James Nicoll Quotes

• english doesn't borrow from other languages. english follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over and goes through their pockets for loose grammar.

  James Nicoll

  Dark, Pockets, Language

  6 Copy quote

• This is the sort of book that justifies fatwahs. If WWIII occurred right now, we could die happy knowing Baxter would never write again. If a dinosaur killing asteroid was headed for Earth and I knew Baxter had another book coming up, I would campaign for letting the rock hit, since it is obviously the work of a benovelent deity trying to save us from another Titan.

  James Nicoll

  Book, Writing, Rocks

  7 Copy quote

• Never bring a gun to a fight where the other guy has a time-machine and tomorrow's newspapers.

  James Nicoll

  Fighting, Gun, Guy

  Usenet article, 2006.

  6 Copy quote

• Until recently baby production was largely dependent on slave labour; as soon as women are allowed to answer the question "Would you like to squeeze as many objects the size of a watermelon out of your body as it takes to kill you?" they generally answer "No, thank you." This leads to falling birthrates everywhere women are not kept enslaved and ignorant of the alternatives.

  James Nicoll

  Baby, Fall, Ignorant

  Usenet article, 2005.

  4 Copy quote

• "Gun-wielding recluse gunned down by local police" isn't the epitaph I want. I am hoping for "Witnesses reported the sound up to two hundred kilometers away" or "Last body part finally located".

  James Nicoll

  Gun, Two, Police

  Usenet article, 2005.

  16 Copy quote

• Romeo and Juliet *died*. I always liked that in a teen romance story.

  James Nicoll

  Romance, Stories, Juliet

  Usenet article, 1996.

  4 Copy quote

• Nothin'g sa'ys q'uality fantas'y l'ike misuse'd apos'tro'phes.

  James Nicoll

  Misuse

  Usenet article, 2004.

  4 Copy quote

• After enough concussions the head injuries blur together.

  James Nicoll

  Together, Injury, Enough

  Usenet article, 2002.

  30 Copy quote

• Ben Bova seems to work very hard at working in new discoveries into his Glum Future but alas, his future is glum and not that well written.

  James Nicoll

  Discovery, Wells, New Discoveries

  Usenet article, 2005.

  4 Copy quote

• I can't help but notice that everytime I fly somewhere, other people's planes fall out of the sky.

  James Nicoll

  Fall, Sky, People

  Usenet article <7vq0fu$mob$1@watserv3.uwaterloo.ca>, 1999.

  4 Copy quote

• My father once discovered that one cannot "walk off" gangrene.

  James Nicoll

  Father, Walks

  4 Copy quote

• Whenever I find my will to live becoming too strong, I read Peter Watts

  James Nicoll

  Strong, Becoming, Peter

  4 Copy quote

• Manitoba... Not sure what to do about them. Restock the province with megafauna and encourage tourism, I think. How quickly can we breed back the saber-toothed cats?

  James Nicoll

  Cat, Thinking, Tourism

  Usenet article, 2003.

  4 Copy quote

• My grandfather for example only died twice, once during the war and once in the 1980s.

  James Nicoll

  War, Grandfather, Example

  Usenet article, 2003.

  4 Copy quote

• [Elizabeth Moon's] antagonists are always evil moustache-twirlers. She could write a book about a golf open and the main rival to the hero would turn out to have clubs made from compressed kittens.

  James Nicoll

  Book, Hero, Writing

  Usenet article <efprv2$bpa$1@reader1.panix.com>, 2006.

  7 Copy quote

• You may have trouble getting permission to aero or lithobrake asteroids on Earth.

  James Nicoll

  Earth, May, Asteroids

  Usenet article, 2000.

  11 Copy quote

• I have hated every Kress I read, especially this one, but the Bear is a standard Bear and if you like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you'll like.

  James Nicoll

  Bears, Standards, Hated

  "An incomplete commentary on The John W. Campbell Memorial Awards". Usenet article, groups.google.com. 2002.

  4 Copy quote

• I think once you start eating people you should stop claiming to be a vegetarian, even if you only eat bad people.

  James Nicoll

  Thinking, People, Vegetarian

  Usenet article, 2003.

  4 Copy quote

• I believe that I have now experienced the lifetime maximum exposure to bottom spanking in fantasy novels.

  James Nicoll

  Believe, Fantasy Novels, Lifetime

  Usenet article, 2005.

  8 Copy quote

• Deadly nightshade is the only plant I have ever been able to get to grow for me.

  James Nicoll

  Able, Plant, Grows

  Usenet article <ddvioe$rao$1@reader2.panix.com>, 2005.

  4 Copy quote

• It's bad to wake up and see a large cat in mid-leap from the rough vicinity of the ceiling.

  James Nicoll

  Cat, Ceilings, Wake Up

  Usenet article "Gay and straight", groups.google.com. February 14, 2003.

  4 Copy quote

• Most of my scars are not fire-related and I no longer say "I know what I am doing" at critical moments.

  James Nicoll

  Fire, Critical Moments, Scar

  Usenet article <dgpfn2$h61$1@reader1.panix.com>, 2005.

  4 Copy quote

• I don't mind hidden depths but I insist that there be a surface.

  James Nicoll

  Mind, Depth, Surface

  Livejournal post, 2005.

  4 Copy quote

• About First Landing by Robert Zubrin: Someday I'd like to read a story about competent people on Mars.

  James Nicoll

  People, Stories, Mars

  4 Copy quote

• Call me an extremist but killing a few hundred million people seems like the sort of method that might have unintended consequences.

  James Nicoll

  People, Might, Killing

  Usenet article, 2005.

  4 Copy quote

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