Jack Vance: Trending quotes

“Sir, my life, drab and insipid though it may seem to others, is the only life given me to live.”

Section 6 (p. 186)
Short fiction, Rumfuddle (1973)

“Sir, your ideas are incorrect in every possible respect.”

Source: Lyonesse Trilogy (1983-1989), The Green Pearl (1985), Chapter 4, section 3 (p. 419)

“Good music always defeats bad luck.”

Source: Lyonesse Trilogy (1983-1989), Madouc (1989), Chapter 7, section 5 (p. 848)

“Notice this rent in my garment; I am at a loss to explain its presence! I am even more puzzled by the existence of the universe.”

“While we are alive we should sit among colored lights and taste good wines, and discuss our adventures in far places; when we are dead, the opportunity is past.”

Source: Dying Earth (1950-1984), The Eyes of the Overworld (1966), Chapter 5, "The Pilgrims"
Source: Tales of the Dying Earth

“Sorry, I’m not at home. I have gone out to my world Fancy, and I cannot be reached. Call back in a week, unless your business is urgent, in which case call back in a month.”

“Mischief moves somewhere near and I must blast it with my magic!”

Section 6 (p. 184)
Short fiction, Rumfuddle (1973)

“He adjudicated the case in a manner I still find perplexing, but which must have been equitable, since it pleased no one.”

Source: Dying Earth (1950-1984), The Dying Earth (1950), Chapter 1, "Turjan of Miir"

“When one deals with the Murthe, the unthinkable becomes the ordinary, and Zanzel's repute carries no more weight than last year's mouse-dropping - if that much.”

Source: Lyonesse Trilogy (1983-1989), Madouc (1989), Chapter 11, section 1 (p. 967)

“I do not care to listen; obloquy injures my self-esteem and I am skeptical of praise.”

"The Murthe", chapter 2
Quotations and text from the Dying Earth novels, Rhialto the Marvellous (1984)

“How to know, oh how to know! All is relative ease and facility in orthodoxy, yet how can it be denied that good is in itself undeniable? Absolutes are the most uncertain of all formulations, while the uncertainties are the most real…”

Source: Dying Earth (1950-1984), The Eyes of the Overworld (1966), Chapter 1, "The Overworld"

Jack Vance book The Dragon Masters

Section 7
The Dragon Masters (1962)

“The less a writer discusses his work—and himself—the better. The master chef slaughters no chickens in the dining room; the doctor writes prescriptions in Latin; the magician hides his hinges, mirrors, and trapdoors with the utmost care.”

“We need no chieftain; such folk eat more than their share.”

Afterword to "The Bagful of Dreams" in The Jack Vance Treasury (2007). First appeared in Epoch (1775), ed. Robert Silverberg and Roger Elwood.

“Shimrod said: “Once I thought of you as a child in a woman’s body.”
Melancthe smiled a cool smile. “And now?”
“The child seems to have wandered away.””

"Fader's Waft", chapter 13
Dying Earth (1950-1984), Rhialto the Marvellous (1984)

“The mind was a marvellous instrument, thought Shimrod; when left to wander untended, it often arrived at curious destinations.”

Source: Lyonesse Trilogy (1983-1989), The Green Pearl (1985), Chapter 6, section 1 (p. 436)

““Let him talk as he will!” scoffed Zamp. “His motives are not at all obscure.””

Source: Lyonesse Trilogy (1983-1989), Madouc (1989), Chapter 11, section 2 (p. 968)

Jack Vance book Showboat World

Source: Showboat World (1975), Chapter 10 (p. 108)

“What is peace? Balance three iron skewers tip to tip, one upon the other; at the summit, emplace and egg, so that it too poises static in mid-air, and there you have the condition of peace in this world of men.”

““Sir Tristano spoke: “Stop! You are taking the great green pearl!”
“Naturally!” said the voice from a point close behind. “That is the whole point of robbery: to acquire the victim’s valuables!””

Source: Lyonesse Trilogy (1983-1989), Madouc (1989), Chapter 4, section 3 (p. 750)

“It is no hardship whatever,” said Aillas. “You have never strained at the deed. Now the shoe is on the other foot, and suddenly you find the idea incredible. Do you not sense a taint of unreality?”

Source: Lyonesse Trilogy (1983-1989), The Green Pearl (1985), Chapter 1, section 4 (p. 375)