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Start by following Larry Niven.
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“The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn't have a space program. And if we become extinct because we don't have a space program, it'll serve us right!”
―
―
“Mother Nature doesn't care if you're having fun. ”
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“That's the thing about people who think they hate computers. What they really hate is lousy programmers.”
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―
“1a) Never throw shit at an armed man.
1b) Never stand next to someone who is throwing shit at an armed man.”
― N-Space
1b) Never stand next to someone who is throwing shit at an armed man.”
― N-Space
“Never fire a laser at a mirror. ”
―
―
“There is a technical, literary term for those who mistake the opinions and beliefs of characters in a novel for those of the author. The term is 'idiot'.”
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“Humans," said the puppeteer, "should not be allowed to run loose. You will surely harm yourselves.”
― Ringworld
― Ringworld
“Nitwit ideas are for emergencies. You use them when you've got nothing else to try. If they work, they go in the Book. Otherwise you follow the Book, which is largely a collection of nitwit ideas that worked.”
― The Mote in God's Eye
― The Mote in God's Eye
“A civilization has the ethics it can afford”
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“Never tell a computer to forget it.”
― A World Out of Time
― A World Out of Time
“I asked him, "Do you know the difference between nude and naked?"
He shook his head.
"Nude is artistic. Naked is defenseless.”
―
He shook his head.
"Nude is artistic. Naked is defenseless.”
―
“The Product of Freedom and Security is a constant (F X S = k). Giving up freedom for security is beginning to look naive.”
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“How much intelligence does it take to sneak up on a leaf?”
― The Ringworld Engineers
― The Ringworld Engineers
“I myself have dreamed up a structure intermediate between Dyson spheres and planets. Build a ring 93 million miles in radius - one Earth orbit - around the sun. If we have the mass of Jupiter to work with, and if we make it a thousand miles wide, we get a thickness of about a thousand feet for the base.
And it has advantages. The Ringworld will be much sturdier than a Dyson sphere. We can spin it on its axis for gravity. A rotation speed of 770 m/s will give us a gravity of one Earth normal. We wouldn't even need to roof it over. Place walls one thousand miles high at each edge, facing the sun. Very little air will leak over the edges.
Lord knows the thing is roomy enough. With three million times the surface area of the Earth, it will be some time before anyone complains of the crowding.”
―
And it has advantages. The Ringworld will be much sturdier than a Dyson sphere. We can spin it on its axis for gravity. A rotation speed of 770 m/s will give us a gravity of one Earth normal. We wouldn't even need to roof it over. Place walls one thousand miles high at each edge, facing the sun. Very little air will leak over the edges.
Lord knows the thing is roomy enough. With three million times the surface area of the Earth, it will be some time before anyone complains of the crowding.”
―
“There were timelines branching and branching, a mega-universe of universes, millions more every minute. Billions? Trillions? The universe split every time someone made a decision. Split, so that every decision ever made could go both ways. Every choice made by every man, woman, and child was reversed in the universe next door.”
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“The majority is always sane”
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“Hopeless causes are the only ones worth fighting for. The fight for the taxpayer is the most hopeless of them all.”
― Lucifer's Hammer
― Lucifer's Hammer
“In the world of words the imagination is one of the forces of nature.”
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“For two hundred and fifty years the kzinti had not attacked human space. They had nothing to attack with. For two hundred and fifty years men had not attacked the kzinti worlds; and no kzin could understand it. Men confused them terribly.”
― Ringworld
― Ringworld
“To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.”
― Lucifer's Hammer
― Lucifer's Hammer
“The Earth is just too small and fragile a basket for the human race to keep all its eggs in. - Robert A. Heinlein”
― Lucifer's Hammer
― Lucifer's Hammer
“The value of a thing is what that thing will bring. -Legal Maxim”
― Lucifer's Hammer
― Lucifer's Hammer
“It is a cardinal sin to bore the reader.”
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“There had been a popular joke on Freedom, started by a man named Calder. Looking down from space, he had said, the dominant life forms on Earth were obviously the cereals and other grasses. They occupied all the most desirable and fertile land; and they had tamed insects and animals to care for them. In particular, they had domesticated the bipeds to nurture and cultivate them and to save and plant their seed. Now, watching the farmers, Alex could easily imagine that they were worshiping and genuflecting before their masters.”
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“On a world built to ordered specification, there was no logical reason for such a mountain to exist. Yet every world should have at least one unclimbable mountain.”
― Ringworld
― Ringworld
“1. a.Never throw shit at an armed man.
b.Never stand next to someone who
is throwing shit at an armed man.
2.Never fire a laser at a mirror.
3.Mother Nature doesn't care if you're having fun.
4.F × S = k. The product of Freedom and Security is a constant. To gain more freedom of thought and/or action, you must give up some security, and vice versa.
5.Psi and/or magical powers, if real, are nearly useless.
6.It is easier to destroy than create.
7.Any damn fool can predict the past.
8.History never repeats itself.
9.Ethics change with technology.
10.There Ain't No Justice. (often abbreviated to TANJ)
11.Anarchy is the least stable of social structures. It falls apart at a touch.
12.There is a time and place for tact. And there are times when tact is entirely misplaced.
13.The ways of being human are bounded but infinite.
14.The world's dullest subjects, in order:
a.Somebody else's diet.
b.How to make money for a worthy cause.
c.The Kardashians.
15.The only universal message in science fiction: There exist minds that think as well as you do, but differently.
Niven's corollary: The gene-tampered turkey you're talking to isn't necessarily one of them.
16.Fuzzy Pink Niven's Law: Never waste calories.
17.There is no cause so right that one cannot find a fool following it.
in variant form in Fallen Angels as "Niven's Law: No cause is so noble that it won't attract fuggheads."
18.No technique works if it isn't used.
19.Not responsible for advice not taken.
20.Old age is not for sissies.”
―
b.Never stand next to someone who
is throwing shit at an armed man.
2.Never fire a laser at a mirror.
3.Mother Nature doesn't care if you're having fun.
4.F × S = k. The product of Freedom and Security is a constant. To gain more freedom of thought and/or action, you must give up some security, and vice versa.
5.Psi and/or magical powers, if real, are nearly useless.
6.It is easier to destroy than create.
7.Any damn fool can predict the past.
8.History never repeats itself.
9.Ethics change with technology.
10.There Ain't No Justice. (often abbreviated to TANJ)
11.Anarchy is the least stable of social structures. It falls apart at a touch.
12.There is a time and place for tact. And there are times when tact is entirely misplaced.
13.The ways of being human are bounded but infinite.
14.The world's dullest subjects, in order:
a.Somebody else's diet.
b.How to make money for a worthy cause.
c.The Kardashians.
15.The only universal message in science fiction: There exist minds that think as well as you do, but differently.
Niven's corollary: The gene-tampered turkey you're talking to isn't necessarily one of them.
16.Fuzzy Pink Niven's Law: Never waste calories.
17.There is no cause so right that one cannot find a fool following it.
in variant form in Fallen Angels as "Niven's Law: No cause is so noble that it won't attract fuggheads."
18.No technique works if it isn't used.
19.Not responsible for advice not taken.
20.Old age is not for sissies.”
―
