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Karl Schroeder QUOTES

Karl Schroeder QUOTES

1 " An ancient sage held that in different ages, humans held the senses in different ratios, according to the media by which they communicated and expressed themselves. Hence before writing, the ear was the royal sense. After writing, the eye. "

― Karl Schroeder

2 " Makers?" said Toby. Jaysir nodded.

"We're not loners, you know. There just weren't any on Wallop. We love to get together, we just refuse to engage in social relations that are based on material inequity. "

― Karl Schroeder , Lockstep

3 " The point is, if you treat reality like a game, it's going to show in your decisions. "

― Karl Schroeder , Lockstep

4 " The whole glittering nebula of shapes was framed by midnight colors—black, bruised blue, indigo, all textured into intricacy by clouds and the reachless vaults between them. Here, darkness was not simple; it hinted at structures and meanings, hidden activity and watchful eyes. Beacons flickered, miles away, then disappeared behind fog banks. Half-glimpsed ropes twisted and contorted their way up, down, and to every side, synapses reaching to contact the outlier towns and factories of Sere’s hinterland. One or two of those ropes, if you followed them far enough, would emerge into sunlight at other nations’ borders. "

― Karl Schroeder , The Sunless Countries (Virga, #4)

5 " Lost their stomachs, sealed up their anuses and adopted the autotroph way "

― Karl Schroeder , Permanence

6 " Any object that lost its nanotags automatically became government property, so hard-working people and those who had lived for generations in ancestral homes here would see their properties expropriated. The farmers who had brought their produce to sell no longer owned that produce. The government knew this would drive people into the rebel cause in droves, but they had no alternative. Their orders came from Earth, after all. Earth was very far away, and the Rights Owners there would not be sympathetic. "

― Karl Schroeder

7 " The secret to life, she had said, was to find the little things, the unimportant ones that would nonetheless always remind you of the precious things they accompanied—and hold onto them. "

― Karl Schroeder , Ventus

8 " Frankenstein’s monster speaks: the computer. But where are its words coming from? Is the wisdom on those cold lips our own, merely repeated at our request? Or is something else speaking?—A voice we have always dreamed of hearing? "

― Karl Schroeder , Ventus

9 " Give people the power of the gods, and they'll eventually run down like wind-up toys for lack of reasons to go on. "

― Karl Schroeder , Lockstep

10 " Per Diem 10 dites/day Visitors’ Card 75 "

― Karl Schroeder , Permanence

11 " The countryside they "

― Karl Schroeder , Ventus

12 " To read is to make love to the world,” he said. “But to make love to a woman is to feel like the world is reading you. "

― Karl Schroeder , Ventus

13 " I know that traditionally, monsters hang around empty places for no apparent reason—and "

― Karl Schroeder , Ashes of Candesce (Virga, #5)

14 " You must listen!” the tiny monster squeaked. She grabbed it as it made to climb onto the dashboard, and then she shook it fiercely. “No!” she bellowed. “You must listen! "

― Karl Schroeder , The Sunless Countries (Virga, #4)

15 " Oh, I inherited my emotions from Calandria May, and I understand now that each human has a ruling passion, one that serves as the fountainhead from which flow all semblances of happiness, sadness, anger, and joy. "

― Karl Schroeder , Ventus

16 " So now I ask you, what will happen to me? I have fulfilled my purpose, but I can no longer cease to exist by myself. I have inherited Calandria May’s sorrow, and am lost myself without the purpose I once had. I can never be a ship again. So please, I beg you, shut me down now. I never wanted to have a soul. "

― Karl Schroeder , Ventus

17 " She herself had told him that you can never hold onto anything. The harder you try, the more precious things slip through your fingers. The secret to life, she had said, was to find the little things, the unimportant ones that would nonetheless always remind you of the precious things they accompanied—and hold onto them. Like the fine furniture her husband had carved for her, seemingly centuries ago. "

― Karl Schroeder , Ventus

18 " I don’t want to destroy, not even destroy the R.E.” he said. “I … want to build. "

― Karl Schroeder , Permanence

19 " They had left the demigod they now called the Voice in a government creche in orbit. The Archipelago had facilities for newly born artificial sentients—a revelation that still astonished and unsettled Marya when she thought about it. The Voice had gone willingly into the maw of the jewellike orbiting structure; as the doors closed she had looked back, but Marya could read nothing in her gaze—neither hope nor fear. "

― Karl Schroeder , Ventus

20 " Armiger leaned over her and kissed her cheek. “Which what do I prefer?” “Do you prefer making love or reading?” He voice held a teasing note, but he had learned there were frequently hidden needs behind her teasing questions. “To read is to make love to the world,” he said. “But to make love to a woman is to feel like the world is reading you. "

― Karl Schroeder , Ventus