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Barry N. Malzberg Quotes

Events, I say to the Captain, events control our lives, although we have no understanding of them nor do they have any motivation. Everything is blind chance, happenstance, occurrence; in an infinite universe anything

"Events," I say to the Captain, "events control our lives, although we have no understanding of them nor do they have any motivation. Everything is blind chance, happenstance, occurrence; in an infinite universe anything can happen. After the fact we find reasons.

Barry N. Malzberg
Motivation, Understanding, Captains
"Beyond Apollo". Book by Barry Malzberg, 1972.

There is no truth which cannot be given in fifty words; the truth is always concise.

Barry N. Malzberg
Fifty, Truth Is, Given
"Beyond Apollo". Book by Barry N. Malzberg, 1972.

Nothing matters at all. Survival is the coin of the realm. Time is a river with banks.

Barry N. Malzberg
Rivers, Survival, Coins
Barry N. Malzberg (2007). “Breakfast in the Ruins”, p.206, Baen Publishing Enterprises

Once you start rewriting, you're not able to stop. With each draft the fundamental banality and worthlessness of the material becomes more evident even as its vitality and spontaneity are drained from it.

Barry N. Malzberg
Able, Rewriting, Vitality

Ruthven surmised that he had hit upon some of the central deceptions which had wrecked him and reduced him and so many of his colleagues to this condition. To surmise was not to conquer, of course; he was as helpless as ever but there was a dim liberation in seeing how he had been lied to, and he felt that at least he could take one thing from the terrible years through which he had come: he was free of self-delusion.

Barry N. Malzberg
Years, Self, Deception
Barry N. Malzberg (2007). “Breakfast in the Ruins”, p.207, Baen Publishing Enterprises

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