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Jack Vance QUOTES

Jack Vance QUOTES

141 " To move the rocks might yield magical treasures, or, more likely, some unimaginable woe. "

― Jack Vance , Tales of the Dying Earth

142 " Have you any further questions?” “Bah,” grumbled Kalash. “What good are questions, when the answers are all non-sequiturs?” Maloof nodded in agreement. “There is something in what you say. "

― Jack Vance , Ports of Call

143 " I inquire yours?” “I am Kirth Gersen. "

― Jack Vance , The Demon Princes

144 " But what a pity; I have business to transact with Lugo Teehalt!” “It is pointless then to approach me. "

― Jack Vance , The Demon Princes

145 " There’s an elemental mystery to the universe: the why of things. Everyone is free to speculate. I speak not for atheism, but against compulsory theism, or compulsory dogma of any kind. "

― Jack Vance , Minding the Stars: The Early Jack Vance, Volume Four

146 " : Attel Malagate (the Woe) Howard Alan Treesong Viole Falushe Kokor Hekkus (the Killing Machine) Lens Larque "

― Jack Vance , The Demon Princes

147 " You sing siren songs of inducement! "

― Jack Vance , Cugel's Saga (The Dying Earth #3)

148 " May I interrupt?” asked Magnus Ridolph. “I think I may save time for everyone. As you know, Mr. Pascoglu, I spent a certain period this morning in research. I chanced on a description of the Cambygian sacrificial rites. In order for the rite to be valid, the victim must kneel, bow his head forward. Two skewers are driven into his ears, and the victim is left in this position, kneeling, face down, in a state of ritual composure. Bonfils was sprawled without regard for any sort of decency. I suggest that Fodor Impliega and Fodor Banzoso are guiltless, at least of this particular crime. "

― Jack Vance , The Complete Magnus Ridolph

149 " As soon as the police slip out from under the firm thumb of a suspicious local tribune, they become arbitrary, merciless, a law unto themselves. They think no more of justice, but only of establishing themselves as a privileged and envied elite. They mistake the attitude of natural caution and uncertainty of the civilian populace as admiration and respect, and presently start to swagger back and forth, jingling their weapons in megalomaniacal euphoria. "

― Jack Vance

150 " I urge you not to endorse this sinister measure. Humanity many times has had sad experience of super-powerful police forces … As soon as (the police) slip from under the firm thumb of a suspicious local tribune, they become arbitrary, merciless, a law unto themselves. They think no more of justice, but only of establishing themselves as a privileged and envied elite. They mistake the attitude of natural caution and uncertainty of the civilian population as admiration and respect, and presently they start to swagger back and forth jingling weapons, in megalomaniac euphoria. People thereupon become not masters, but servants … Such a police force becomes merely an aggregate of uniformed criminals, the more baneful in that their position is unchallenged and sanctioned by law. The police mentality cannot regard a human being in terms other than as an item or object to be processed as expeditiously as possible. Public convenience or dignity means nothing; police prerogatives assume the status of divine law. "

― Jack Vance , The Demon Princes

151 " To each of the twenty-six planets he assigned a letter of the alphabet and hurriedly supplied new names: Alphanor, Barleycorn, Chrysanthe, Diogenes, Elfland, Fiame, Goshen, Hardacres, Image, Jezebel, Krokinole, Lyonnesse, Madagascar, Nowhere, Olliphane, Pilgham, Quinine, Raratonga, Somewhere, Tantamount, Unicorn, Valisande, Walpurgis, Xion, Ys and Zacaranda — the names derived from legend, myth, romance, his own whimsy. Only "

― Jack Vance , The Demon Princes

152 " Dame Betka laughed without humor. "You are not alone in your yearnings."
"That is as may be! But I am quite alone in being Hester Lajoie! I strike my own personal path through the wilderness of life, and intent to resist dissolution tooth and nail! "

― Jack Vance , Ports of Call

153 " I think we’ve met?” His voice was soft, sardonic. “Your name evades me,” said Gersen politely. “I am Suthiro, Sivij Suthiro. "

― Jack Vance , The Demon Princes

154 " Navarth looked off across the water. “Do you realize that a crook of my finger disturbs the farthest star? That every human thought disturbs the psychic parasphere?”

“This is the source of your knowledge—psychic perturbations?”

“As good a method as any other. "

― Jack Vance , The Palace of Love (Demon Princes, #3)

155 " During most of my youth I lived on Earth.” “Indeed?” Warweave raised his eyebrows in manufactured astonishment. “Out here, you know, we think of Earthmen in terms of stereotypes: cultists, mystics, hyper-civilized epicenes, sinister old men in Institute black, decadent aristocrats … "

― Jack Vance , The Demon Princes

156 " And there was another melancholy - different yet somehow similar - which came to Gersen as he watched the debonair folk about him. They were all graceful and easy, untouched by the toil and pain and terror that existed on remote worlds. Gersen envied them their detachment, their social skills. Still, would he change places with any of them? Hardly. "

― Jack Vance , The Star King (Demon Princes, #1)

157 " Myron said that he knew nothing of ‘Hurlothrumbo’, or any other game. “I have noticed that when these games are played, money changes hands. If I played and won, it would give me no pleasure; but if I lost, I would be haunted by remorse. I would also feel foolish.” Schwatzendale showed his crooked grin. “You do not understand the joy of the hunt. To gamble is to play at prehistoric savagery.” “The metaphor is apt,” said Wingo. “The victor is a cannibal, feeding upon the substance of the victim.” “That is the thrust of our instincts!” Schwatzendale explained. “It is the contrast which generates so much triumph — or such tragic despair.” Wingo shook his head. “When Fay gambles, he often forgets what I shall call ‘amour propre’.” He addressed Myron. “I advise against gambling in general and with Fay in particular. He will deprive you of assets so neatly that you will never notice until you grope in your pocket and find not so much as a soiled handkerchief.” “Wingo is correct!” said Schwatzendale. “Given the chance, I will win the trousers from your arse, so that you have not even a pocket for the groping!” “Fay does not exaggerate,” said Wingo somberly. “Only Moncrief the Mouse-rider has beaten him, and Fay still smarts at the recollection.” Schwatzendale clutched his head. “Why must you utter that name? I shall never rest until —” “Until you have played him again, and lost more money, and known more shame?” “Never, never, never!” “Let us hope not,” said Wingo virtuously. "

― Jack Vance , Ports of Call

158 " The archveult Xexamedes, digging gentian roots in Were Wood, became warm with exertion. He doffed his cloak and returned to work, but the glint of blue scales was noticed by Herark the Harbinger and the diabolist Shrue. Approaching by stealth they leapt forth to confront the creature. Then, flinging a pair of nooses about the supple neck, they held him where he could do no mischief. "

― Jack Vance , The Jack Vance Treasury

159 " Informing you is a pleasure, since you are quick to learn. "

― Jack Vance , Ports of Call

160 " Conversation between two Centennials of the Institute, in connection with a third not present: — “I would gladly come to your house for a chat, if I did not suspect that Ramus were likewise invited.” — “But what is so wrong with Ramus? He often amuses me.” — “He is a fungus, a flatulence, a pompous old toad, and he irritates me vastly.” Question occasionally put to Fellows of the Institute: Are Star Kings included among the fellowship? The customary answer: We certainly hope not. MOTTO OF THE INSTITUTE: A little knowledge is a dangerous thing; a great deal of knowledge is disaster, which detractors of the Institute scornfully paraphrase to: Somebody else’s ignorance is bliss. "

― Jack Vance , The Demon Princes