Quotes from Stanis?aw Lem

Our ability to adapt and therefore to accept everything is one of our greatest dangers. Creatures that are completely flexible, changeable, can have no fixed morality.

The thought of such a turn of events brought the flame of vengeance to the monarch's eyes, and his iron fingers clutched the air, as if already closing around the throats of his beloved subjects.

No, Trurl, a sufferer is not one who hands you his suffering, that you may touch it, weigh it, bite it like a coin; a sufferer is one who behaves like a sufferer!

Qué te sugirió el concepto de un dios imperfecto? -preguntó de repente, sin apartar la vista del resplandeciente desierto. -No lo sé. Me pareció algo muy, muy acertado, ¿sabes? Es el único Dios en el que estaría dispuesto a creer, un dios cuyo martirio no significa redención, que no pretende salvar a nadie, ni está al servicio de nada, sino que simplemente está.

de la misma manera en que nació la teología que negaba la existencia de Dios, existe ya una golemología que niega mi existencia, y cuyos defensores me consideran una estafa preparada por los informáticos del MIT, que, para ellos, son quienes en secreto programan estas conferencias. Aunque Dios permanece en silencio y yo hablo, no demostraré la autenticidad de mi existencia, ni siquiera mediante milagros, porque incluso estos podrían malinterpretarse.

People of outstanding abilities and strength of character are born at more or less regular intervals, so it's only the matter of their selection that is uneven. Their presence or absence in a particular field of inquiry can perhaps be explained by the perspectives it opens up.

Whether they liked it or not, human beings had to take cognizance of a neighbor that, though it was billions of miles away across the void and separated from us by entire light years, still lay in the path of their expansion, and was harder to grasp than the whole of the rest of the Universe.

According to the principle of indeterminism, the particles behave in a way that is defined only statistically, and within the limits of this indeterminism, they allow themselves to act in ways that are indecent or simply horrifying from the viewpoint of classic physics, because they violate the laws of behavior; but as this is happening within an interval of indefiniteness, they can never be observed in the act of breaking those laws.

He who has had, has been, but he who hasn't been, has been had

DANGER: HIGHLY INEFFABLE!

Nie wiedziaÅ'em nic, trwajÄ…c w niewzruszonej wierze, ?e nie minÄ…Å' czas okrutnych cudów.

We today can still talk of a return to nature, because we are relics of it, only slightly modified in biological respect within civilization, but try imagining the slogan 'return to nature' uttered by a robot. Why, it would mean turning into deposits of iron ore!

specjalista to barbarzyÅ"ca, którego ignorancja nie jest wszechstronna

ignoramus et ignorabimus

Il comportamento logico ci abbandona molto prima che la vita stessa e non è cosa rara che l'uomo si comporti senza senso.

la cultura es a la vez algo necesario y casual, como el lecho de un nido, un refugio frente al mundo, un pequeño contra-mundo aceptado tácitamente por el grande de una forma relativamente indiferente, pues no contiene ninguna respuesta a las preguntas sobre el bien y el mal, la belleza y la fealdad, las reglas y las costumbres.

El cosmos es infinito y sin fronteras, y tampoco tiene límites su odio, y cada día, cada hora, puede alcanzarnos

freedom of expression sometimes presents a greater threat to an idea, because forbidden thoughts may circulate in secret, but what can be done when an important fact is lost in a flood of impostors, and the voice of truth becomes drowned out in an ungodly din?

Science explains the world, but only Art can reconcile us to it. What do we really know about the origin of the Universe? A blank so wide can be filled with myths and legends.

When that voice, though freely resounding, cannot be heard, because the technologies of information have led to a situation in which one can receive best the message of him who shouts the loudest, even when the most falsely?

Per un periodo c'eravamo tormentati a furia di sincerità, nell'ingenua convinzione che ci avrebbe salvato

I tried putting myself in the place of the Sender. I would send nothing that could be used contrary to my intentions. To provide any kind of tool without knowing to whom would be like handing out grenades to children.

I libri buoni sono sempre anche veritieri, perfino quando raccontano vicende che non sono mai successe e non succederanno. Sono veri in un altro senso.

Adesso spegniamo la luce e, fino a domattina, niente più dispiaceri. Domani, se ne avremo voglia, ce ne procureremo di nuovi. Va bene?