Quotes from Mike Resnick

You believe in God? demanded Billy Karma. I believe in thirty-seven separate and distinct gods, answered Argyle proudly. That puts me thirty-six ahead of you. It makes you a pagan. It makes you a man of limited vision, said Argyle.

Whatever your grievances, I'm sure we can address them without resorting to war, persisted Argyle.... Nonsense, said the alien. Do you know how many laborers and industries we'd put out of work if we were to stop the war just because a few bleeding hearts think we can talk out our grievances?

And that is the story of the boy who cried Dragon! Of course, when dragons sit around the campire at night or tuck their children into bed, they tell the story of the dragon who cried Boy!

The Boy looked at him for a long time before responding. "Well, as long as you're my friend, I'll never ignore you," he said with conviction. "I know what it's like to be invisible to other people.

Small minds don't grow, no matter how long you water them.

It's just the nature of things. Every lawyer starts out seeking justice and winds up seeking victories. Every doctor want to save his patients and ends up wanting to save his investments. And every journalist starts out caring about the truth and ends up caring about circulation.

Don't worry about it. If I'm wrong, Security is monitoring me every second. That just means they'll know who to charge with your murder, said Forrice. Are you always this optimistic? I have to be an optimist, explained Forrice. I won't have anyone to tease if they kill you.

Oh, Christ. Word stuff, paper stuff, and that's neither words nor paper in that goddam little coffin, that's my son, my kid, my little dirty gap-toothed boy with the torn britches and the scabs on his knees, and he wasn't ever intended to ride thunder and bridle lightning, no man is. Pulp heroes were all made of wood and they could do it, but Dan's human and soft and easily broken. He hasn't any business there, no man has.

When he was still about forty feet away he stopped, walked over to a bulkhead, and tapped on

Cole shrugged. Maybe. But if Forrice had been in charge of the Quentin the way I planned it originally, there's a fifty-fifty chance it would have made it back. And a fifty-fifty chance the Kermit wouldn't have. True, he admitted. But Mount Fuji sacrificed himself. It was a noble thing to do, but I was taught that it's never a good idea to die for your side. The object of the exercise is to make your enemy die for his side.

No military man is ever anxious to fight," said Cole. "We've seen war, and we've seen peace, and there's not a soldier or sailor anywhere in the galaxy who doesn't think peace is better.

About the only valid definition (of science fiction) that I'm willing to accept is this: all of modern, mainstream, and realistic fiction is simply a branch, a category, or a subset of science fiction.

Tell me, doc. Tell me. Why do they have wars?" I shook my head. Was there ever a good reason? To make the world safe for democracy? To stop the death camps? To free the slaves? Maybe. Those were better reasons than cheap oil. But up close, no matter what the reason, it was husbands and sons and brothers who never came home.

The President faced the microphone with a look of utter helplessness, like a man reading My Pet Goat to a group of pre-schoolers as a major terrorist attack happens elsewhere.

No!" she said adamantly. "The Captain doesn't leave his ship in enemy territory, damn it!

L'Homme a arrêté son évolution après avoir inventé la roue et l'air climatisé.

I collect the words unheard. I pluck them from the air, rescue them from gutters, retrieve them from branches—they don't vibrate for long after the words are spoken. I often wonder if I weren't deaf whether I'd hear them. I gather them on my morning walk, along with bottles and cans from recycling bins, and again after supper at St. Joseph's soup kitchen.

Things known to start the dog barking include, but are not limited to: sunrise, sunset, darkness, rain, helicopters, radios, clouds, children's laughter, anyone entering any of the back yards adjoining the yard where my neighbor has penned his dog, garbage collectors, birds, squirrels, and air.

I hated as hard as I could. I thought about Nazis. Air pollution. The Twilight books. Bill O'Reilly (beginner's mistake; political hate is notoriously hard to channel). Calculus.

at last count we have eight hundred and four ships, including those that Lafferty can make available to us.

Of course, when dragons sit around the campfire at night or tuck their children into bed, they tell the story of the dragon who cried Boy!

The only answer a truly dedicated writer has to "What are your best books (or stories)?" is "My second best is the one I'm writing now, and my best is the one I'll be writing next.