-Children’s Peace Monument, Hiroshima, Japan
“The purpose of a good education is to show you that there are three sides to a two-sided story.”
-Stanley Fish
“Time flows in the same way for all human beings; every human being flows through time in a different way. ”
-Yasunari Kawabata
“So many things are possible as long as you don’t know they are impossible.”
-Mildred D. Taylor
“The ultimate fate of all intelligent beings has always been to become as grand as their thoughts.”
-Cixin Liu, “Death’s End”
“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.”
-Marie Curie
“Life would be tragic if it weren’t funny.”
-Stephen Hawking
“There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.”
-J.R.R. Tolkien
“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.”
-Isaac Asimov
“Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors.”
-Carl Sagan
“Love with your heart. Use your head for everything else.”
-Alan Melikdjanian
““Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –
I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.”
-Emily Dickinson
“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.”
-A.A. Milne
“No one can change the past. The only thing we can do is strive to make up for our mistakes. Why must we make up for our mistakes, you ask? Because in so doing… we can find the way back to our path. And once we’ve found our path, we can move on from our past mistakes toward a brighter future.”
-Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney