Jack McDevitt Quotes - Page 2

Truth, beaten down, may well rise again. But there's a reason it gets beaten down. Usually, we don't like it very much.

Show me what a people admire, and I will tell you everything about them that matters.

Tides are like politics. They come and go with a great deal of fuss and noise, but inevitably they leave the beach just as they found it. On those few occasions when major change does occur, it is rarely a good news.

It can provide horrendous weapons to idiots.

We could never know who we truly were until we heard the whispers of the stars.

There is no justice. There are occasional acts of vengeance, or regret, but there's no real justice. In the natural scheme of things, it is not possible.

What would happen is that people like Geroge and Alyx would grow old and die chasing a dream. Although there were probably worse things to do with one's life.

One could not always put safety up front as the prime goal. Do that, and who would ever achieve anything of note?

There'd been studies over the years supporting the proposition that groups composed exclusively of women usually made intelligent decisions, that exclusively male groups did a bit less well, and that mixed groups did most poorly of all, by a substantial margin. It appeared that, when women were present, testosterone got the upper hand and men took greater risks than they might otherwise. Correspondingly, women in the mixed group tended to revert to roles, becoming more passive, and going along with whatever misjudgment the males might perpetrate.

The queen of virtues is the recognition of one's own flaws.

Somewhere we taught ourselves that our opinions are more significant than the facts. And somehow we get our egos and our opinions and Truth all mixed up in a single package, so that when something does challenge one of the notions to which we subscribe, we react as if it challenges us.

Of course, they (i. e., demons) had always been observed with some regularity, but that could usually be ascribed to an overabundance of piety or wine or imagination. Take your pick.

So long as you believe in some truth you do not believe in yourself. You are a servant. A man of faith.

Sometimes the cost of integrity is the loss of a friend.

The cultures we can look at had already grasped the essential unity of nature. No board of gods can survive that knowledge.

If you want data to survive, carve it in rock.

The uplifters are forever running around telling blockheads they would do better if they would believe in themselves. But they already do. That is why they are blockheads.

Throughout our long and sorry history it has been men who supposed themselves to be exemplars of integrity who have done all the damage. Every crusade, whether for decent literary standards or to cover women's bodies or to free the holy land, had been launched, endorsed, and enthusiastically perpetrated by men of character.

The measure of a civilization is in the courage, not of its soldiers, but of its bystanders.

Certain types of decisions can be safely ignored. Some issues will go away with the passage of time, others will be so slow developing that the decision-makers will depart before the results of their neglect becomes manifest. Which brings us to the environment.

Intelligence is like pornography. I can't define it, but I know if when I see it.

Boundaries have no existence save on charts or in small minds. Nature does not draw lines.

There's not much to be said for sightseeing. You go somewhere that has a waterfall. You have a beer, watch the water go over the edge, and move on. Tours are all the same. In the end, the only thing that matters is the beer.

So long as men and women are free, no one is safe. People will be in danger because others can't operate vehicles responsibly or shoot straight. Because physicians are sometimes incompetent and lawyers dishonest. But most of all they will be in danger from ideas. It is the price we willingly pay to be free. Nor would we have it any other way.

Solitude is only a good idea if you have the right people along to share it.