The science fiction approach doesn't mean it's always about the future; it's an awareness that this is different. — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
And it happened all the time that the compromise between two perfectly rational alternatives was something that made no sense at all. — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“Shit, if I took time out to have an opinion about everything, I wouldn't get any work done.” — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“He divides his time between thinking about sex and thinking about mathematics.” — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“But the rest of our lives will happen in the future, Randy, so we might as well get with the program now.” — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“He had abundant free time, which he spent working on a series of new theorems in the field of information theory.” — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“You could get used to anything. You got used to it and then time raced by, and before you knew it, time… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“Topology is destiny,' he said, and put the drawers on. One leg at a time.” — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“Avi, with his genius for imagining the most horrific conceivable worst-case scenarios, demanded that they have their own machine, and that Randy… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“Many set themselves the aim of rescuing the indifferent and the lazy—and end up lost themselves. The flame within them gets dim… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“but the great thing about traveling with Pluto was that he only cared about you to the extent that you were interesting… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
Men who believe that they are accomplishing something by speaking speak in a different way from men who believe that speaking is… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“in the informal atmosphere of the Physics Department, appointments were viewed with a certain Heisenbergian skepticism, as though being in the right… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“Orolo said, “What if these two universes—each as big and as old and as complicated as ours—were entirely separate, except for a… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“The first woman who spent any amount of time aboard this ship was Elizabeth de Obregon, whom we salvaged from the wrack… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“It had been a hell of a long time since he had been reduced to hiding behind a tree, and he did… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“SHE LET US INTO THE house, which had the subtle smell of old wood and old wool—as I used to imagine Victorian… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“I can’t predict the future,” I said, “but based on what little I know so far, I’m afraid it has to be… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
Give me an adventure. I'm not talking about some massive adventure. Just something that would make getting fired seem small. Something that… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“the difference between poets and mystics . . . The mystic nails a symbol to one meaning that was true for a… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“Give me an adventure." In the moment that followed, Cord realized that this sounded weird, and lost her nerve. She held up… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“But that’s bullshit!” Doug says. “Jesus! Haven’t you guys spent any time at all around people like Comstock? Can’t you recognize bullshit?… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“For most of the day and night, time oppresses me. It is only when I am at work on the innards of… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“Shut up about Leibniz for a moment, Rudy, because look here: You—Rudy—and I are on a train, as it were, sitting in… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“This was probably rooted in a belief that had been inculcated to him from the get-go: that there was an objective reality,… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“In olden times, you’d wander down to Mom’s Cafe for a bite to eat and a cup of joe, and you would… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“Randy says, “You asked me earlier what is the highest and best purpose to which we could dedicate our lives. And the… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“Say more about the Crips and the Bloods,” Richard said, stalling for time while he tried to get his mental house in… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“Hackworth took a bite of his sandwich, correctly anticipating that the meat would be gristly and that he would have plenty of… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“Space and Time! Two minor omissions that no one is likely to notice," grumbled Newton.” — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“pauses for a moment to get the answer queued up in his output buffer.” — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“But around the time Manila heaves into view, a warm breeze springs up over the deck and all of the Marines sigh,… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“Hiro feels even at this moment that something has been torn open in the world and that he is dangling above the… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“But our relationship to these infinite pasts and futures isn’t random—plausibility throws its weight around, per some freaky quantum mechanics stuff that… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
One of the problems, hanging out with me, is that I can turn any topic into a toxic horror story. I've lost… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“Richard's ex-girlfriends were long gone, but their voices followed him all the time and spoke to him, like Muses or Furies. It… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
“I study dead languages for a living,” I said. “That’s why you hired me. Why should I be up to speed on your line… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share
“Other people - store clerks, burger flippers, software engineers, the whole vocabulary of meaningless jobs that make up Life in America - other people… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share
“It is what you don’t expect,” he’d said, “that most needs looking for.” “Do” — Neal Stephenson Copy Share
“...the insects here see you as a big slab of animated but not very well defended food. The ability to move, far from being… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share
“There was no way that these guys were going to let a bleeding, barefoot woman simply wander off alone into the streets. Two of… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share
“Space and Time! Two minor omissions that no one is likely to notice," grumbled Newton.” — Neal Stephenson Copy Share
See, the world is full of things more powerful than us. But if you know how to catch a ride, you can go places, — Neal Stephenson Copy Share
“Hey,” Shaftoe says, “if we surrender to you, you’ll kill us. Right?” “Yes.” “If you guys surrender to us, we won’t kill you. Promise.… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share
“My men think you are dead now, and won’t waste balls on you,” Jack said. “In fact I have let you live, but for… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share
“You’ve probably heard the expression that the Industry feeds off of biomass, like a whale straining krill from the ocean.” — Neal Stephenson Copy Share
“The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed subcategory. He’s got esprit up to here. Right now, he is preparing to carry out… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share
Interesting things happen along borders - transitions - not in the middle where everything is the same. — Neal Stephenson Copy Share
“and people could only make sense of complicated matters through stories. Likewise” — Neal Stephenson Copy Share
