Quotes from Alastair Reynolds

Such was the nature of obsessions: no quarter given for the human cost.

An idea so dangerous it can't be discussed. I thought we buried all that nonsense back in the Dark Ages.

There was no call for that," Father said. "I've never been so—" "Humiliated?" Adrana finished for him. "You know what the real humiliation is? Being a Ness, that's what. Grovelling our way up the Mazarile social ladder, trying to pretend we're something we're not.

Autocratic governments are masters of self-contradiction. They say one thing, do another.

Partnerka Clavaina zostaÅ'a chirurgicznie zmodyfikowana w ten sposób, ?e mogÅ'a przyj?? w macicy ?ywy mózg po operacji bÄ™dÄ…cej prostym odwróceniem cesarskiego ciÄ™cia - zabieg wykonywaÅ' Clavain. CiaÅ'o m??czyzny zostawili na miejscu, by znale?li je stra?nicy. NastÄ™pnie Hybrydowcy sklonowali dla tego czÅ'owieka nowe ciaÅ'o i wpakowali do Å›rodka ci??ko doÅ›wiadczony mózg.

No," Father said, wiping a hand across a sweat-glistened brow. "They were using both entrances, and you can bet your sister's headed for one of them." Paladin was still sweeping the room, its dome spinning around, lights flashing agitatedly behind the glass. "All right," I said. "You go back to the cloakroom, where we came in. I'll go to the south entrance." "Can I trust you to come back?" Father asked. "Of course.

I haven't needed anything big enough from you to justify being pleasant, and I doubt I ever will.

Having created these cognitively enhanced creatures, the safest option at the time appeared to be to launch them into interstellar space.

It's one thing to be given a big boxful of theory and quite another to make an engine out of it.

That's what love is – sacrifice. Sacrificing everything ...

And you have no idea what a creep he really is. I know what he wants to do to you. They've come up with this medicine now. It slows down biological growth, allows adults to stop their children from ever growing up." "Why would anyone want that?" She looked back at me with an exasperated expression. "You're so naïve, Fura.

We have worlds to save, Doctor Aziba." "That sounds ... compelling," the physician allowed.

We all have it in us to be something other than what we are, I thought, but we don't often get a glimpse of what we could have been. Most of us are better off for the not knowing.

It wasn't always about bravery or some shining inner goodness. It could just as easily be about the position of your name in the alphabet, the chemistry of your blood, or

All I do know is that in six hours I could be suffering from acute existence failure.

None of us is a monster, Chiku. We're all just trying to make the best of our singular natures.

Wind snapped at me, warm and fragrant. The atmosphere was thick with pollen and micro-organisms, goading my body's ancient defences.

acute existence failure.

It was created to endure for a specific moment in time. Like a sandcastle, or an ice sculpture. Here, and then gone. In a way, that's the beauty of it. Who'd marvel at a sandcastle, if sandcastles lasted forever?

It's an old pirate tradition. Burial at C.

First rule of complex systems," I said. "You can't tell friends from enemies.

Across the land, the semaphore towers stood deathly still.

It's not the span of time that counts, but what you do with it. While you humans have been grubbing around the galaxy, looking for a sense of purpose, a meaning to pin on the chain of cosmic accidents that brought you shambling into existence, we have been doing great things. In the span of time that it takes you to sneeze, I can run the equivalent of a year's worth of human consciousness. Imagine all the thinking we have done since our emergence.

I've only been on this planet for ten minutes,' I said. 'Already I feel like I've overstayed my welcome.' Purslane looked at me with icy forbearance. 'Work really hard, and maybe next time you can get it down to five.