Quotes from Vernor Vinge

I've studied the humans for almost twenty years, Rachner. They've been traveling in space for hundreds of generations. They've seen so much, they've done so much…. The poor crappers think they know what is impossible. They're free to fly between the stars, and their imagination is trapped in a cage they can't even see." The glowing streaks had passed across the

Les enfants sont des créatures extraordinaires, quand ils ne sont pas simplement chiants.

The essence of real creativity is a certain playfulness, a flitting from idea to idea without getting bogged down by fixated demands. Of course, you don't always get what you thought you were asking for.

When two people have a clear understanding of power and betrayal, then betrayal itself becomes almost impossible. There is only the ordered flow of events, bringing good to those who deserve to rule.

We were looking for starfarers, but we were too small and all we saw were their ankles.

This might be one of the few basements in Southern California, but it was clearly being used the way Juan's family used the garage.

Half-assed programming was a time-filler that, like knitting, must date to the beginning of the human experience. Of

noble winged pig.'" "Yes, the spirit of programming.

Be cool, dear student. The heart of manipulation is to empathize without being touched.

It is notable that the response to each public tragedy or threat in modern America seems to involve a call for citizens to surrender more of their rights.

To think that some lousy contractors could have brought down the greatest nation in history!

Nau had been very careful that enough nukes remained. If necessary, he could play the old, old game of total disaster management. So what can be salvaged? He

Pham Nuwen plunked himself down, stretching indolently.

Our conclusion: this Helper Symbiosis is just another messianic religion, another screwball empire excusing its excesses and attempting to trick those it cannot directly coerce. Don't be fooled! Crypto:

Ravna thought a moment. "Sysadmin is the usual term," she said.

Even so, Jefri. You recognize that Nevil is evil?" Jefri looked away from her, as if refusing to answer. After a moment, Amdi said, "You know he's evil, Jefri." Finally

The beginning of trust has to be an in-person contact.

From this era on, I think invention will be the parent of necessity – and not the other way around.' That was easy for Sherkaner Underhill to say. He didn't have to engineer the science into reality.

And Pham drowned in an old, old rage, remembering….

Ty or Ra or Thect

welts long enough for them to grow eyes. Nature does indeed prefer that cobblies be created right before the Dark.

When Vendacious chased Johanna into the Choir, when the killing swarm knocked her down, the image and the strangeness of her must have spread at near-soundspeed across the city. Here and there, the sight had reached some few who remembered, and mercy percolated back. Just in time.

Those Emergent fuckers have taken away all the I/O that works. I can't use voice, I can't use head-up displays. All we have are windows and these mother-damned things!" She threw the keyboard at the table. It bounced up, spinning into the ceiling. There was a chorus of agreement, though not quite so manic. "You can't do everything through a keyboard. We need huds…. We're crippled even when the underlying systems are okay.

Woodcarver's a great brood kenner, but even she's not sure what our new souls will be like. Oh, I can't wait to be six again!