Kage Baker: Trending quotes (page 3)

“Privilege tends to soften the brain, or so I’ve observed.”

Kage Baker book Mendoza in Hollywood

Part 3 “The Island Out There” Chapter 2 (p. 294)
Mendoza in Hollywood (2000)

“Times had changed.
Sooner or later, they always did.”

Kage Baker book The Graveyard Game

Source: The Graveyard Game (2001), Chapter 2, “Hollywood, 1996” (p. 10)

Change , Time

“The same intact culture that made them good businessmen also made many of them lousy parents.”

Kage Baker book Sky Coyote

Source: Sky Coyote (1999), Chapter 35 (p. 286)

Parent

“It was growing dusk, the blue hour when solid things take on a certain transparency and phantoms become palpable.”

Kage Baker book The Graveyard Game

Source: The Graveyard Game (2001), Chapter 27, “Avalon” (p. 244)

“That is one dark house your God lives in, man. Alec shook his head. You can keep your Age of Faith. Whyn’t you find somebody to worship who isn’t a shracking psychopath?”

Kage Baker book The Machine's Child

Source: The Machine's Child (2006), Chapter 21, “Santa Catalina Island, 1923 AD” (p. 227)

God , Age , Faith , Housing

“Edward raises the pointer and places its tip against Alec’s forehead. “What’s the use of having a library in there if you won’t open the books, boy? What’s the good of augmented intelligence if you won’t use it?””

Kage Baker book The Sons of Heaven

Source: The Sons of Heaven (2007), Chapter 26, Section 1 “Child Care in the Cyborg Family, Volume Fifteen: Adolescent Rebellion” (p. 307)

Books , Intelligence , Boy

““So as we’ve seen, not one faith has ever lived up to its promises. The world has never become a paradise, quite the opposite, in fact: think of the millions upon millions slaughtered, tortured, imprisoned for this great idea, this good news, this revolution. The visionary who works against human nature to impose his—or her—sweeping vision on the world is inevitably its worst enemy.
Now, who isn’t? Consider the work of certain individual mortals who set themselves simple tasks. They saw no need to raise armies; they saw no need for revolution or bloodshed; they worked instead for realistic goals with the tools they had. And they succeeded, and their works have been of lasting benefit to humanity.” He erased the board with relish and chalked a new set of names:.
“People like these have done more to relieve human misery than any prophet with a manifesto ever will.””

Kage Baker book In the Garden of Iden

Source: In the Garden of Iden (1997), Chapter 6 (p. 47)

People , World , Faith , Idea

“Just when I thought things couldn’t get any stranger, I was proven wrong.”

Kage Baker book The Graveyard Game

Source: The Graveyard Game (2001), Chapter 23, “Irún del Mar, Basque Republic” (p. 201)

“Justice doesn’t exist! We did worse things. Nobody deserves to go to that place, Alec said. Anyway, weren’t you Christian types supposed to forgive everybody?
I will shed no tears for that bastard’s damnation, said Nicholas stonily.
No wonder nobody’s left that believes in your stupid religion, said Alec.”

Kage Baker book The Machine's Child

Source: The Machine's Child (2006), Chapter 21, “Santa Catalina Island, 1923 AD” (p. 218)

Stupidity , Religion , Justice , Forgiveness

“Doubtless he was going to start bragging about being a god. It went with the profile of this sort of lunatic.”

Kage Baker book The Children of the Company

Source: The Children of the Company (2005), Chapter 4, “Son Observe the Time” (p. 209)

God

“It’s sad when people are stupid.”

Kage Baker book The Children of the Company

Source: The Children of the Company (2005), Chapter 7, “Messis Vero Consummatio Saeculi Est” (p. 264)

People , Stupidity , Sadness

“With the invention of printing, mass standardized culture had become possible.
With the inventions of photography and then cinema, the standardization of popular culture began to progress geometrically and its rate of change slowed down.
In addition, the complete documentation of daily life made possible by these technological advances presented the mass of humanity, for the first time in history, with a mirror in which to regard itself. Less and less had it been able to look away, as its own image became more detailed and perfect, especially with the burden of information that became available at the end of the twentieth century.
What this meant, in practical terms, was that retro was the only fashion.”

Kage Baker book The Life of the World to Come

Source: The Life of the World to Come (2004), Chapter 6, “Alec and His Friends” (p. 105)

Life , History , Fashion , Change

“When you laugh at something, you don’t fear it anymore.”

Kage Baker book Sky Coyote

Source: Sky Coyote (1999), Chapter 31 (p. 266)

Fear

““So, um… are you alone out here?”
“I was,” she said.”

Kage Baker book The Machine's Child

Source: The Machine's Child (2006), Chapter 16, “One Afternoon in 2319 AD” (p. 157)

“Funny thing about those Middle Ages,” said Joseph. “They just keep coming back. Mortals keep thinking they’re in Modern Times, you know, they get all this neat technology and pass all these humanitarian laws, and then something happens: there’s an economic crisis, or science makes some discovery people can’t deal with. And boom, people go right back to burning Jews and selling pieces of the true Cross. Don’t you ever make the mistake of thinking that mortals want to live in a golden age. They hate thinking.”

Kage Baker book In the Garden of Iden

Source: In the Garden of Iden (1997), Chapter 17 (pp. 192-193)

Hate , People , Age , Law

““And when there is peace at last, and when men are no longer distracted by the ravages of war and crime, then the real work begins. Mankind has grasped at science and invention to improve his lot; when he truly understands that he can wield those tools to improve himself, he will lay the cornerstone of the earthly paradise,” Edward said. “What might not science achieve, in a world where a nation’s resources weren’t continually drained by strife?”

Kage Baker book Mendoza in Hollywood

Part 3 “The Island Out There” Chapter 3 (pp. 308-309)
Mendoza in Hollywood (2000)

Men , War , World , Peace

“Like children, they’re bored by complicated things. More than bored: they feel threatened. Give a child mashed potatoes and butter, and he’s happy. He doesn’t want to try the rich sauce with capers, in fact he’ll cry if he’s forced to taste it. You see what I mean?
But, listen, Joseph. A child is easy to control. Keep him happy, and he’ll believe what he’s told to believe.”

Kage Baker book Sky Coyote

Source: Sky Coyote (1999), Chapter 19 (p. 129)

Children , Feeling , Cry , Happiness

“And what a clever guy this Harpole is, isn’t he? Awfully good at noticing all kinds of little unusual things about people and keeping them on file in his head. So he’s built a theory around us, has he? He added two and two and came up with five, but nobody else in the house was aware there was anything to count.”

Kage Baker book In the Garden of Iden

Source: In the Garden of Iden (1997), Chapter 12 (p. 128)

People , Guy , Housing

““When will you stop this metaphysical nonsense?” said Edward wearily. “But I suppose you’ve no other way to look at the matter, born as you were in an age of superstitious piety.””

Kage Baker book The Life of the World to Come

Source: The Life of the World to Come (2004), Chapter 20, “Alec Times Three” (p. 318)

Age , Way

“The Rogue Cyborg is doing serious Rogue Cyborg stuff. He’s crouched before a data terminal as though it were an ancient altar, and from the look on his face what he’s praying for is desperate and bloody revenge.”

Kage Baker book The Machine's Child

Source: The Machine's Child (2006), Chapter 13, “One Evening in 2318 AD” (p. 133)

Revenge