“With the situation fully and correctly understood, it becomes entirely reasonable that the very small fraction of a second preceding a violent death could be a trigger to speculative thought.”
Source: Necromancer (1962), Chapter 10 (p. 67)
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Gordon R. Dickson 19
Canadian-American science fiction writer 1923–2001Related quotes

Concluding that there is no stationary ether with respect to which the earth moves while orbiting around the sun. On the Relative Motion of the Earth and the Luminiferous Ether by Albert A. Michelson and Edward W. Morley. American Journal of Science, 1887, 34 (203): 333–345.

Adams quotes — and takes the title of this chapter — from Karl Pearson's classic work The Grammar of Science: "In the chaos behind sensations, in the 'beyond' of sense-impressions, we cannot infer necessity, order or routine, for these are concepts formed by the mind of man on this side of sense-impressions." "Briefly chaos is all that science can logically assert of the supersensuous."
The Education of Henry Adams (1907)


Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

“Even the largest avalanche is triggered by small things.”
The Coming Technological Singularity (1993)
Context: I have argued above that we cannot prevent the Singularity, that its coming is an inevitable consequence of the humans' natural competitiveness and the possibilities inherent in technology. And yet … we are the initiators. Even the largest avalanche is triggered by small things. We have the freedom to establish initial conditions, make things happen in ways that are less inimical than others. Of course (as with starting avalanches), it may not be clear what the right guiding nudge really is...

“I could fill an entire second life with working on my prints.”
undated quotes, M.C. Escher Foundation

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 606.