“It's a good idea for diplomats to keep their word in small matters. It makes the later complete betrayals more of a surprise.”
Earth Made of Glass (1998)
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John Barnes 38
American science fiction writer 1957Related quotes
“Words like “spokesman” and “touchstone” took me completely by surprise.”
Paris Review interview (1986)
Context: Words like “spokesman” and “touchstone” took me completely by surprise. For very real reasons. Not only had I been out of the country when my first two books were published, but I have always been “out of the country” in the sense that I never had what ordinarily is thought of as a literary life, or been part of a literary group. What psychiatrists nowadays call a support system. I never had any of that and still don’t.

Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau (1776) l’"Art de l’Épinglier" (The Art of the Pin-Maker). Introduction

Letter to S.P. Kuvshinnikova (December 25, 1888)
Letters

Source: Transmetropolitan, Vol. 1: Back on the Street

Source: The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God (2006)

“That was how dishonesty and betrayal started, not in big lies but in small secrets.”
Source: The Bonesetter's Daughter

“Every good idea sooner or later degenerates into hard work.”