Andre Norton > Quotes

“As for courage and will - we cannot measure how much of each lies within us, we can only trust there will be sufficient to carry through trials which may lie ahead.”
― Andre Norton

“Do not fear so, here is one who would be a blade at your back. A shield across your breast. Here is kin, here is strength to lean upon, to share as you share in need.”
― Andre Norton.

“We have met and hated, fought and died before - you and I.”
― Andre Norton, The People of the Crater

“We never stand alone—for we are all woven into one—land, sky, rock, sand, animals—man is only a part of the whole.”
― Andre Norton, Mark of the Cat and Year of the Rat

“Who seeks may find, who lives may learn, who loves is blessed.”
― Andre Norton, Beast Master's Quest

“A wise guy doesn't spill his ignorance. He uses his eyes and ears and keeps his trap shut—”
― Andre Norton, Time Traders

“you can’t reason with fanatics anyway. They believe what they believe because they believe it. It’s a matter of faith. Even if you could bring them all the proof in the world they still wouldn’t change their minds,”
― Andre Norton, Beast Master's Quest

“Each creature comes into being unique. Anything which destroys that individuality, anything which eliminates or adulterates mind or will or spirit, strikes at the very basis of life, at its greatest glory, its greatest strength, its very core.”
― Andre Norton, Storms of Victory

“As for courage and will - we cannot measure how much of each lies within us; we can only trust there will be sufficient to carry us through the trials which may lie ahead.”
― Andre Norton

“I believe that those in the city must be left to work out their own destiny," the hist-techneer said at last. "In a manner of thinking that choice is now a retreat. They wish life to remain as it always has been. But that is just what life never does. It goes up—one advances—or it goes down—one retreats. And if one tried to stand still—that is retreat.”
― Andre Norton, Star Soldiers

“Do you blame the sword for killing? It is the hand and brain behind it which holds the responsibility!”
― Andre Norton, Lost Lands of Witch World

“A life that has been bought by the blood of friends must not be thrown away.”
― Andre Norton, Wraiths of Time

“This whole rotten mess came about just because he was able to think faster than the rest of us. And be sure that he didn’t overlook the point of holding all the guns he could!”
― Andre Norton, Star Soldiers

“This was a watering place, perhaps a never-ceasing watering place—and to his desert-born-and-bred race all water was a spirit gift never to be taken for granted.”
― Andre Norton, The Andre Norton Megapack

“He discovered that lack of sight confuses the ear.”
― Andre Norton, Time Traders

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and conditioned by upbringing”
― Andre Norton, Star Soldiers

“You know, one used to give presents on New Year's Day. Christmas was for churchgoing and family gatherings. On New Year's one's friends came visiting and then presents were exchanged.”
― Andre Norton, Octagon Magic

“In the past Terra had been racked by wars of religion, one fanatically held opinion opposed to another. There was no righteousness in such struggles, only fatal ends. The Reds had no right to this new knowledge—but neither did they. It must be locked against the meddling of fools and zealots.”
― Andre Norton, The Defiant Agents

“Smiths were sacred in the old days. We know that they made a secret of their trade which overrode the bounds of district, tribe, and race. A smith was welcome in any village, his person safe on the road. In fact, the roads themselves were under the protection of the gods; there was peace on them for all wayfarers. The land was wide then, and it was empty. The tribes were few and small, and there was plenty of room for the hunter, the farmer, the trader. Life was not such a scramble of man against man, but rather of man against nature—”
― Andre Norton, Time Traders

“Ross Murdock wouldn’t have seemed formidable to any one glancing casually at him as he sat within the detention cell. He was a little above average height, but not enough to make him noticeable. His brown hair was cropped conservatively and there was nothing remarkable about his unlined boy’s face—unless one noted those light-gray eyes and caught the chilling, measuring expression that showed now and then for an instant in their depths. He was neatly”
― Andre Norton, Time Traders

“Now that difference was a cold lump within her, a lump which had grown with every moment of time since they had snapped out of hyper to enter this system. Were the old calculations really to be trusted? Was this the home planet from which her species had lifted into space at the beginning of man's climb to the stars?”
― Andre Norton, Breed to Come

“in each of those minute bowls rested a silver spoon! “So little!” marveled Lorrie. “They are carved from cherry stones, my dear.”
― Andre Norton, Octagon Magic

“Ashe answered Travis. “We may have had our break! This record is a manual of sorts. It provides some wiring blueprints Renfry has been able to identify with that cat’s cradle of cords up there.” “Some wiring.” Renfry’s enthusiasm did not match Ashe’s at that moment. “About one line in ten! This is like trying to put together a missile head when all your working instructions are written in Chinese code! Yeah—the red cord hits the plate there—but does it say anything about these white loop-de-loops to the left?” Ashe squinted at the loops in question and consulted the record reader again. “Yes!” Renfry was down on his knees in an instant to see for himself the diagram on the picture screen.”
― Andre Norton, Galactic Derelict

“Was there no end to this aimless circling through a world of green smoke? He”
― Andre Norton, The Andre Norton Megapack

“They were only two in the thin web of men strung out through centuries of time with orders to seek out that which did not fit properly into the pattern of the past: to locate the enemy wherever in history or prehistory he had gone to earth.”
― Andre Norton, The Time Traders

“One of these was a cage of fine golden wire, within it a bird fashioned of tiny shells. And there were more baskets, made of cloves strung on wire with a glass bead inset on every wire crossing.”
― Andre Norton, Octagon Magic

“Free Trader's success depends on many things, luck being well to the fore among those. So luck had been with us here, good as well as bad. But the firm base of any Trader's efficiency is knowledge, not specialized as a tech must have, but wide—ranging from the legends of desert rovers on one planet to the habits of ocean plants on another. We listened, we kept records, we went with open minds and very open ears wherever we planeted, or when we exchanged news with others of our kind.”
― Andre Norton, Moonsinger

“But, matters now going as they seemed to be, that life would probably not be long. Best spend it doing all I could to withstand the Shadow.”
― Andre Norton, Warlock of the Witch World

“Racial mixtures after planet-wide wars, mutant births after the nuclear conflicts, had broken down the old intolerance against the "different." And out in space thousands of intelligent life forms, encased in almost as many shapes and bodies, had given "shape prejudice" its final blow.”
― Andre Norton, Star Soldiers

“To the spectator the ex-Commando might be standing impassively, the meerkats clinging to him, his hand resting lightly on Surra’s round skull, the eagle quiet on his shoulder. But an awareness, which was unuttered, unheard speech, linked him with animals and bird. The breadth of that communication could not be assessed outside a 'team,' but it forged them into a harmonious whole, which was a weapon if need be, a companionship always.”
― Andre Norton, The Beast Master