Quotes from Alastair Reynolds

There is enough material in the Kuiper Belt to build anything out there. We could gobble up all the little asteroids, filtering out all the volatile materials, leaving us with bits of rock and using that to make some incredible structures.

Ideas have a certain gestation period that can't be forced.

I'm not actually that bothered about the 'science fiction-ness' of 'Doctor Who.'

There is so little SF drawn from modern scientific thinking, in any discipline, that I'm much more cheered by the successes than the failures, most of which are forgivable.

Peoples think I's a harmless idiot," he said. "They's only half right.

You didn't weld it shut or anything like that?" "Yes, stupid me, I forgot.

the next time you need a piece of apparently obscure information, try asking a science fiction writer. You might be surprised.

It's called optimism — but I'm losing the hang of it fast.

I thought we were better then this." "We're human. Be thankful we've moved on from clubbing each other's brains out every five minutes.

The cards always look different when it's your turn to play them; loaded with subtly different possibilities.

I think I've reduced the amount of blood in my caffeine system to an acceptable level, if that's what you mean.

It is always better to try and fail than not to try.

Nothing endures, except nothing itself.

I think the deeper we go, the less likelihood we'll have of being recognised as something unwanted. It's like the human body - the greatest density of pain receptors lies in the skin.

No act of knowledge acquisition is entirely without risk.

Victory loses its meaning without the memory of what you've vanquished.

Khouri had never really given much thought to the slowness of light. There was nothing in the universe that moved faster . . . but, as she now saw, it was glacial compared to the speed that would be needed to keep their love alive.

Believe me, when you're dealing with infectious alien mind parasites, I always find primitive is best." Then, calmly, almost as if it were a recognised form of verbal punctuation, she took aim with the needler and gutted a rat which had dared to stray into the corridor.

But beyond a certain scale vast was simply vast.

That,' Peregrine said, 'is civilisation. Not all who were rewarded deserved to be; not all who should have been were.

History is what we write, not what we remember. Why should we tarnish the memory of our planet by enshrining our less then noble deeds?

Nightside, cities glistened in chains, and a spray of tinkertoy habitats girdled the planet. Gossamer starbridges reached from the equator towards orbit.

Do you have to sound so damned indifferent to it all? Here we are talking about how we're likely to be dead in a few hours and you're acting like it's only a minor inconvenience. ~"Spirey & the Queen

Nothing had ever existed between us except the possibility of something, and now even that was over.