Larry Niven Quotes

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• The reader has certain rights. He bought your story. Think of this as an implicit contract. He's entitled to be entertained, instructed, amused; maybe all three. If he quits in the middle, or puts the book down feeling his time has been wasted, you're in violation.

  Larry Niven

  Book, Writing, Thinking

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• In hindsight it may even seem inevitable that a socialist society will starve when it runs out of capitalists.

  Larry Niven

  Running, May, Hindsight

  Larry Niven (2010). “Stars and Gods”, p.363, Macmillan

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• Everything starts as somebody's daydream.

  Larry Niven

  Love, Dream, Dreamer

  Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven, Michael Flynn (2002). “Fallen Angels”, p.153, Baen Publishing Enterprises

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• There were timelines branching and branching, a mega-universe of universes, millions more every minute. Billions? Trillions? The universe split every time someone made a decision. Split, so that every decision ever made could go both ways. Every choice made by every man, woman, and child was reversed in the universe next door.

  Larry Niven

  Children, Men, Choices Made

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• In the world of words the imagination is one of the forces of nature.

  Larry Niven

  Writing, Creating, Imagination

  Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven, Michael Flynn (2002). “Fallen Angels”, p.193, Baen Publishing Enterprises

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• We learn only to ask more questions.

  Larry Niven

  Asks

  Larry Niven (1984). “Ringworld Engineers”, Del Rey

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• It's very difficult for a black man to get out of South-Central Los Angeles, and get out civilized....The only men I know who have escaped, all began reading Robert Heinlein at age ten.

  Larry Niven

  Reading, Men, Black

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• Ethics change with technology.

  Larry Niven

  Technology, Ethics

  "Niven's Laws". larryniven.net. 2002.

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• You learn by writing short stories. Keep writing short stories. The money's in novels, but writing short stories keeps your writing lean and pointed.

  Larry Niven

  Writing, Stories, Story Writers

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• There is no cause so good or noble that it will not attract fuggheads; and the fuggheads will get all the press.

  Larry Niven

  Political, Noble, Politics

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• One mark of a good officer, he remembered, was the ability to make quick decisions. If they happen to be right, so much the better.

  Larry Niven

  Decision, Leader, Mark

  "Ringworld". Book by Larry Niven, 1970.

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• Intelligence is just a tool to be used toward a goal, and goals are not always chosen intelligently.

  Larry Niven

  Goal, Tools, Used

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• The best advice I was ever given was on my twenty-first birthday when my father said, Son, here's a million dollars. Don't lose it.

  Larry Niven

  Father, Son, Advice

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• There is a technical, literary term for those who mistake the opinions and beliefs of characters in a novel for those of the author. The term is 'idiot'.

  Larry Niven

  Mistake, Character, Belief

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• The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn't have a space program.

  Larry Niven

  Space, Insightful, Dinosaurs

  "A Conversation With Arthur C. Clarke; An Author's Space Odyssey and His Stay at the Chelsea". www.nytimes.com. Ooctober 26, 1999.

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• A civilization has the ethics it can afford

  Larry Niven

  Civilization, Ethics

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• Any damn fool can predict the past.

  Larry Niven

  Past, Fool, Damn

  Larry Niven (1984). “Niven's Laws”, Owlswick Press

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• The Gods do not protect fools. Fools are protected by more capable fools.

  Larry Niven

  Fool, Protect, Capable

  "Ringworld" by Larry Niven, Del Rey Mass Market Paperback, (p. 96), 1970.

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• In challenging a kzin, a simple scream of rage is sufficient. You scream and you leap.

  Larry Niven

  Simple, Challenges, Scream

  Larry Niven (2014). “Ringworld: The Graphic Novel, Part One”, p.29, Macmillan

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• Fear is the brother of hate.

  Larry Niven

  Brother, Fear, Hate

  "Ringworld". Book by Larry Niven, 1970.

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• Species evolve to meet the environment. An intelligent species changes the environment to suit itself. As soon as a species becomes intelligent, it should stop evolving.

  Larry Niven

  Intelligent, Suits, Environment

  Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle (1991). “The Mote in God's Eye”, p.31, Simon and Schuster

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• Sometimes there's no point in giving up.

  Larry Niven

  Giving Up, Giving, Sometimes

  "The Ringworld Engineers". Book by Larry Niven, 1980.

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• The Product of Freedom and Security is a constant (F X S = k). Giving up freedom for security is beginning to look naive.

  Larry Niven

  Giving Up, Looks, Constant

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• I don't have a strong interest in history.

  Larry Niven

  Strong, Interest

  Larry Niven (2010). “Stars and Gods”, p.361, Macmillan

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• Love was a delicious blend of warm and cold. There was comfort in making love. It solved no problems: but one could run away from problems.

  Larry Niven

  Love, Running, Comfort

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