---
title: "1 Literature Change Quotes By Tom Shippey"
description: "1 Literature Change quotes by Tom Shippey. Plus more from Tom Shippey and more Literature Change sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09b/tom-shippey-50056_books_science-fiction-is-hard-to-define-becaus_3098057.png"
---

> [Science fiction is hard to define because it is the literature of change and it changes while you are trying to define it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-shippey/science-fiction-is-hard-to-define-because-it-is-the-literature-of/)

[Tom Shippey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-shippey/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09b/tom-shippey-50056_books_science-fiction-is-hard-to-define-becaus_3098057.png)

## More by Tom Shippey

> [The cry that 'fantasy is escapist' compared to the novel is only an echo of the older cry that novels are 'escapist' compared with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-shippey/the-cry-that-fantasy-is-escapist-compared-to-the-novel-is-only-an/)

[Tom Shippey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-shippey/)

> [While persistence offers no guarantees, it does give 'luck' a chance to operate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-shippey/while-persistence-offers-no-guarantees-it-does-give-luck-a-chance-to/)

[Tom Shippey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-shippey/)

> [Our reading can affect our imaginations in ways of which we are not consciously aware. It is quite common...to re-read something after a gap…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-shippey/our-reading-can-affect-our-imaginations-in-ways-of-which-we-are-not/)

[Tom Shippey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-shippey/)

> [Many sci-fi authors, we know, are as clever and tricky as so many Coyotes. Ms. Le Guin, though, has matured from the vividness and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-shippey/many-sci-fi-authors-we-know-are-as-clever-and-tricky-as-so-many/)

[Tom Shippey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-shippey/)

> [“When people say that this kind of fantasy fiction is escapist and evading the real world, well I think that’s an evasion. It’s actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-shippey/when-people-say-that-this-kind-of-fantasy-fiction-is-escapist-and/)

[Tom Shippey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-shippey/)

> [Science fiction is hard to define because it is the literature of change and it changes while you are trying to define it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-shippey/science-fiction-is-hard-to-define-because-it-is-the-literature-of/)

[Tom Shippey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-shippey/)

> [ “Why could Tolkien not be more like Sir Thomas Malory, asked \[Edwin\] Muir, in the third Observer review of those cited above, and give… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-shippey/why-could-tolkien-not-be-more-like-sir-thomas-malory-asked-edwin-muir/)

[Tom Shippey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-shippey/)

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