“The patrists poison themselves. The matrists tend to decay, which is merely another kind of poison.”

“Why do you talk all the time? I asked. It was a rhetorical question, but she cocked her head on one side and considered it carefully.I think its cause I dont know any big words, like you and Mummy,...”

“I thumped her on the back, picked her up and dropped her on top of her dungarees. Put them pants on, I said, and be a man. She did, but she cried quietly until I shook her and said gently, Stop it ...”

“We are now in a position to determine just what sort of science fiction story this really is.”

“The alternative is to locate large deposits of specifically what we need, and extract it in bulk from the earth.Thats mining, said the Drip. There is a twenty-third century legend that youth was co...”

“Why on earth do you carry a mirror around with you? It's purely a defensive device. We seldom quarrel, and this is one of the reasons. Can you imagine yourself getting all worked up and contorted a...”

“To get over artist's block, make shitty art.”

“Is there magic in this world? Certainly! But it is not the kind of magic written about in fantasy stories. It is the kind of magic that comes from ideas and the hard work it often takes to make the...”

“We become what we behold. We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us.”

“A culture of unaccountability is a culture without incentive, and a culture without incentive is the death of critical and creative thinking.”

“All colours are the friends of their neighbours and the lovers of their opposites.”

“Sir when their backsides look good enough to slap there's nothing more to do.”

“A painter who has the feel of breasts and buttocks is saved.”