Quotes from book
Stand on Zanzibar

Stand on Zanzibar
John Brunner

Stand on Zanzibar is a dystopian New Wave science fiction novel written by John Brunner and first published in 1968. The book won a Hugo Award for Best Novel at the 27th World Science Fiction Convention in 1969, as well as the 1969 BSFA Award and the 1973 Prix Tour-Apollo Award.

““What are you going to do for a career?”
Diverted from his orbit, Donald binked. “Well, something which uses up a minimum of my time, I imagine. So I can use the rest to mortar up the gaps in my education.””

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

continuity (3) “After One Decade”
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

“He had decided it was better to be a volcano than a man; at least one set no store by what one’s acts destroyed.”

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

continuity (39) “Better To Be a Volcano”
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

“Bathed in his currents of liquid helium, self-contained, immobile, vastly well informed by every mechanical sense: Shalmaneser.
Every now and again there passes through his circuits a pulse which carries the cybernetic equivalent of the phrase, “Christ, what an imagination I’ve got.“”

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

tracking with closeups (32) “The Cool and Detached View“
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

““The whole of modern so-called civilised existence is an attempt to deny reality insofar as it exists. When did Don last look at the stars, when did Norman last get soaked in a rainstorm? The stars as far as these people are concerned are the Manhattan-pattern!” He jerked his thumb at a window beyond which the city’s treasure-house of coloured light glimmered gaudily.”

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

continuity (13) “Multiply by a Million”
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

“In short order they fell into the same pit as their rivals, who had for decades ignored the plain and simple fact that to a starving man “freedom” implies a full rice-bowl—or, if he has an exceptional imagination, a healthy ox to pull his plough. It has nothing to do with voting for a political delegate.”

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

context (8) “Isolation”
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

““How does it feel to have just changed the course of history?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” said the navigator. “To my way of thinking, by the time history happens I’m going to be dead.””

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

tracking with closeups (11) “The Sealed Train”
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

“Any society which gives lip-service to the idea of equal opportunity is going to generate jealousy of others who are better off than you are, even if the thing that’s in short supply can’t be carved up and shared without destroying it.”

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

continuity (13) “Multiply by a Million”
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

“What in God’s name is it worth to be human, if we have to be saved from ourselves by a machine?”

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

continuity (42) “And Say Which Seed Will Grow“
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

“You don’t have to know everything. You simply need to know where to find it when necessary.”

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

continuity (3) “After One Decade”
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

“We’ve always cared more about property rights than human rights in this country. You should know that.”

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

continuity (6) “Auction Block for Me”
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

“Faust felt like this. The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike, the devil will come and Faustus must be damned … How long did he buy with the currency of his soul — ten years?”

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

continuity (12) "It's Supposed To Be Automatic But Actually You Have To Press This Button"
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

“LOGIC The principle governing human intellection. Its nature may be deduced from examining the following propositions, both of which are held by human beings to be true and often by the same people: “I can’t so you musn’t,” and “I can but you musn’t.””

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

the happening world (15) “Equal and Opposite”
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

“LEADERSHIP A form of self-preservation exhibited by people with autodestructive imaginations in order to ensure that when it comes to the crunch it’ll be someone else’s bones which go crack and not their own.”

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

context (14) “Storm Centre”
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

“We’re aware of the scale of the planet, so we don’t accept that our own circumscribed horizons constitute reality. Much more real is what’s relayed to us by the TV.”

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

continuity (17) "Timescales"
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

“They surely are condemned to Hell
Who rule their lives by greed and lust
And Satan waits for those as well
Who in machines repose their trust.”

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

tracking with closeups (17) "Brighter Than A Thousand Men"
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

“I love the place, and when they get love down to a bunch of factors you can analyse with a computer there’ll be nothing left of whatever makes it worth being human!”

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

tracking with closeups (6) “Which Side Am I On?”
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

“But there isn’t an outside. Talking about “society’s outcasts” or “opting out” is so much whaledreck. The fact that we generate huge quantities of waste is all that allows people to go outside; they’re benefiting from the superficial affluence which conformists use to alleviate boredom. In essence, using the term “out” is as meaningless as trying to define a location outside the universe. There’s no place for “outside” to be.”

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

context (21) “Letter”
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

“Who should know better than a cosmetician that human beings are less than rational creatures?”

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

tracking with closeups (4) “Masker Aid”
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

““I haven’t changed my mind, if that’s what you’re getting at,” he said at length. The stench and crackle of burning boats was vivid to him.”

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

continuity (3) “After One Decade”
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)

“HIPCRIME You committed one when you opened this book. Keep it up. It's our only hope.
::: — The Hipcrime Vocab by Chad C. Mulligan”

John Brunner book Stand on Zanzibar

the happening world (1) “Read the Directions“
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)