Larry Niven quotes - page 3

In hindsight it may even seem inevitable that a socialist society will starve when it runs out of capitalists. (Larry Niven)
The wealth of the universe is all over your head. We need to take command of the solar system to gain that wealth, and to escape the sea of paper our government is becoming, and for some decent chance of stopping a Dinosaur Killer asteroid. View quote
Larry Niven
11) There is a time and place for tact. And there are times when tact is entirely misplaced. View quote
Larry Niven
It's a nitwit idea.” "Yes, sir.” "Nitwit ideas are for emergencies. You use them when you've got nothing else to try. If they work, they go in the Book. Otherwise you follow the Book, which is largely a collection of nitwit ideas that worked. View quote
Larry Niven
2) Never be embarrased or ashamed about anything you choose to write. (Think of this before you send it to a market) View quote
Larry Niven
Too much imagination and I'll scare myself to death. Too little and I'll get myself killed. View quote
Larry Niven
For each human being there is an optimum ratio between change and stasis. Too little change, he grows bored. Too little stability, he panics and loses his ability to adapt. View quote
Larry Niven
The stars are far from eternal, but for man they might as well be. View quote
Larry Niven
6) Everybody talks first draft. View quote
Larry Niven
Rod privately suspected the Scots studied their speech off duty so they'd be unintelligible to the rest of humanity. View quote
Larry Niven
There was this about him: he knew who I was, but he hadn't remembered my name. Ron Cole had better things to think about than what name belonged with whom. A name was only a tag and a conversational gambit. (Larry Niven)
Drugs: "There's no way to keep them from getting in. Anyone who wants drugs can get them. We make arrests where we can, and so what? Me, I'm betting on Darwin.” "How do you mean?” "The next generation won't use drugs because they'll be descended from people who had better sense.”. View quote
Larry Niven
Jesus Pietro was worried. The Sons of Earth, if they got this far, would go straight to the vivarium to free their compatriots. But if Matthew Keller was his own agent... If the ghost of Alpha Plateau was not a rebel, but a thing with its own unpredictable purpose... Jesus Pietro worried. View quote
Larry Niven
And that's another reason I don't want contact between your species and mine. You're all Crazy Eddies. You think every problem has a solution. View quote
Larry Niven
There is never no hope left. Remember. View quote
Larry Niven
I knew it long ago: I'm a compulsive teacher, but I can't teach. The godawful state of today's education system isn't what's stopping me. I lack at least two of the essential qualifications. I cannot "suffer fools gladly." The smartest of my pupils would get all my attention, and the rest would have to fend for themselves. And I can't handle being interrupted. Writing is the answer. Whatever I have to teach, my students will select themselves by buying the book. And nobody interrupts a printed page. View quote
Larry Niven
That's impossible. Isn't it? Carlos?” Carlos' mouth twisted. "Not if it's being done. View quote
Larry Niven
Louis knew a few xenophobes, and regarded them as dolts. View quote
Larry Niven
It had been a long dull evening, with only the thought of leaving the party early to look forward to. View quote
Larry Niven
Anyone who says human nature can't be changed is out of his head. To make it stick, he's got to define human nature-and he can't. View quote
Larry Niven
I sometimes wonder why the aristocracy isn't extinct, the lot of you seem so stupid sometimes. (Larry Niven)
Putting a monkey wrench in machinery is often the only way to force somebody to repair, replace, or redesign the machinery. Especially legal or social machinery. View quote
Larry Niven
In a universe the size of ours almost anything that can happen, will. View quote
Larry Niven
God was knocking, and he wanted in bad. View quote
Larry Niven
Doctor, you keep asking me to see your point of view, which is based on ethics. You never see mine, which isn't. View quote
Larry Niven