Quotes from book
Showboat World

Jack Vance

Showboat World is a science fiction novel by American writer Jack Vance, first published in 1975. It is the second, stand-alone novel in a pair of novels that share the same setting, a backward, lawless, metal-poor world called Big Planet. The plot structure which involves a series of dramatic presentations, often with humorous consequences, has parallels with Vance's 1965 novel Space Opera.

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““Let him talk as he will!” scoffed Zamp. “His motives are not at all obscure.””

Jack Vance book Showboat World

Source: Showboat World (1975), Chapter 10 (p. 108)

Jack Vance photo

““Let them scoff as they see fit! I will never compromise what I consider my art, especially for the sake of gain!”
“For the sake of gain I’d compromise the art of my grandmother,” muttered Zamp under his breath.”

Jack Vance book Showboat World

Source: Showboat World (1975), Chapter 14 (p. 168)

Jack Vance photo

“Gassoon, for all his lore, subscribed to a common fallacy: he assumed that all those whom he encountered appraised him in the same terms as he did himself.”

Jack Vance book Showboat World

Source: Showboat World (1975), Chapter 7 (p. 81)

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“I fear, Master Zamp, that you are a victim to your own perfervid imagination.”

Jack Vance book Showboat World

Source: Showboat World (1975), Chapter 11 (p. 123)

Jack Vance photo

“Navigation on this lake is forbidden to aliens,” he declared. “We are ordered to sink all intruding vessels. Prepare to drown.”

Jack Vance book Showboat World

Source: Showboat World (1975), Chapter 14 (p. 162)

Jack Vance photo

“I suspect that the word (art) was invented by second-rate intelligences to describe the incomprehensible activities of their betters.”

Jack Vance book Showboat World

Source: Showboat World (1975), Chapter 10 (p. 111)

Jack Vance photo

“The town’s lack of special quirks was almost a peculiarity in itself.”

Jack Vance book Showboat World

Source: Showboat World (1975), Chapter 3 (p. 23)

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“Consider the human mind! It is capable of amazing feats when used properly. Conversely, without exercise it atrophies to a lump of gray-yellow fat.”

Jack Vance book Showboat World

Source: Showboat World (1975), Chapter 7 (p. 83)

Jack Vance photo

“Your doctrines are remarkable! As if I existed only to fulfill your cravings! Then, since I do not care to do so, the cosmos must be considered insane.”

Jack Vance book Showboat World

Source: Showboat World (1975), Chapter 11 (p. 123)

Jack Vance photo

“My fees are not too high. Your wage scale may simply be too low.”

Jack Vance book Showboat World

Source: Showboat World (1975), Chapter 12 (p. 132)

Jack Vance photo

“Your character, Apollon Zamp, is marred by a certain paltriness of spirit, a diffused universal distrust which I truly deplore.”

Jack Vance book Showboat World

Source: Showboat World (1975), Chapter 13 (p. 151)

Jack Vance photo

“Let them scoff as they see fit! I will never compromise what I consider my art, especially for the sake of gain!”

Jack Vance book Showboat World

“For the sake of gain I’d compromise the art of my grandmother,” muttered Zamp under his breath.
Source: Showboat World (1975), Chapter 14 (p. 168)

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