Quotes from book
A for Anything

Name: A for Anything
Author: Damon Knight

A for Anything is a science fiction novel by American writer Damon Knight. The author postulates the discovery, in the near future, of the "Gismo", a device that can duplicate anything—even another Gismo. Since all material objects have become essentially free, the only commodity of value is human labor, and the author suggests that a slave economy would be the inevitable result.

“Don’t lose your temper,” said Ruell evenly. “It’s your worst fault, except for ignorance.”

Damon Knight book A for Anything

Source: A for Anything (1959), Chapter 7 (p. 88)

“No progress, either moral or material, can be made in a world which is frozen, like ours, into a rigid mold of suppression of liberties.”

Damon Knight book A for Anything

Source: A for Anything (1959), Chapter 10 (p. 120)

“We humanitarians, as our name suggests, believe that man has an ethical duty to man. We believe that the value of any system is measured by the consideration given to all human beings, not just to a favored class: and by that standard, our present system is a miserable failure.”

Damon Knight book A for Anything

Source: A for Anything (1959), Chapter 10 (p. 120)

“Voluntary birth control methods only work on the people who choose to use ’em. A population check that doesn’t work on everybody doesn’t work at all, because it simply breeds out the ones who use it. The only population check that really works is one that affects everybody, like a limit of space or food.”

Damon Knight book A for Anything

Source: A for Anything (1959), Chapter 10 (p. 122)