Quotes from Robert Sheckley

I don't finish every story, but I probably write and send out three out of five of them.

Nothing got him angrier than when people implied he was paranoid. It made him feel persecuted.

Sanity is a matter of consensus.

What is reality?" - "One of the many possible illusions.

Wherever you go in the galaxy, you can find a food business, a house-building business, a war business, a peace business, a governing business, and so forth. And, of course, a God business, which is called 'religion,' and which is a particularly reprehensible line of endeavor.

Action isn't my forte. I'm an expert on contemplation and mild regret.

She was an extremely attractive woman if you liked the type, which could best be described as homicidal schizophrenic paranoiac with kittenish overtones.

He shared the common human hallmark: he was simultaneously predictable and unfathomable -- a routine miracle.

a man is not his body, for he receives his body accidentally. He is not his skills, for those are frequently born of necessity. He is not his talents, which are produced by heredity and by early environmental factors. He is not the sicknesses to which he may be predisposed, and he is not the environment that shapes him. A man contains all these things, but he is greater than their total.

You must realize, Mr. Blaine, that a man is not his body, for he receives his body accidentally. He is not his skills, for those are frequently born of necessity. He is not his talents, which are produced by heredity and by early environmental factors. He is not the sicknesses to which he may be predisposed, and he is not the environment that shapes him.

I have simply given up a longevity which I never possessed anyhow. I have turned away from the con game which the gods run in their heavenly side-show. I no longer care under which shell the pea of immortality might be found. I don't need it. I have my moment which is quite enough.

The aim of intelligence is to put the whole goddamned human race out of work.

Very well, you possess free will; but now you must use your free will to enslave yourself to God and to us.

An error which is not perpetuated cannot be viewed as any error at all.

Most of Seakirk's inhabitants were indifferent to the spectacle of corruption in high places and low, the gambling, the gang wars, the teen-age drinking. They were used to the sight of their roads crumbling, their ancient water mains bursting, their power plants breaking down, their decrepit old buildings falling apart, while the bosses built bigger homes, longer swimming pools and warmer stables. People were used to it.

A great majority of Terrans were idealists, and they believed fervently in concepts such as truth, justice, mercy, and the like. And not only did they believe, they also let those noble concepts guide their actions—except when it would be inconvenient or unprofitable. When that happened, they acted expediently, but continued to talk moralistically. This meant that they were "hypocrites" —a term which every race has its counterpart of.

When you have a project, do it exactly as you see fit; then fit the facts around the event, not the other way around.

Is there anything you can do?' 'Well, in college I was studying-' 'Don't give me your goddamned life story! I'm interested in your trade, skill, talent, profession, ability, whatever you want to call it. What, specifically, can you do?' 'Well,'Marvin said, 'I guess, when you put it that way, I can't do anything much.

What was I supposed to do? Was I meant to be nothing but God? I had tried the God business and found it too limited. It was a job for a simple-minded egomaniac. There had to be something else for me to do – something more meaningful, more expressive of my true self. I am convinced of it! That is my problem, and that is the question I ask of you: What am I to do with myself?

If justice really existed, there would be no need for law.

Dramocles got up from the operating table thinking he had just had a massage, and now wanted to take a brisk walk. A posthypnotic command took him a hundred yards from Fish's laboratory. Then he heard the explosion. Hurrying back, he saw that Dr. Fish had been blown up. Dramocles couldn't imagine why anyone would want to blow up an inoffensive android like Fish. He never considered the possibility that he had done it himself, since exploded androids tell no tales.

For love, as he knew it, was an aberration, a form of temporary insanity, a shortlived state of autosuggestion. Love was a state which a wise man would prudently avoid.

Dead or alive, you will retain all your rights.

Most men lead lives of quiet aspiration.