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Richard K. Morgan QUOTES

Richard K. Morgan QUOTES

1 " A preoccupation with the next world clearly shows an inability to cope credibly with this one. "

― Richard K. Morgan , Broken Angels (Takeshi Kovacs, #2)

2 " The only problem they had ... was in drawing the fine differences between war-mass murder of people wearing a uniform not your own; justifiable loss-mass murder of your own troops, but with substantial gains; and criminal negligence-mass murder of your own troops, without appreciable benefit. "

― Richard K. Morgan , Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1)

3 " Like Bancroft, MacIntyre had been a man of power, and like all men of power, when he talked of prices worth paying, you could be sure of one thing. Someone else was paying. "

― Richard K. Morgan , Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1)

4 " It has been a messy week, and I blame myself as much as anyone else. I feel like a behaviourist who has designed her rat’s maze poorly. "

― Richard K. Morgan , Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1)

5 " Potential, and the will to deploy it. That's all magic is in the end, you know. "

― Richard K. Morgan , The Steel Remains (A Land Fit for Heroes, #1)

6 " The difference between virtuality and life is very simple. In a construct you know everything is being run by an all-powerful machine.
Reality doesn't offer this assurance, so it's very easy to develop the mistaken impression that you're in control.

Quellcrest Falconer
Ethics on the Precipice "

― Richard K. Morgan

7 " There's a sameness to streetlife. On every world I've ever been, the same underlying patterns play out, flaunt and vaunt, buy and sell, like some distilled essence of human behavior seeping out from whatever clanking political machine has been dropped on it from above. "

― Richard K. Morgan , Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1)

8 " Hand over your responses to the man who triggers them, and you have already lost the battle for self. Look beyond, and find yourself there instead. "

― Richard K. Morgan , Thirteen

9 " ...the tongues of men are not much leashed by concerns for accuracy or truth. "

― Richard K. Morgan , The Steel Remains (A Land Fit for Heroes, #1)

10 " No such thing as time travel, he'd rumbled patiently, once. Only live with what you've done, and try in the future to do what you're happy to live with. "

― Richard K. Morgan , Thirteen

11 " In the Envoy Corps, you take what is offered, Virginia Vidaura said, somewhere in the corridors of my memory. And that must sometimes be enough. "

― Richard K. Morgan , Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1)

12 " The personal, as everyone’s so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here – it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide from under it with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way, you stand a better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous marks the difference - the only difference in their eyes - between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it’s just business, it’s politics, it’s the way of the world, it’s a tough life and that it’s nothing personal. Well, fuck them. Make it personal. "

― Richard K. Morgan , Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1)

13 " The human eye is a wonderful device. With a little effort, it can fail to see even the most glaring injustice. "

― Richard K. Morgan , Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1)

14 " If they asked how I died tell them: Still angry. "

― Richard K. Morgan , Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1)

15 " The way I see it, anyone who's proud of their country is either a thug or just hasn't read enough history yet. "

― Richard K. Morgan , Thirteen

16 " We all get our dreams stamped on from time to time, right? And if it didn’t hurt, what kind of second-rate dreams would they be? "

― Richard K. Morgan , Woken Furies (Takeshi Kovacs, #3)

17 " Take what is offered and that must sometimes be enough. "

― Richard K. Morgan , Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1)

18 " A weapon is a tool," she repeated, a little breathlessly. "A tool for killing and destroying. And there will be times when, as an Envoy, you must kill and destroy. Then you will choose and equip yourself with the tools that you need. But remember the weakness of weapons. They are an extension--you are the killer and destroyer. You are whole, with or without them. "

― Richard K. Morgan , Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1)

19 " There are some arenas so corrupt that the only clean acts possible are nihilistic. "

― Richard K. Morgan , Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1)

20 " For all that we have done, as a civilization, as individuals, the universe is not stable, and nor is any single thing within it. Stars consume themselves, the universe itself rushes apart, and we ourselves are composed of matter in constant flux. Colonies of cells in temporary alliance, replicating and decaying and housed within, an incandescent cloud of electrical impulse and precariously stacked carbon code memory. This is reality, this is self knowledge, and the perception of it will, of course, make you dizzy. "

― Richard K. Morgan , Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1)