Jack McDevitt: Trending quotes

“Embrace your life, find what it is that you love, and pursue it with all your soul. For if you do not, when you come to die, you will find that you have not lived.”

Jack McDevitt

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Chindi (2002), Chapter 36 (p. 487)

Love , Life , Soul

“A man without money is a bow without an arrow.”

Jack McDevitt book Ancient Shores

Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, epigram for Chapter 18 (p. 180)
Ancient Shores (1996)

Money

“At night the sea is very loud,
And voices ride the tide.
At another time, in another place,
Beneath the silent moon,
We laughed together.”

Jack McDevitt

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Cauldron (2007), Chapter 30 (p. 279)

Time , Sea , Night

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

Jack McDevitt

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Cauldron (2007), Chapter 28 (p. 256)

“There are few professions whose primary objective is to advance the cause of humanity rather than simply to make money or accrue power. Among this limited group of humanitarians I would number teachers, nurses, bookstore owners, and bartenders.”

Jack McDevitt

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Odyssey (2006), Chapter 14 (p. 124)

Money , Teachers

“Sometimes,” he said, “I think life is just one long series of blown opportunities.”

Jack McDevitt

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Deepsix (2001), Chapter 22 (p. 327)

Life , Thinking

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

Jack McDevitt

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, The Engines of God (1994), Chapter 30 (p. 398)

People

“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.”

Jack McDevitt

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Chindi (2002), Chapter 12 (p. 165)

Life , People , Dreams

“He was usually easygoing, one of those guys with little respect for authority because of a conviction that people in charge tend to do stupid things.”

Jack McDevitt

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Cauldron (2007), Chapter 36 (p. 322)

People , Stupidity , Guy

“Decisions are always made with insufficient information. If you really knew what was going on, the decision would make itself.”

Jack McDevitt

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Odyssey (2006), Chapter 39 (p. 370)

Decision

“Politicians always seemed to be willing to sacrifice the general welfare to win votes.”

Jack McDevitt book The Hercules Text

Source: The Hercules Text (1986), Chapter 9 (p. 138)

“Plato is correct about democracy. It is essentially mob rule. And once the mob gets an idea into its collective head, it’s almost impossible to get it out, or modify it in any way. In an era of mass communication and irresponsible media, it can be a deadly characteristic.”

Jack McDevitt

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Odyssey (2006), Chapter 32 (p. 289)

Way , Democracy , Communication , Idea

“In the larger scale of things, his opinions didn’t count anyhow. The politicians made the decisions, and the voters paid no attention.”

Jack McDevitt

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Odyssey (2006), Chapter 4 (p. 31)

Decision

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

Jack McDevitt

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Odyssey (2006), Chapter 7 (p. 69)

Loss

“The Reverend Pullman sat on the opposite side of the bench, wearing clerical garb and one of those unctuous smiles that proclaims a monopoly on truth.”

Jack McDevitt

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Odyssey (2006), Chapter 35 (p. 331)

Truth , Smile

““Alyx,” she said, “you're going to be a legend.”
“I already am, Captain,” she said.”

Jack McDevitt

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Chindi (2002), Chapter 34 (p. 471)

“When do we reach a point where people become responsible for their own actions?”

Jack McDevitt book Ancient Shores

Source: Ancient Shores (1996), Chapter 13 (pp. 124-125)

People

“Katie commented that Americans had lost the ability to enjoy themselves.
“We watch television,” Dave said.”

Jack McDevitt book Time Travelers Never Die

Source: Time Travelers Never Die (2009), Chapter 44 (p. 378)

“One should always be skeptical. That’s always been our problem. We have too many believers.”
“Believers in what?”

Jack McDevitt

“In everything.”
Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Chindi (2002), Chapter 5 (p. 72)

Problem

“He objected on principle to the powerful.”

Jack McDevitt

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, The Engines of God (1994), Chapter 16 (p. 213)