Quotes from Alfred Bester

Revenge is for dreams...never for reality.

Thats me, he said, motioning to the robot. Thats all of us. We prattle about free will, but were nothing but response...mechanical reaction in prescribed grooves.

The man who gives his own decisions priority over society is a criminal.

He awoke. He was alive. He wasted no time on prayer or thanks but continued the business of survival.

Powell repressed the wave of exasperation that rose up in him. It was not exasperation with Chooka. It was anger for the relentless force of evolution that insisted on endowing man with increased powers without removing the vestigial vices that prevented him from using them.

Faith in faith' he answered himself. 'It isn't necessary to have something to believe in. It's only necessary to believe that somewhere there's something worthy of belief.

Gully Foyle is my name And Terra is my nation. Deep space is my dwelling place, The stars my destination.

Be grateful that you only see the outward man. Be grateful that you never see the passions, the hatreds, the jealousies, the malice, the sicknesses... Be grateful you rarely see the frightening truth in people.

The whole point of extravagance is to act like a fool and feel like a fool, but enjoy it.

This was a Golden Age, a time of high adventure, rich living and hard dying... but nobody thought so. This was a future of fortune and theft, pillage and rapine, culture and vice... but nobody admitted it. This was an age of extremes, a fascinating century of freaks... but nobody loved it.

no matter how we defend ourselves against the outside we're always licked by something from the inside. There's no defense against betrayal, and we all betray ourselves.

The mind is the reality. You are what you think.

Eight, sir; seven, sir; Six, sir; five, sir; Four, sir; Three, sir; Two, sir; one! Tenser, said the Tensor. Tenser, said the Tensor. Tension, apprehension, And dissension have begun.

There's got to be more to life than just living," Foyle said to the robot. "Then find it yourself, sir. Don't ask the world to stop moving because you have doubts.

If a man's got talent and guts to buck society, he's obviously above average. You want to hold on to him. You straighten him out and turn him into a plus value. Why throw him away? Do that enough and all you've got left are the sheep.

If you can have everything at fifty that you wanted when you were fifteen, you're happy.

Millions for defense, but not one cent for survival.

Why is life? Don't ask about it. Live it.

I've handed life and death back to the people who do the living and the dying.

This was an age of extremes, a fascinating century of freaks... but nobody loved it.

Make it a human war,' she said fiercely. 'You're the first not to be deceived by my looks. Oh God! The boredom of the chivalrous knights and their milk-maid passion for the fairy tale princess. But I'm not like that ... inside. I'm not. I'm not. Never. Make it a savage war between us. Don't win me ... destroy me!

Vorga, I kill you filthy.

I'm not a robot. I'm a freak of the universe ... a thinking animal ... and I'm trying to see my way clear through this morass.

You pigs, you. You rut like pigs, is all. You got the most in you, and you use the least. You hear me, you? Got a million in you and spend pennies. Got a genius in you and think crazies. Got a heart in you and feel empties. All a you. Every you...