John Joseph Adams > Quotes

“They almost killed me.” “I guess they didn’t.”
― John Joseph Adams, Wastelands 2: More Stories of the Apocalypse

“They say you can’t remember pain—the fact of it, yes, but the truth of it, the physical texture of agony? Gone and forgotten. Which makes it easy to forget that pain hurts, that the wounded life isn’t always worth living.”
― John Joseph Adams, The End is Nigh

“It is only when we have the courage to face things exactly as they are, without any self-deception or illusion, that a light will develop out of events, by which the path to success may be recognized.”
― John Joseph Adams, The End is Now

“The city has millions of stories that I don’t know. Never did and never will.”
― John Joseph Adams, The End Has Come

“The lone attendant wasn’t paying any attention to the register; he just stood, mouth half open, holding the remote like maybe if he could change the channel he could change the future. The Moon was gone.”
― John Joseph Adams, The End is Now

“The fairy tale of heaven, the promise that whatever shit happens, your story gets a happy ending. The Bible, boiled down: Once upon a time I helped some poor suckers out and someday, maybe, if you’re good, I’ll help you too,”
― John Joseph Adams, The End is Nigh

“Enjoy the moment. We don’t have forever.”
― John Joseph Adams, The End is Nigh

“I remembered that, trying to survive the battle zone, dodging artillery fire between the kid you were and the man you were supposed to be. The world screamed at you to grow up, your zits and your twitchy dick agreed it was about time, but you were still afraid of the dark, you still slept with that old teddy bear, you still wanted your mommy.”
― John Joseph Adams, The End is Nigh

“Post-apocalyptic fiction is about worlds that have already burned. Apocalyptic fiction is about worlds that are burning.

The End is Nigh is about the match.”
― John Joseph Adams, The End is Nigh

“You are so ridiculous,” said the lion. “Thinking that your thinking is worth thinking about.”
― John Joseph Adams, Oz Reimagined: New Tales from the Emerald City and Beyond

“You don’t need to cure the lepers to be a faith healer. We’re all of us in my business doing the same work, because what is faith but another story that you tell yourself to feel better?”
― John Joseph Adams, The End is Nigh

“Will the last person on the planet please turn off the lights?”
― John Joseph Adams, Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse

“The lesson you receive from The Chronicles of Narnia is that reality is not where it’s at, my friend, so get out by any point of egress you can find and get into somewhere better.”
― John Joseph Adams, Other Worlds Than These

“Those are stories, little one,” said the cobbler. “Stories are made up except when they’re not.”
― John Joseph Adams, Oz Reimagined: New Tales from the Emerald City and Beyond

“The comic on the top of the stack catches my eye. Is this the end for Commander Justice? I wish, but of course it isn’t. I flip through the first few pages before tossing the candy-colored propaganda aside. “You really shouldn’t read this crap,” I tell Carl when he finally comes back into the room. “It can’t be doing anything for your confidence.” “I need to keep up with his latest crime-fighting techniques.” “No, you don’t. You need to shoot him in the face.”
― John Joseph Adams, The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius

“remember that you can retain your humanity if you continue to be humane.”
― John Joseph Adams, Wastelands 2: More Stories of the Apocalypse

“It’s harder than you think for a being of pure scientific evil to hold regular office hours.”
― John Joseph Adams, The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius

“Yes, by your standards I’m an old geezer. When I joined up, we downloaded sprogs on 28.8 baud modems. My 8086 barely had enough processing power to cast even the most simple cantrips. Also, I walked to school uphill both ways without an energy boost sprog. Oh, and our music was better than the crap you kids listen to.”
― John Joseph Adams, The Way of the Wizard

“The dinosaurs never discovered what caused their extinction, either.”
― John Joseph Adams, Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse

“Surely love cannot exist outside of time. It depends upon small objects.”
― John Joseph Adams, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016

“Science fiction and fantasy, though they seem to be about the future or fictional worlds, are always at their core really about the problems and issues of today.”
― John Joseph Adams, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016

“I also know they might be nothing more than a man hungry for meanings inventing them where they don’t exist. Arguably, all meanings are invented anyway; and since I have no one to please but myself, and no one to read this who will care, except perhaps one, then I may write as I please, and think as I please, and reread this whenever I can bear it.”
― John Joseph Adams, Wastelands 2: More Stories of the Apocalypse

“we will protest the waste of international resources in any way necessary to make it clear that we are serious about our goal, and ensure that we eliminate the rising and dangerous power of mass delusion in the hands of the under-informed.”
― John Joseph Adams, Wastelands 2: More Stories of the Apocalypse

“When the worst thing you can possibly imagine happens, you’re free from the fear of it for the rest of your life.”
― John Joseph Adams, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016

“and so it was that the cockroach men became the rulers of the earth.”
― John Joseph Adams, Wastelands 2: More Stories of the Apocalypse

“to be loved is not the same as to be known.”
― John Joseph Adams, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016

“Remember. This is one of the verbs they will try to remove from your brain. Remember. If you cannot remember, they can tell you anything about the past—your own or the world’s—and you will not be able to know if they are telling the truth.”
― John Joseph Adams, Wastelands 2: More Stories of the Apocalypse

“The idea that he’d be entering this world involuntarily—the enhancers’ realm, the political imbroglio—disturbed him. That he’d have to claim a stance, take a side, defend the technological advances by virtue of their medical purpose. Be grouped with the believers by default. He”
― John Joseph Adams, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016

“There is some sickness in man, some paranoid delusion, some grandiose morbidity that runs right through to distant ancestors. Or maybe it is the fear in lonely hearts that they might die without company.”
― John Joseph Adams, The End is Nigh

“For months now she’s been fantasizing about being more than she is, but it isn’t coming true. What if she could step into the fast, fast world without being missed? What she wants now, more than anything, is a placeholder, someone to keep her life intact while she goes on a little reconnaissance trip.”
― John Joseph Adams, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016