The single definition of government I've ever seen that makes sense is that it's the organization which claims the right to kill people who won't do what it wants. — Poul Anderson Copy Share Image
“I’ve yet to see any problem, however complicated, which when you looked at it the right way didn’t become still more complicated.” — Poul Anderson Copy Share Image
Happier are all men than the dwellers in Faerie – or the gods, for that matter…Better a life like a falling star, bright across the dark, than a deathlessness that can see naught above or beyond itself…the day draws nigh when Faerie shall fade, the Erlking himself shrink to a woodland sprite and then to nothing, and the gods go… — Poul Anderson Copy Share
He had seen too much of the cosmos to have any great faith in man's ability to understand it. — Poul Anderson Copy Share Image
“Happier are all men than the beings of faerie – or the gods, for that matter,’ he said. ‘Better a life like a falling… — Poul Anderson Copy Share Image
Colonization means potential immortality for the human genus. Man's safety on Earth was never great, and it dwindles hourly. Disarmament, even world government, will not guarantee survival in an age when population presses natural resources to the limit and when the knowledge of how to work mischief on a planetary scale is ever more widely diffused among peoples who may… — Poul Anderson Copy Share
“And if you were not trained, the lesser members of the galaxy that had become visible were so many as to drown the familiar… — Poul Anderson Copy Share Image
If we knew exactly what to expect throughout the Solar System, we would have no reason to explore it. — Poul Anderson Copy Share Image
“Survivor—under what conditions?” “Any conditions. Adaptability, toughness, quickness—those are the things that count most.” “I think kindness means a lot,” said Sheila timidly. “It’s… — Poul Anderson Copy Share Image
A fanatic's willingness to kill or be killed in the service of a cause cannot prove the rightness of that cause. — Poul Anderson Copy Share Image
“You simply do not understand the human condition,” said the robot. Hah! Do you think you do, you conceited hunk of animated tin?” Yes, I believe so, thanks ot my study of the authors, poets, and critics who devote their lives to the exploration and description of Man. Your Miss Forelle is a noble soul. Ever since I looked upon… — Poul Anderson Copy Share
So much American science fiction is parochial -- not as true now as it was years ago, but the assumption is one culture in… — Poul Anderson Copy Share Image
