Julian May > Quotes

“You have always been alone, always self-centered and fearful of opening yourself to other persons, for to do so is to risk rejection and pain. But it is a risk we are born to take, we humans. We cannot live alone, cannot find happiness or peace alone, cannot love alone. The person alone must always be fleeing, always searching. He flees from the loneliness without end. He searches, whether he will or not, for another who will fill his emptiness.”
― Julian May, The Many-Coloured Land

“They say nothing!" the little captain raged. "They only putrid gunner, ship engineer. I, Ba-Karkar, must speak for all!"

Ogu kicked him again. "Then ask what kind help Asahel wants, untranslatable epithet male. Or no more untranslatable for you! Never again in putrid boomer prison."

Her husband gave a choked gasp. "Cruel female!"

"No more sex, either," she added.”
― Julian May, Orion Arm

“Only those who are bereaved of all joy in this present world may take refuge in the shadows of the past.”
― Julian May, The Many-Coloured Land

“There are often evolutionary parallels on the different worlds because creation tends to be economical.”
― Julian May, Orion Arm

“Questions swirled in my brain like terrified bait minnows in a bucket.”
― Julian May, The Sagittarius Whorl

“There's a little known virtue called magnificence: an unostentatious liberality of expenditure in doing good.”
― Julian May

“Out to sea, the calm lagoon waters were darkening, while the comets overhead glowed brighter, omens in the gloaming.”
― Julian May, Perseus Spur

“From space the little world looked like nothing much - perhaps a pitted and decaying pumpkin, dull orange-black in color, with a handful of tiny orbiting craft floating around it like fruit flies. Here and there amber lights shone out of craters in the surface. What seemed to be scores of deformed silver minnows nibbling the pumpkin rind - together with numbers of smaller noshmates - were actually huge transactinide carriers and lesser starships, either taking on fuel or docked nose-to-ground while their crews rested and recreated inside the not so heavenly body.

I have been told that the original Phlegethon of Greek mythology was a fiery river in Hades. Sheltok Concern owned a dozen or so similar way stations with brimstony names - Gehenna, Styx, Sheol, Tophet, Avernus, Niflheim, and the like - that served vessels bound to or fro the terrible R-class worlds where ultraheavy elements are mined.”
― Julian May, The Sagittarius Whorl

“Adam offered a car key. 'Take my little red Honda. It's parked out front. When you finish with it, just tell it to go home. Don't be deceived by its modest appearance. It's fully shielded and equipped with enough gadgetry to tempt the ghost of James Bond.'

'Can it makes a vente triple-shot no-foam latte?'

'In a New York minute.'

Ef took the key, kissed it, and headed for the front door.”
― Julian May

“Kindly and firmly, she refused to sleep with me. Not even a charity fuck.”
― Julian May, Orion Arm

“The Jeep windshield was doing its damnedest to stay clear, but the amount of water flowing over it threatened to overwhelm the ionizer.”
― Julian May, Orion Arm

“Whatever we may do, excess will always keep its place in the heart of man, in the place where solitude is found. We all carry within us our places of exile, our crimes and our ravages. But our task is not to unleash them on the world; it is to fight them in ourselves and others. Rebellion, the secular will not to surrender . . . is still today at the basis of the struggle. Origin of form, source of real life, it keeps us always erect in the savage, formless movement of history. The Rebel, Albert Camus”
― Julian May, The Nonborn King

“What's your usual gig?"

"Physical fitness coach. I find it rather humdrum. Your assignment will be a welcome break in the quotidian ennui.”
― Julian May, Perseus Spur

“We believe that all living things – humans, animals, trees, grasses – are essentially brothers and sisters,”
― Julian May, Intervention

“No molecule evades its destiny, its role in the great pattern. Neither do we, although we may deny that a pattern exists, since it is so difficult to envision. But sometimes, usually at a far remove of time, we may be granted the insight that our actions, our lives, were not pointless after all. Those (and I am one) who have never experienced cosmic consciousness may find consolation in simple instinct. I know in my heart – as Einstein did, and he was justified in the long view if not in the short – that the universe is not a game of chance but a design, and beautiful.”
― Julian May, Intervention

“Some of the older people I've counseled seemed almost disappointed that humanity was spared its just ecological deserts."
"It was tough on the Schadenfreude crowd," Majewski agreed, grinning. "The ones who viewed humankind as a sort of plague organism spoiling what might otherwise have been a pretty good planet. But paleontologists tend to take a long view of life. Some creatures survive, some become extinct. But no matter how great the ecological disaster, the paradox called life keeps on defying entropy and trying to perfect itself. Hard times just seem to help evolution.”
― Julian May, The Many-Coloured Land

“laughed out loud.”
― Julian May, The Many-Coloured Land

“Megalomaniacs like Alistair Drummond have become emperors and führers, served by underlings who never questioned their most irrational orders.”
― Julian May, Orion Arm

“There's a little known virtue called magnificence: an unostentatious liberality of expenditure in doing good. You would deny me the practice of it. Mierda! I should have left you on the comet.”
― Julian May, Perseus Spur

“He gave me a hard smile before clapping on his helmet. It enclosed his entire head and featured a multifunction power-optic visor, holovid camera with continuous map-revise data stream, laser communication capability, and an omnifilter respirator. Like his soft-armored combat jumpsuit, it had an environmental system to keep him comfy. His belt held a Kagi sidearm, a monster commando knife in place of the usual Ivanov stunner, small flexcanteens of water, coffee and nutrigoo, and a bulb of trailblazer spray.”
― Julian May, Orion Arm

“A change of heart isn’t really sufficient recompense for a great sin. It has to be affirmed by some kind of repentant action or the mind can’t purge the guilt, and if we try to deny this, then the soul finds its own penance.”
― Julian May, The Adversary

“Its front porch had a beautiful view of the water and invisible screening to keep the jellybugs and stinkmoths at bay. I wove mats for the floors and painted sincere, klutzy seascapes for the walls. Piece by piece I assembled chef-quality cooking equipment, learned how to use it, and achieved a state of domestic competence that would have astounded my long-suffering ex-wife, Joanna.”
― Julian May, Orion Arm

“Isn't biblical Eden an ambivalent symbol? It seems to me that the myth simply shows us that self-awareness and intelligence are perilous. And they can be deadly. But consider the alternative to the Tree of Knowledge. Would anyone want innocence at such a price?”
― Julian May, The Many-Coloured Land

“because the results couldn’t be guaranteed by the available”
― Julian May, Magnificat

“As for the fate of the travelers, they were all doomed in one way or another anyhow.”
― Julian May, The Many-Coloured Land

“When creativity is frustrated or warped, the effect upon the possessor and the environment can be appalling, because creativity’s flip side is destruction.”
― Julian May, Diamond Mask

“We’ve about come to the end of the line in this friendly enemies routine. Fair warning.”
― Julian May, The Adversary

“You're somethin' else, Hel. Know that? Dodged the sea toad, got rescued off that damned comet, bisected ol' Bron Elgar like a bagel out there on Cravat ... How the hell you get away from those damn fish down in the Glory Hole? Man, you got more lives than a New York alleycat.”
― Julian May, Orion Arm