Quotes from book
The Quincunx of Time

Name: The Quincunx of Time
Author: James Blish

The Quincunx of Time is a short science fiction novel by American writer James Blish. It is an extended version of a short story entitled "Beep", published by Galaxy Science Fiction magazine in 1954. The novel form was first published in 1973.

“We often resort to something called Hilbert space, which is described as n-dimensional—it’s like modern sex, any number may be played with.”

James Blish book The Quincunx of Time

Source: The Quincunx of Time (1973), Chapter 10, “Weinbaum on Sinai” (p. 116)

“He was getting to be a little old for combat or for princesses, but what was worse, he had become a lot more cynical without having become even slightly the wiser.”

James Blish book The Quincunx of Time

Prologue, “A Frame on Randolph” (p. 18)
The Quincunx of Time (1973)

“Actually, there are never motives behind actions. All actions are fixed. What we call motives evidently are rationalizations by the helpless observing consciousness, which is intelligent enough to smell an event coming—and, since it cannot avert the event, instead cooks up reasons for wanting it to happen…or ascribes it to the malice of God or man.”

James Blish book The Quincunx of Time

Source: The Quincunx of Time (1973), Chapter 8, “The Courtship of Posi and Nega” (p. 84; ellipsis in the original)

“I’ve already given you the whole explanation of how that came about. It happened because it was going to happen. All other explanations for anything are superfluous. All other explanations for anything.”

James Blish book The Quincunx of Time

Source: The Quincunx of Time (1973), Chapter 8, “The Courtship of Posi and Nega” (p. 89)

“The technicians thought I was crazy. Now, five months later, I’ve proved it.”

James Blish book The Quincunx of Time

Source: The Quincunx of Time (1973), Chapter 7, “A Few Cosmic Jokes” (p. 72)

““Something tells me that this isn’t going to be as simple as it looks.”
“What is?” Wald said, raising his eyebrows.
“Nothing, of course. But hope springs eternal in the human spleen.””

James Blish book The Quincunx of Time

Source: The Quincunx of Time (1973), Chapter 7, “A Few Cosmic Jokes” (p. 77)

“No exercise of will can make any of us other than what we are, or more than marginally better than who we are.”

James Blish book The Quincunx of Time

Source: The Quincunx of Time (1973), Chapter 10, “Weinbaum on Sinai” (pp. 118-119)

“The motto of the bureau,” Weinbaum said, “is, ‘sometimes something works.’”

James Blish book The Quincunx of Time

Source: The Quincunx of Time (1973), Chapter 7, “A Few Cosmic Jokes” (p. 75)

“We cannot count upon the secret being kept. It’s a fact of nature, and as somebody or other remarked long ago, Nature is a blabbermouth; ask the right question, and you’ll always get the answer.”

James Blish book The Quincunx of Time

Source: The Quincunx of Time (1973), Chapter 9, “A Comity of Futures” (p. 105)

“Something tells me that this isn’t going to be as simple as it looks.”

James Blish book The Quincunx of Time

“What is?” Wald said, raising his eyebrows.
“Nothing, of course. But hope springs eternal in the human spleen.”
Source: The Quincunx of Time (1973), Chapter 7, “A Few Cosmic Jokes” (p. 77)