Quotes from Philip K. Dick

We even have prepared his hokey thesis on psychosomatic factors in death by meteor-strike;

But," Paul said, "it deals with alternate present. Many well-known science fiction novels of that sort.

People in dreams are always secure until the dreamer wakes up.

If the system can survive only by imprisoning innocent people, then it deserves to be destroyed

The moment of separation is a temporary period, a brief journey of the soul. It begins, it ends. The wanderer returns to land and race.…

Naturally, Mrs. Knudson wore too much makeup; women always put on too much makeup when someone dies.

You're full of shit," Miss Stickyfoot said disdainfully. Cadbury said, "That proves I understand Zen. Do you see? Or perhaps the fact is that you don't actually understand Zen yourself.

That's right." The girl slowed down, spun on her heel and peered at the dark pavement. "The criminal, or japer, or whatever he is, painted the statue red. You know that; you saw the drops. He sloshed it with stripes, painted the hair red, too. And—" She smiled brightly. "Well, frankly, he severed the head, somehow. With a power cutting tool, evidently. Removed the head and placed it in the outstretched hand.

you're not paid back for the bad you do nor the good you do. It all comes out uneven at the end. Haven't I learned that by now, if I've learned anything?

WITH THEM, Joe Fernwright thought, there is not life but merely a synopsis of life. We are a thread that passes through their hands; always in motion, always flowing, we slip by and are never fully grasped. The slipping away is continuous, and carries all of us with it, on and on, toward the dreadful alchemy of the tomb.

There were many human groups that did not go to war; the Eskimos never grasped the idea at all, and the American Indians never took to it well. But these dissenters were wiped out, and a cultural pattern was established that became the standard for the whole planet. Now it has become ingrained in us.

Una legge di sopravvivenza, aveva detto Ragle. Chi rifiutava di rispondere ai nuovi stimoli era destinato a perire. Adattarsi o morire... Nuova versione di una regola senza tempo.

We fought the Nazis, too, we 'good' Germans; verges' uns nei . Forget us never...The first human beings to fight to the death, to kill and be killed by the Nazis were - Germans.

Then," the girl continued, in a quiet monotone, "the individual applied a high-temperature pack to the forward leg—the right leg. The statue is a poured thermoplastic. When the leg became flexible, the culprit reshaped its position. Major Streiter now appears to be holding his head in his hand, ready to kick it far into the park. Quite original, and quite embarrassing.

It is very warm," the wub said. "I understand that we are close to the jets. Atomic power. You have done many wonderful things with it—technically. Apparently, your scientific hierarchy is not equipped to solve moral, ethical—

Sebastian sat silently and passively, like a chicken, listening.

FISH CANNOT CARRY GUNS! If we abandoned that, we entered the paradoxes, and, finally, death. Stupid as our motto sounded, we had fabricated in it the insight we needed. There was nothing more to know.

?ujte, vi sjene što živite u tami, nau?ite da svjetlo nije spas. Sretni, sretni ste vi u paklu sami koji ne vidite koliko svijet prezire vas.

All his life he had controlled machines, bent nature and the forces of nature to man and man's needs. The human race had slowly evolved until it was in a position to operate things, run them as it saw fit. Now all at once it had been plunged back down the ladder again, prostrate before a Power against which they were children.

Even the most base schemes of human beings are preferable to the most exalted tropisms of machines.

Telepathic power and empathy are two versions of the same thing.

A rolling stone gathers no moss

But she did not dial; she felt too listless and ill to want anything: a burden which closed off the future and any possibilities which it might have once contained.

His face fell by degrees