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“Holy Mica, we were true humanists over there, on Earth. Humanism was the backbone of our personalities; in our worship of Man, in our love of Man, we even approached anthropocentrism - and here we are suddenly horrified to catch ourselves thinking, 'Are these really humans? Is it possible they are capable of becoming humans, even with time?'.”
― Hard to Be a God
― Hard to Be a God
“As far as I am concerned, poetry is a statement concerning the human condition, composed in verse.”
―
―
“The problem is we don’t notice the years pass, he thought. Screw the years—we don’t notice things change. We know that things change, we’ve been told since childhood that things change, we’ve witnessed things change ourselves many a time, and yet we’re still utterly incapable of noticing the moment that change comes—or we search for change in all the wrong places.”
― Roadside Picnic
― Roadside Picnic
“Extending the Airport Runway
The good citizens of the commission
cast their votes
for more of everything.
Very early in the morning
I go out
to the pale dunes, to look over
the empty spaces
of the wilderness.
For something is there,
something is there when nothing is there but itself,
that is not there when anything else is.
Alas,
the good citizens of the commission
have never seen it,
whatever it is,
formless, yet palpable.
Very shining, very delicate.
Very rare.”
― A Thousand Mornings: Poems
The good citizens of the commission
cast their votes
for more of everything.
Very early in the morning
I go out
to the pale dunes, to look over
the empty spaces
of the wilderness.
For something is there,
something is there when nothing is there but itself,
that is not there when anything else is.
Alas,
the good citizens of the commission
have never seen it,
whatever it is,
formless, yet palpable.
Very shining, very delicate.
Very rare.”
― A Thousand Mornings: Poems
“He had never experienced anything like this before outside the Zone. And it had happened in the
Zone only two or three times. It was as though he were in a different world. A million odors cascaded in
on him at once—sharp, sweet, metallic, gentle, dangerous ones, as crude as cobblestones, as delicate
and complex as watch mechanisms, as huge as a house and as tiny as a dust particle. The air became
hard, it developed edges, surfaces, and corners, like space was filled with huge, stiff balloons, slippery
pyramids, gigantic prickly crystals, and he had to push his way through it all, making his way in a dream
through a junk store stuffed with ancient ugly furniture … It lasted a second. He opened his eyes, and
everything was gone. It hadn't been a different world—it was this world turning a new, unknown side to
him. This side was revealed to him for a second and then disappeared, before he had time to figure it out.”
― Roadside Picnic
Zone only two or three times. It was as though he were in a different world. A million odors cascaded in
on him at once—sharp, sweet, metallic, gentle, dangerous ones, as crude as cobblestones, as delicate
and complex as watch mechanisms, as huge as a house and as tiny as a dust particle. The air became
hard, it developed edges, surfaces, and corners, like space was filled with huge, stiff balloons, slippery
pyramids, gigantic prickly crystals, and he had to push his way through it all, making his way in a dream
through a junk store stuffed with ancient ugly furniture … It lasted a second. He opened his eyes, and
everything was gone. It hadn't been a different world—it was this world turning a new, unknown side to
him. This side was revealed to him for a second and then disappeared, before he had time to figure it out.”
― Roadside Picnic
Mia’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Mia’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
814 books
|
195 friends
2,255 books
|
83 friends
2,100 books
|
998 friends
5,645 books
|
286 friends
800 books
|
4,812 friends
1,177 books
|
99 friends
283 books
|
89 friends
898 books
|
135 friends
More friends…
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