Jack Vance Quotes

Quotes about:

• If religions are diseases of the human psyche, as the philosopher Grintholde asserts, then religious wars must be reckoned the resultant sores and cankers infecting the aggregate corpus of the human race. Of all wars, these are the most detestable, since they are waged for no tangible gain, but only to impose a set of arbitrary credos upon another's mind.

  Jack Vance

  Religious, War, Race

  "The Face". Book by Jack Vance, 1979.

  48 Copy quote

• Freedom, privileges, options, must constantly be exercised, even at the risk of inconvenience.

  Jack Vance

  Inspirational, Motivational, Risk

  "Emphyrio" by Jack Vance, (Chapter 9), 1969.

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• Good music always defeats bad luck

  Jack Vance

  Music, Luck, Defeat

  Jack Vance (1983). “Suldrun's Garden”

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• While we are alive we should sit among colored lights and taste good wines, and discuss our adventures in far places; when we are dead, the opportunity is past.

  Jack Vance

  Wine, Adventure, Past

  Jack Vance (2007). “The Jack Vance Treasury”, Subterranean

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• What is an evil man? The man is evil who coerces obedience to his private ends, destroys beauty, produces pain, extinguishes life.

  Jack Vance

  Pain, Men, Evil

  Jack Vance (1981). “Star King”, p.36, Spatterlight Press

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• A barbarian is not aware that he is a barbarian.

  Jack Vance

  Barbarians

  Jack Vance (1957). “Big Planet”, p.21, Spatterlight Press

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• I understand the gist of your speculation,' said Rhialto. 'It is most likely nuncupatory.

  Jack Vance

  Gist, Said, Speculation

  Jack Vance (2000). “Rhialto the Marvellous”, p.601, Macmillan

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• A man is like a rope: both break at a definite strain....The solution is not splicing the rope; it's lessening the tension.

  Jack Vance

  Men, Rope, Break

  "To Live Forever". "Emphyrio" by Jack Vance, (Chapter XVI, section 3), 1956.

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• Nothing is more conspicuous than a farting princess.

  Jack Vance

  Princess

  Jack Vance (2002). “Lyonesse”, p.61, ElectricStory

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• The less a writer discusses his work and himself the better. The master chef slaughters no chickens in the dining room; the doctor writes prescriptions in Latin; the magician hides his hinges, mirrors, and trapdoors with the utmost care.

  Jack Vance

  Latin, Writing, Doctors

  Jack Vance (2007). “The Jack Vance Treasury”, Subterranean

  8 Copy quote

• I categorically declare first my absolute innocence, second my lack of criminal intent, and third my effusive apologies.

  Jack Vance

  Apology, Criminals, Firsts

  Jack Vance (1950). “The Dying Earth”, p.199, Spatterlight Press

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• Beauty compelled admiration and erotic yearning; such was its organic function. But never by itself could it command love.

  Jack Vance

  Erotic, Admiration, Function

  "The Complete Lyonesse" by Jack Vance, Gollancz (p. 449), 2000.

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• I suspect that the word (art) was invented by second-rate intelligences to describe the incomprehensible activities of their betters.

  Jack Vance

  Art, Rate, Activity

  "Showboat World" by Jack Vance, DAW Books, (p. 111), 1981.

  7 Copy quote

• Happiness is fugitive; dissatisfaction and boredom are real.

  Jack Vance

  Real, Boredom, Fugitive

  "Emphyrio" by Jack Vance, (Chapter 5), 1969.

  6 Copy quote

• What are your fees?" inquired Guyal cautiously. "I respond to three questions," stated the augur. "For twenty terces I phrase the answer in clear and actionable language; for ten I use the language of cant, which occasionally admits of ambiguity; for five, I speak a parable which you must interpret as you will; and for one terce, I babble in an unknown tongue.

  Jack Vance

  Phrases, Use, Answers

  Jack Vance (2000). “Mazirian the Magician: (previously titled The Dying Earth)”, p.91, Macmillan

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• Since we are not permitted to act, we are obliged to know.

  Jack Vance

  Knows, Obliged

  Jack Vance (1965). “The Dragon Masters”, p.48, Spatterlight Press

  6 Copy quote

• Conversation! Supple sentences, with first and second meanings and overtones beyond, outrageous challenges with cleverly planned slip-points, rebuttals of elegant brevity; deceptions and guiles, patient explanations of the obvious, fleeting allusions to the unthinkable. As a preliminary, the conversationalist must gauge the mood, the intelligence and the verbal facility of the company. To this end, a few words of pedantic exposition often prove invaluable.

  Jack Vance

  Challenges, Deception, Fleeting

  7 Copy quote

• Human interactions, stimulated as they are by disequilibrium, never achieve balance. In even the most favorable transaction, one party whether he realizes it or not must always come out the worse.

  Jack Vance

  Party, Balance, Realizing

  Jack Vance (2011). “Rhialto the Marvellous”, p.73, Hachette UK

  51 Copy quote

• I become drunk as circumstances dictate.

  Jack Vance

  Drunk, Circumstances

  Jack Vance (2000). “Cugel the Clever: (previously titled The Eyes of the Overworld)”, p.187, Macmillan

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• Vance has a genius in evoking the beauty of strangeness, the strangeness of beauty.

  Jack Vance

  Genius, Strangeness

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• I know that the history of man is not his technical triumphs, his kills, his victories. It is a composite, a mosaic of a trillion pieces, the account of each man's accommodation with his conscience. This is the true history of the race.

  Jack Vance

  Men, Race, Victory

  Jack Vance (1966). “The Last Castle”, p.37, Spatterlight Press

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• Somebody else's ignorance is bliss.

  Jack Vance

  Ignorance, Bliss, Ignorance Is Bliss

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• The inscrutability [of economics] is perhaps not unintentional. It gives endless employment to dialecticians who otherwise might become public charges or, at very worst, swindlers and tricksters.

  Jack Vance

  Giving, Employment, Might

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• It is useless, after all, to complain against inexorable reality.

  Jack Vance

  Reality, Complaining, Useless

  Jack Vance (2000). “Cugel: The Skybreak Spatterlight: (previously titled Cugel's Saga)”, p.535, Macmillan

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• Notice this rent in my garment; I am at a loss to explain its presence! I am even more puzzled by the existence of the universe.

  Jack Vance

  Loss, Garments, Existence

  Jack Vance (2000). “Cugel the Clever: (previously titled The Eyes of the Overworld)”, p.235, Macmillan

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