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Larry Niven Quotes
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Laurence van Cott Niven is an American science fiction writer. His best-known works are Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards, and, with Jerry Pournelle, The Mote in God's Eye and Lucifer's Hammer . The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named him the 2015 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. It also often includes elements of detective fiction and adventure stories. His fantasy includes the series The Magic Goes Away, rational fantasy dealing with magic as a non-renewable resource. Wikipedia  

✵ 30. April 1938
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Larry Niven: 138   quotes 3   likes

Larry Niven Quotes

“I'd thought my way into this mess. I should be able to think my way out, shouldn't I?”

Larry Niven book Convergent Series

Source: Short fiction, Convergent Series (1979), Convergent Series (p. 103)

Way , Thinking

“The difference between a good man and a bad one is the choice of cause.”

Larry Niven book The Legacy of Heorot

Source: The Legacy of Heorot (1987), Chapter 22 “The Last Grendel” (p. 231; quoting William James)

“Sometimes you just have to be satisfied with what you are.”

Larry Niven book The Legacy of Heorot

Source: The Legacy of Heorot (1987), Chapter 7 “The Blind” (p. 91)

“It doesn’t take brains to mate!”

Larry Niven book N-Space

The Alien in Our Minds (p. 642)
Short fiction, N-Space (1990)

“Infantry, which means killing on foot and doesn’t have anything to do with children.”

Larry Niven book N-Space

Short fiction, N-Space (1990)
Source: Madness Has Its Place (p. 568)

Children

“A sapient species doesn’t reach space unless the members learn to cooperate. They’ll wreck the environment, one way or another, war or straight libertarianism or overbreeding.”

Larry Niven book N-Space

Short fiction, N-Space (1990)
Source: Madness Has Its Place (p. 561)

War , Learning , Way

“There aren’t many prizes for second place in battle.”

Larry Niven book N-Space

Building the Mote in God’s Eye (with Jerry Pournelle) (p. 466)
Short fiction, N-Space (1990)

“Collaborations are unnatural. The writer is a jealous god. He builds his universe without interference. He resents the carping of mentally deficient critics, and the editor’s capricious demands for revisions. Let two writers try to make one universe, and their defenses get in the way.”

Larry Niven book N-Space

Building the Mote in God’s Eye (with Jerry Pournelle) (p. 442)
Short fiction, N-Space (1990)

God , Universe , Way

“You don’t stop planning just because there’s no hope.”

Larry Niven book Inconstant Moon

Inconstant Moon (p. 260)
Short fiction, N-Space (1990)

Hope

“Casual murder, casual suicide, casual crime. Why not? If alternate universes are a reality, then cause and effect are an illusion. The law of averages is a fraud. You can do anything, and one of you will, or did.”

Larry Niven book All the Myriad Ways

All the Myriad Ways (p. 79)
Short fiction, N-Space (1990)

Universe , Law , Fraud , Reality

“In fantasy, more than in other forms of literature, the obligation is to teach something universally true about the human condition.”

Larry Niven book N-Space

Introduction to All the Myriad Ways (p. 71)
Short fiction, N-Space (1990)

Universe , Literature

“It takes a lot of people to hold civilization together; some of us are only here to ask the right questions.”

Larry Niven book N-Space

Foreword: Playgrounds for the Mind (p. 32)
Short fiction, N-Space (1990)

Question , People

“Nuclear is the safest power source we’ve got—with two exceptions, neither of which is being built. If some folk are terrified of unseen death by radiation, then let ’em deal with their own neuroses, instead of forcing us to stop building the atomic plants.”

Larry Niven book N-Space

Foreword: Playgrounds for the Mind (pp. 31-32)
Short fiction, N-Space (1990)

Death

“It was a light, brief kiss, but it was less an ending than a promise, and he was happy.”

Larry Niven book Dream Park

Source: Dream Park (1981), Chapter 31, “Departures” (p. 429)

Light , Happiness , Kiss

“I am Yali, and I would like to welcome you to Heaven. I hope you will enjoy your stay.”

Larry Niven book Dream Park

He laughed heartily, as at a private joke. “Yes, I most certainly hope you do. After all, some of you may stay forever. It is a nice place, actually, one of those infinitely rare situations where one is rewarded commensurately to one’s efforts. Surely that is Heaven by any man’s definition?”
Source: Dream Park (1981), Chapter 19, “Neck Riddles” (p. 258)

Hope

“The Gamers are so out of touch with reality that they were never considered a serious threat.”

Larry Niven book Dream Park

Source: Dream Park (1981), Chapter 10, “Neutral Scent” (p. 140)

Reality

“There’s a fine line between sensible emotional restraint, and the withdrawal symptoms of a stimulus junkie denied her fix.”

Larry Niven book Dream Park

Source: Dream Park (1981), Chapter 2, “A Stroll Through Old Los Angeles” (p. 13)