Quotes from book
Jack Faust

Jack Faust
Michael Swanwick

Jack Faust is a science fiction novel by American writer Michael Swanwick. It was nominated for the British Science Fiction Award in 1997, and for both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1998.

Michael Swanwick photo

““Good men are dying at this very moment to protect you, your factories, your possessions, and all civilization.”
“Good men are dying every moment,” Gretchen replied coldly, “somewhere. Since they did not ask my leave to do so, I feel no particular obligation toward them.””

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 13, “Tabloids” (p. 219)

Michael Swanwick photo

““Out of doors on a moonless night?” Mette sneered. “Only fools, footpads, and astrologers stray where there is no light.””

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 4, “Flight” (p. 57)

Michael Swanwick photo

““Tell me! What do you think of life? What do you think of ambition? What do you think of science, of learning, of love, of fame, of glory, of aspiration?”
“I think… that those are all very different things.”
“You are wrong. They are all one thing—a cunt.”
“Sir?”
“A cunt! Consider: The cunt is a nasty, ugly, filthy thing. Yet we desire it so greatly as to be willing to suffer any indignity to attain it. For the sake of it we labor and preen and whisper sugary words. We go to the theatre with flowers in our arms, climb over back walls by moonlight, write sonnets, jump out of windows with our trousers in our hands, give dangerous men their choice of weapons. We build love-nests for it sake, and cities, and civilizations. It is our all, our only, our ideal. It has created us and made us great. Such is life, such is ambition, such is science, learning, love, fame, glory, and aspiration. The Eternal Cunt,” he said significantly, “draws us onward.””

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 16, “The Wild Hunt” (p. 276)

Michael Swanwick photo

“There are three stages to a battle: First you’re bored. Then you’re terrified. Then you’re dead. Each is necessary, and they must all come in the proper order.”

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 14, “Dreadnought” (pp. 248-249)

Michael Swanwick photo

““Now here is a treasure, Averroës Commentaries on Aristotle in a tolerable translation from the Arabic by Gerard of Cremona.” He lasciviously stroked the red leather boards, knowing well how his pupil ached for the chance to pore through it. “A liar’s gloss on a liar’s lies. Surely this is a rare criminal.””

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 1, “Trinity” (p. 7)

Michael Swanwick photo

“This is the price you must pay for knowledge: You must understand and acknowledge its consequences.”

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 2, “Revelations” (p. 30)

Michael Swanwick photo

“Faust had no delusions of Heavenly aid. An involved and benevolent deity would have helped him long years ago when, young, he had yearned for knowledge as achingly as now and with far fewer stains on his soul.”

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 1, “Trinity” (p. 15)

Michael Swanwick photo

“He was not actually drunk, but emotion made him feel as if he were. Sorrow, loss, anger—these were as good as a bottle of the very worst gin.”

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 19, “Ashes” (pp. 318-319)

Michael Swanwick photo

“What the common man calls Evil, he once told me, is nothing more than the fear of one’s own potential.”

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 16, “The Wild Hunt” (p. 278)

Michael Swanwick photo

““Surely,” he cried, “this is not inevitable. Surely humanity could take the knowledge you offer and use it to ennoble itself. Surely they could apply it wisely and without folly.”
“They could,” Mephistopheles said dryly. “But will they?””

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 2, “Revelations” (p. 32)

Michael Swanwick photo

“Urban life was thus founded upon the principle of deliberately confounding those who were not a part of it. Civilization was a strategy of exclusion.”

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 16, “The Wild Hunt” (p. 287)

Michael Swanwick photo

“That is the true measure of love, you see, the evil one will stoop to for its sake…”

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 16, “The Wild Hunt” (p. 292)

Michael Swanwick photo

““Paid off? Do you mean bribery?”
“That is, umm, not an entirely pleasant word for it.” Dreschler’s doughy face took on a pained expression. “It is more in the nature of an advance payment to ensure the labor force will be satisfied with the negotiated wage schedules.””

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 15, “The Abortion” (p. 265)

Michael Swanwick photo

“It was not possible for her to rejoin the unthinking world, becoming as she had been before, sleepily and smugly ignorant of consequences. There were thoughts that once thought, could not be unthought.”

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 17, “The Agent” (p. 304)

Michael Swanwick photo

“All human beings have their price, and quite often it is surprisingly small. The trick consists of knowing exactly what that price is, when they themselves do not.”

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 6, “Practical Designs” (p. 83)

Michael Swanwick photo

“Paid off? Do you mean bribery?”

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

“That is, umm, not an entirely pleasant word for it.” Dreschler’s doughy face took on a pained expression. “It is more in the nature of an advance payment to ensure the labor force will be satisfied with the negotiated wage schedules.”
Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 15, “The Abortion” (p. 265)

Michael Swanwick photo

“Good men are dying at this very moment to protect you, your factories, your possessions, and all civilization.”

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

“Good men are dying every moment,” Gretchen replied coldly, “somewhere. Since they did not ask my leave to do so, I feel no particular obligation toward them.”
Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 13, “Tabloids” (p. 219)

Michael Swanwick photo

“Out of doors on a moonless night?”

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

Mette sneered. “Only fools, footpads, and astrologers stray where there is no light.”
Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 4, “Flight” (p. 57)

Michael Swanwick photo

“Now here is a treasure, Averroës Commentaries on Aristotle in a tolerable translation from the Arabic by Gerard of Cremona.”

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

He lasciviously stroked the red leather boards, knowing well how his pupil ached for the chance to pore through it. “A liar’s gloss on a liar’s lies. Surely this is a rare criminal.”
Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 1, “Trinity” (p. 7)