Michael Flynn > Quotes

“Any fool can hope when success lies plainly in view. It wants genuine strength to hope when matters are hopeless.”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim

“Jesus said the weeds would grow with the wheat until the Judgement," Dietrich answered, "so one finds both good men and bad in the Church. By our fruits we will be known, not by what name we have called ourselves. I have come to believe that there is more grace in becoming wheat than there is in pulling weeds.”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim

“They're trying to breed a nation of techno-peasants. Educated just enough to keep things going, but not enough to ask tough questions. They encourage any meme that downplays thoughtful analysis or encourages docility or self indulgence or uniformity. In what other society do people use "smart" and "wise" as insults? We tell people "don't get smart." Those who try, those who really like to learn, we call "nerds." Look at television or the press or the trivia that passes for political debate. When a candidate DOES try to talk about the issues, the newspapers talk about his sex life. Look at Saturday morning cartoon shows. Peasants, whether they're tilling fields or stuffing circuit boards, are easier to manipulate. Don't question; just believe. Turn off your computer and Trust the Force.

Or turn your computer on and treat it like the Oracle of Delphi.

That's right. They've made education superficial and specialized. Science classes for art majors? Forget it! And how many business or engineering students get a really good grounding in the humanities? When did universities become little more than white collar vocational schools?”
― Michael Flynn, In the Country of the Blind

“For what purpose have you prayed?"
"For thanks. If I must die, at least I have lived. If my companions have perished, at least I have known them. If the world is cruel, at least I have tasted kindness. I had to cross to the far side of the sky to taste it but, as you say, the world is full of miracles.”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim

“The soul is the form of the body, but not as the shape of a statue is formatio et terminatio materiae, for form does not exist apart from material. There is no whiteness without a white object. But the soul is not a form in this simple sense, and in particular, is not the shape of the material it informs. Therefore, the shape of a being does not affect the being's soul, for then something lower would inform something higher, which is impossible.”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim

“Peace needs the consent of all, while one alone may raise a war.”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim

“But what is hope? When all else is lost, it is the one thing you may keep.”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim

“When princes flee battle, and knights turn free-lance, and barons rob pilgrims, what value has honor?"

“Why, all the more, seeing how rare it has become.”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim

“When your words come out of your mouth and back into your ear, your brain gives them a second rinse, and cleans them up a little better. All Tom knew was that when he tried to explain things to Sharon, his own thinking clarified.”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim

“The body's ills are the least of ills, for they end only in death, which is but a little thing. But if the spirit dies, then all is lost.”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim

“Never underestimate a determined woman. Universes are flimsy things in their hands.”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim

“Dirac found that the ratio of the electric force to the gravitational force of an electron-proton pair is roughly equal to the ratio of the age of the universe to the time it takes light to traverse an atom.”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim

“Hans clacked his side-lips. "Do you have the sentence in your head that tomorrow's procession will halt this pest of yours, that it will bar the small-lives from the High Woods?"
"If it is as you say, no. No more than prayer can stay a charging horse. But that is not why we pray. God is no cheap juggler as to play for a pfennig.”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim

“On the hill opposite, Joachim tolled the midday bell, announcing lunch to the workers in the fields. Klaus listened a moment, then said, "I thought it would be a bleaker scene."
Dietrich turned to him, "What would be?"
"This day. I thought it would be marked by terrible signs - lowering clouds, ominous winds, a crack of thunder. Twilight. Yet, it is so ordinary a morning that I grow frightened."
"Only now frightened."
"Ja. Portents would mean a Divine Mover, however mysterious His moves; and the wrath of an angry God may be turned away by prayer and penance. But it simply happened. Everard grew sick and fell down. There were no signs; so it may be a natural thing, as you have always said. And against nature, we have no recourse.”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim

“She looked in the mirror and her hopes fell. “Our friend is behind us again and he’s coming up fast. Closing the distance.”

Then he knows we’re on to him.”

Christ! He’s got a gun, Red! He’s stuck his arm out the window.”

Don’t worry,” Red told her. “Shooting a pistol left-handed from a moving car at another moving car at sixty miles an hour at this distance? Hell, he’d be lucky to hit that mountain.”

There was a sharp crack and the rear window disintegrated into flashing shards. Something buzzed in the air between them and smashed into the tapedeck. Fee howled and ducked into his console.

Unless,” Red continued thoughtfully, “that’s Orvid Crayle behind us. He’s very good.”
― Michael Flynn, In the Country of the Blind

“[D]idn't Aristarchus and the Pythagoreans propose heliocentrism in ancient times? If only they had prevailed, we might have had Real Science millennia sooner. What was their evidence?

Well, you see, fire is nobler than earth and the center is a nobler position. So fire has to be in the center. QED.

There are many names for this sort of thinking, but "scientific" is not one of them.”
― Michael Flynn

“Everything in the universe is older than it seems. Blame Einstein for that. We see what a thing was when the light left it, and that was long ago. Nothing in the night sky is contemporary, not to us, not to one another. Ancient stars exploded into ruin before their sparkle ever caught our eyes; those glimpsed in glowing "nurseries" were crones before we witnessed their birth. Everything we marvel at is already gone.

Yet, light rays go out forever, so that everything grown old and decayed retains somewhere the appearance of its youth. The universe is full of ghosts.

But images are light, and light is energy, and energy is matter; and matter is real. So image and reality are the same thing, after all. Blame Einstein for that, as well.”
― Michael Flynn, The January Dancer

“There were only two sorts of women so perfervid in their devotions: madwomen and saints, nor were the two species entirely distinct.”
― Michael flynn, Eifelheim

“It takes more than knowing how to point the ship to be a captain," he said with more than a touch of black choler. "It takes knowing where and why to point it.”
― Michael Flynn, The Wreck of The River of Stars

“The sentries might not be the most alert, but they might have marked a skulking, five-shoe tall grasshopper.”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim

“One finds both good men and bad in the Church. By our fruits we will be known, not by what name we have called ourselves. I have come to believe that there is more grace in becoming wheat then there is in pulling up weeds.”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim

“Ockham snorted. "I am no nominalist. The problem with teaching the Modern Way is that lesser scholars, excited by the novelty, seldom bother to master my insights. There are lips on which I heartily wish my name had never rested. I tell you, Dietl, a man becomes a heretic less for what he writes than for what others believe he has written.”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim

“You don't stay in business unless you offer people goods or services with the qualities they need. A lot of American companies forgot that. They sold stocks instead of products”
― Michael Flynn, The Nanotech Chronicles

“One recalls the literary writer who, after grasping a story of a Mars voyage as a metaphor for isolation and the precariousness of relationships, realized that at a deeper, more subtle level it might even be a story about an actual trip to Mars!”
― Michael Flynn

“Tom was deep in MEGO by then. My Eyes Glaze Over. Normally, he was fascinated by matters statistic, but look up "fascination" someday.”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim

“The Luna-Ganymede Race went down in history, and the magnetic sail went down to the fusion thruster. Terranova should never have taken the bet, but it was a matter of pride - and prive loves loss above surrender.”
― Michael Flynn, The Wreck of The River of Stars

“That is the way of it among heretics. They start questioning one doctrine and end up questioning everything. No wonder they used to burn them.”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim

“Everything in the universe is older than it seems. Blame Einstein for that. We see what a thing was when the light left it, and that was long ago. Nothing in the night sky is contemporary, not to us, not to one another. Ancient stars exploded into ruin before their sparkle ever caught our eyes; those glimpsed in glowing “nurseries” were crones before we witnessed their birth. Everything we marvel at is already gone. Yet, light rays go out forever, so that everything grown old and decayed retains somewhere the appearance of its youth. The universe is full of ghosts. But images are light, and light is energy, and energy is matter; and matter is real. So image and reality are the same thing, after all. Blame Einstein for that, as well.”
― Michael Flynn, The January Dancer

“There is no sigh more lingering and heartfelt than that of a man required to do his job.”
― Michael Flynn, On the Razor's Edge

“Niederhochwald. She seemed determined to work her way through the”
― Michael Flynn, Eifelheim