Jack McDevitt Quotes

Quotes about:

• The real problem has to do with the inability by people to admit that a position they've held a long time might be wrong. That's all. Not that it is. Just that it might be. I don't know why it is, but we tend to fall in love with things we believe, Threaten them, and you threaten us.

  Jack McDevitt

  Falling In Love, Real, Believe

  44 Copy quote

• ... the truth is that when your people don't tell you what you need to know, it's a failure of leadership.

  Jack McDevitt

  People, Needs, Truth Is

  Jack McDevitt (2007). “Cauldron”, p.70, Penguin

  7 Copy quote

• Life is a walk in the fog. Most people don't know that. They're fooled by the sunlight into thinking they can see what's ahead. But it's the reason they are forever getting lost or falling into ditches or committing matrimony.

  Jack McDevitt

  Fall, Thinking, Fog

  3 Copy quote

• Faith has its price. When misfortune strikes the true believer, he assumes he has done something to deserve punishment, but isn't quite certain what. The realist, recognizing that he lives in a Darwinian universe, is simply grateful to have made it to another sunset.

  Jack McDevitt

  Grateful, Sunset, Punishment

  "Deepsix". Book by Jack McDevitt, 2000.

  21 Copy quote

• Universal deities ... never seem to smile. Not in any culture. What's the point of having omnipotence if you don't enjoy it?

  Jack McDevitt

  Omnipotence, Culture, Deities

  Jack McDevitt (1995). “The Engines of God”, p.100, Penguin

  3 Copy quote

• It is not faith per se that creates the problem; it is conviction, the notion that one cannot be wrong, that opposing views are necessarily invalid and may even be intolerable.

  Jack McDevitt

  Views, May, Problem

  "Odyssey". Book by Jack McDevitt, 2006.

  51 Copy quote

• Idiots are not responsible for what they do. The real guilt falls on rational people who sit on their hands while morons run wild. You can opt out if you want to. Play it safe. But if you do, don't complain when the roof comes down.

  Jack McDevitt

  Running, Real, Fall

  "Odyssey" (Ch. 6, p. 48). Book by Jack McDevitt, 2006.

  4 Copy quote

• Man has always seen himself the peak of creation. The part of the universe that thinks. The purpose for it all. It's no doubt a gratifying view, but the universe may have a different opinion.

  Jack McDevitt

  Men, Thinking, Views

  Jack McDevitt (2005). “Seeker”, p.134, Penguin

  3 Copy quote

• Put the money into schools. Rational ones that train young minds to think, to demand that persons in authority show the evidence for the ideas they push. Do that, and we won't need to provide a world for the Sacred Brethren who, given the opportunity, would run everyone else off the planet.

  Jack McDevitt

  Running, School, Opportunity

  "Odyssey". Book by Jack McDevitt, 2006.

  3 Copy quote

• The problem is that too often the only people who can act don't want change. Power doesn't so much corrupt as it breeds conservatism.

  Jack McDevitt

  People, Want, Problem

  Jack McDevitt (1995). “The Engines of God”, p.317, Penguin

  3 Copy quote

• People who wear their religion on their sleeves talk a lot about going to Sunday school, reading the Bible, and doing good works. And I suppose there's no harm in that. But if I'd gone to the trouble to pull all this together ... and people never paid any attention to it, never bothered to try to find out how the world worked, then I think I'd get annoyed.

  Jack McDevitt

  Reading, School, Sunday

  3 Copy quote

• The term congressional hearing is an oxymoron. No congressional hearing is ever called to gather information. Rather, it is an exercise designed strictly for posturing, by people who have already made up their minds, looking for ammunition to support their positions.

  Jack McDevitt

  Exercise, People, Support

  3 Copy quote

• Faith is conviction without evidence, and sometimes even in the face of contrary evidence. In some quarters, this quality is perceived as a virtue.

  Jack McDevitt

  Quality, Faces, Sometimes

  "Odyssey". Book by Jack McDevitt, 2006.

  3 Copy quote

• Don't assume that a species is intelligent because it produces intelligent individuals.

  Jack McDevitt

  Intelligent, Assuming, Individual

  "Infinity Beach". Book by Jack McDevitt, 2000.

  3 Copy quote

• Decisions are always made with insufficient information. If you really knew what was going on, the decision would make itself.

  Jack McDevitt

  Decision, Information, Made

  "Odyssey". Book by Jack McDevitt, 2006.

  3 Copy quote

• Talking with most people usually involves a search for truth. Talking with congressmen is strictly special effects.

  Jack McDevitt

  Talking, People, Special

  "Odyssey". Book by Jack McDevitt, 2006.

  3 Copy quote

• How does it happen that the most intractable types always rise to the top?

  Jack McDevitt

  Doe, Type, Happens

  Jack McDevitt (1995). “The Engines of God”, p.77, Penguin

  3 Copy quote

• Lies hold civilization together. If people ever seriously begin telling each other what they really think, there'd be no peace. Good-bye to tact. Good-bye to being polite. Good-bye to showing tolerance for other people's buffooneries. The fact that we claim to admire Truth is probably the biggest lie of all. But that's part of the charade, part of what makes us human, and we do not even think about it. In effect, we lie to ourselves. Lies are only despicable when they betray a trust.

  Jack McDevitt

  Lying, Thinking, Civilization

  4 Copy quote

• Courage is perhaps our most admirable trait. The man, or woman, who possesses it is able to plunge ahead, despite dangers, despite warnings, despite hazards of all kinds, to attack the task at hand. Often, it is indistinguishable from stupidity.

  Jack McDevitt

  Men, Hands, Stupidity

  Jack McDevitt (2013). “Odyssey (Academy - Book 5): Academy -”, p.251, Hachette UK

  3 Copy quote

• There are few professions whose primary objective is to advance the cause of humanity rather than simply to make money or accrue power. Among this limited group of humanitarians I would number teachers, nurses, bookstore owners, and bartenders.

  Jack McDevitt

  Teacher, Numbers, Nurse

  Jack McDevitt (2013). “Odyssey (Academy - Book 5): Academy -”, p.128, Hachette UK

  72 Copy quote

• The queen of virtues is the recognition of one's own flaws.

  Jack McDevitt

  Queens, Recognition, Flaws

  Jack McDevitt (2004). “Omega”, p.255, Penguin

  3 Copy quote

• Somewhere we taught ourselves that our opinions are more significant than the facts. And somehow we get our egos and our opinions and Truth all mixed up in a single package, so that when something does challenge one of the notions to which we subscribe, we react as if it challenges us.

  Jack McDevitt

  Ego, Challenges, Doe

  "Omega". Chapter 41. Book by Jack McDevitt, 2003.

  3 Copy quote

• One could not always put safety up front as the prime goal. Do that, and who would ever achieve anything of note?

  Jack McDevitt

  Safety, Goal, Achieve

  Jack McDevitt (2003). “Chindi”, p.269, Penguin

  3 Copy quote

• There is nothing that overwhelms the senses quite like an unwelcome silence.

  Jack McDevitt

  Silence, Senses, Unwelcome

  Jack McDevitt (2003). “Chindi”, p.159, Penguin

  3 Copy quote

• Technological civilizations don't last long. You're all right until you get a printing press. Then a race starts between technology and common sense. And maybe technology always wins.

  Jack McDevitt

  Winning, Technology, Civilization

  Jack McDevitt (2007). “Cauldron”, p.247, Penguin

  3 Copy quote

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