Andrew Smith > Quotes

“People fear what they don't understand and hate what they can't conquer.”
― Andrew Smith

“You know, nothing ever goes back exactly the way it was. Things just expand and contract. Like the universe, like breathing. But you'll never fill your lungs up with the same air twice. Sometimes, it would be cool if you could pause and rewind and do over. But I think anyone would get tired of that after one or two times.”
― Andrew Smith

“I was thinking. What if the world was like one of those Russian nesting dolls? What if we only saw one surface of it, the outside, but there was all kinds of other stuff going on, too? All the time. Underneath. But we just don't see it, even if we're part of it? Even if we're in it? And what if you had a chance to see a different layer, like flipping a channel or something? Would you want to look? Even if what you saw looked like hell? Or worse?”
― Andrew Smith, The Marbury Lens

“Expired condoms are like nuclear waste: there's nothing sensible you can do with it.”
― Andrew Smith

“When I review my travels among the astronauts, my mind's eye goes first to the Houston shopping mall where Alan Bean sat for hours after returning from space, just eating ice cream and watching the people swirl around him, enraptured by the simple yet miraculous fact they they were there and alive in that moment, and so was he.”
― Andrew Smith, Moondust

“I said a silent prayer. Actually, silent is probably the only type of prayer a guy should attempt when his head's in a toilet.”
― Andrew Smith

“People fear what they can not understand and what they can not control.”
― Andrew Smith

“The same words that make the horrible things come also tell the quieter things about love.”
― Andrew Smith

“Had (President) Kennedy turned to his advisers and wailed, "What can we beat the Russians at?" and if someone had cried "Backgammon!" at that point, Apollo would never have happened.”
― Andrew Smith, Moondust

“I suppose the things that transform your life don't appear as you fancifully imagine they will.”
― Andrew Smith

“There's no prison worse than "I promise.”
― Andrew Smith, GodBorn

“But when I was quiet...that made words too. The same words that make horrible things come also tell the quieter things about love.”
― Andrew Smith

“And you can't see around corners. so you just have to deal with it, and try to stay afloat.
And things get tough.
And you're supposed to grow up.
And it's all a bunch of bullshit.
Sorry.”
― Andrew Smith

“Was Apollo worth all the effort and expense? If it had been about the Moon, the answer would be no, but it wasn't, it was about the Earth. The answer is yes. The only thing I can't see in all this is a rationale for going back. Unless we could find a way to take everyone.”
― Andrew Smith, Moondust

“YOU KNOW HOW WHEN you’re a senior in high school, and you officially know absolutely everything about everything and no one can tell you different, but on the other hand, at the same time, you’re dumber than a poorly translated instruction manual for a spoon?”
― Andrew Smith

“Santa Claus is a lie but if you think that's bad, check out what 'fuck' really means.”
― Andrew Smith, Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth

“It's no wonder I became a monster, too.”
― Andrew Smith

“A world between my fingers.”
― Andrew Smith

“The end of the world was one week old and it was getting out of hand.”
― Andrew Smith

“I pictured the first time we saw the girl, breezing past us in that Lincoln, blond hair whirling around her, her glasses tipped down, her smile, the stroke of her fingers. The teasing.

Simon tumbled the meteorite around in the sweat of his hand. I wondered what it would be like to look down at the earth, to fall, to burn brilliantly in the air like the image of the girl who passed by, kicking back dust like cosmic ash, and could she see that, now; was she up there above us?

I wondered.

We closed our eyes.”
― Andrew Smith

“Not a very pretty world, is it?"
"Which one?”
― Andrew Smith

“Apollo has something to teach us as we enter a new century of genetic modification, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology. It's a cautionary tale about that most fundamentally human of human tragedies .. wanting something so badly that you end up destroying it.”
― Andrew Smith, Moondust

“You know, nothing ever goes back exactly the way it was. Things just expand and contract. Like the universe, like breathing. But you’ll never fill your lungs up with the same air twice. Sometimes, it would be cool if you could pause and rewind and do over. But I think anyone would get tired of that after one or two times.”
― Andrew Smith

“We only think of days and months to keep track of times that aren't now. Fuck days. Fuck months. This was how it was going to be from now on: forever.”
― Andrew Smith

“Joey threw a rock too.
“Yep,” he said. “You know, nothing ever goes back exactly the way it was. Things just expand and contract. Like the universe, like breathing. But you’ll never fill your lungs up with the same air twice. Sometimes, it would be cool if you could pause and rewind and do over. But I think anyone would get tired of that after one or two times.”
― Andrew Smith

“When you think about it, the universe is nothing but this vast knackery of churning black holes and exploding stars, constantly free atoms that collect together and become something else, and something else again.”
― Andrew Smith

“And I've been counting and recounting all the finite experiences that it never seemed to matter at all: riding on a subway, getting sand in my shoes at the beach, being woken up by the sound of a neighbor's barking dog.
Because do you ever look at your life and say, hey, how many more times will I ever pack a suitcase for a trip, or write my name with a mechanical pencil, or use a tape measure?
Every experience we have, everything is finite. That’s what it is to be human - because everything we do, or don't do but think about doing, is strained through our awareness of limits. Maybe there was some comfort, some beauty, in being a cog where the infinite was feasible.”
― Andrew Smith

“I was certain about this: In the best new language, there would be no words for me or you. Those words have caused all the trouble started by the old languages. In any new language, there should only be we.”
― Andrew Smith

“But Jack doesn't cry.
Maybe.”
― Andrew Smith

“I stomped to the door, which was dumb because nobody can hear teenagers stomping in space. What's the point stopping if no one can hear you?”
― Andrew Smith