“As things went from bad to worse all men came to learn by experience that man's innate wickedness knows no limit: when it feeds on the knowledge of the past, and when the licence which impunity bestows encourages it to victimise all whom it encounters, it seems to swell inevitably to such proportions that it is not even possible for the minds of the sufferers to grasp its immensity.”
― The Secret History
― The Secret History
“All is calm or tends towards calm, even hurricanes, earthquakes, the eruption of volcanoes.”
― Mr Palomar
― Mr Palomar
“The center of gravity of Lem’s books is ethics.” This is Le Guin’s highest praise; and it establishes the central values of her fiction, and her criticism.”
― The Language of the Night: Essays on Writing, Science Fiction, and Fantasy
― The Language of the Night: Essays on Writing, Science Fiction, and Fantasy
“Men and women live with a heart-deep uncertainty every morning when they wake. It is why they go to war, why they write poems, fall in and out of love, plan thefts on dark nights, or try to forestall them. Why they pray. Or refuse to pray. It is the uncertainty that shapes and defines our lives. The tears of the world, a longing for joy. Or even just safety. Just that.”
― Written on the Dark
― Written on the Dark
“At this point the only thing Palomar can do was erase from his mind all models and the models of models. When this step is also taken, then he finds himself face to face with reality – hard to master and impossible to homogenize – as he formulates his 'yesses' and his 'noes', his 'buts'. To do this, it is better for the mind to remain cleared, furnished only by the memory of fragments of experience and of principles understood and not demonstrable. This is not a line of conduct from which he can derive special satisfaction, but it is the only one that proves practicable for him.”
― Mr Palomar
― Mr Palomar
SimonOxfPhys Book Club
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For members of my YouTube channel's bookclub to talk about what we're reading! Discussion of everything to do with the books covered, suggestions of w ...more
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