Ted Chiang Quotes

• Nothing erases the past. There is repentance, there is atonement, and there is forgiveness. That is all, but that is enough.

  Ted Chiang

  Past, Repentance And Forgiveness, Atonement

  Ted Chiang (2007). “The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate”, Subterranean

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• Four things do not come back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity.

  Ted Chiang

  Inspirational, Leadership, Wisdom

  Ted Chiang (2007). “The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate”, Subterranean

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• Science fiction is very well suited to asking philosophical questions; questions about the nature of reality, what it means to be human, how do we know the things that we think we know.

  Ted Chiang

  Philosophical, Mean, Reality

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• Contemplate the marvel that is existence, and rejoice that you are able to do so.

  Ted Chiang

  Able, Existence, Rejoice

  "Exhalation". Short story by Ted Chiang, 2008.

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• Similarly, knowledge of the future was incompatible with free will. What made it possible for me to exercise freedom of choice also made it impossible for me to know the future. Conversely, now that I know the future, I would never act contrary to that future, including telling others what I know: those who know the future don't talk about it. Those who've read the Book of Ages never admit to it.

  Ted Chiang

  Book, Exercise, Choices

  Ted Chiang (2010). “Stories of Your Life and Others”, p.137, Knopf

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• Brain damage is never a good idea, no matter what your friends say.

  Ted Chiang

  Ideas, Brain, Matter

  Ted Chiang (2016). “Arrival: Film tie-in”, p.195, Pan Macmillan

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• It is a misconception to think that during evolution humans sacrificed physical skill in exchange for intelligence: wielding one's body is a mental activity.

  Ted Chiang

  Thinking, Skills, Body

  Ted Chiang (2016). “Arrival: Film tie-in”, p.38, Pan Macmillan

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• Women who work with animals hear this all the time: that their love for animals must arise out of a sublimated child-rearing urge. Ana's tired of the stereotype. She likes children just fine, but they're not the standard against which all other accomplishments should be measured. Caring for animals is worthwhile in and of itself, a vocation that need offer no apologies.

  Ted Chiang

  Children, Tired, Apology

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• Physics admits of a lovely unification, not just at the level of fundamental forces, but when considering its extent and implications. Classifications like "optics" or "thermodynamics" are just straitjackets, preventing physicists from seeing countless intersections.

  Ted Chiang

  Lovely, Fundamentals, Levels

  Ted Chiang (2016). “Arrival (Stories of Your Life MTI)”, p.52, Vintage

  4 Copy quote

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