--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This has been a novel about some people…" description: "\"“This has been a novel about some people who were punished entirely too much for what they did. They wanted to have a good time, but they were like chi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/841/philip-k-dick-502_60s_this-has-been-a-novel-about-some-people_523324.jpg" --- # This has been a novel about some people who were punished… ![“This has been a novel about some people who were punished entirely too much for what they did. They wanted to have a good time, but they were like children playing in the street; they could see one after another of them being killed--run over, maimed, destroyed--but they continued to play anyhow…” quote by Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/841/philip-k-dick-502_60s_this-has-been-a-novel-about-some-people_523324.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/841/philip-k-dick-502_60s_this-has-been-a-novel-about-some-people_523324.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/841/philip-k-dick-502_60s_this-has-been-a-novel-about-some-people_523324.jpg) > ““This has been a novel about some people who were punished entirely too much for what they did. They wanted to have a good time, but they were like children playing in the street; they could see one after another of them being killed--run over, maimed, destroyed--but they continued to play anyhow. We really all were very happy for a while, sitting around not toiling but just bullshitting and playing, but it was for such a terrible brief time, and then the punishment was beyond belief: even when we could see it, we could not believe it. For example, while I was writing this I learned that the person on whom the character Jerry Fabin is based killed himself. My friend on whom I based the character Ernie Luckman died before I began the novel. For a while I myself was one of these children playing in the street; I was, like the rest of them, trying to play instead of being grown up, and I was punished. I am on the list below, which is a list of those to whom this novel is dedicated, and what became of each. Drug misuse is not a disease, it is a decision, like the decision to step out in front of a moving car. You would call that not a disease but an error in judgment. When a bunch of people begin to do it, it is a social error,a life-style. In this particular life-style the motto is "Be happy now because tomorrow you are dying," but the dying begins almost at once, and the happiness is a memory. It is, then, only a speeding up, an intensifying, of the ordinary human existence. It is not different from your life-style, it is only faster. It all takes place in days or weeks or months instead of years. "Take the cash and let the credit go," as Villon said in 1460. But that is a mistake if the cash is a penny and the credit a whole lifetime. There is no moral in this novel; it is not bourgeois; it does not say they were wrong to play when they should have toiled;it just tells what the consequences were. In Greek drama they were beginning, as a society, to discover science, which means causal law. Here in this novel there is Nemesis: not fate, because any one of us could have chosen to stop playing in the street, but, as I narrate from the deepest part of my life and heart, a dreadful Nemesis for those who kept on playing. I myself,I am not a character in this novel; I am the novel. So, though, was our entire nation at this time. This novel is about more people than I knew personally. Some we all read about in the newspapers. It was, this sitting around with our buddies and bullshitting while making tape recordings, the bad decision of the decade, the sixties, both in and out of the establishment. And nature cracked down on us. We were forced to stop by things dreadful. If there was any "sin," it was that these people wanted to keep on having a good time forever, and were punished for that, but, as I say, I feel that, if so, the punishment was far too great, and I prefer to think of it only in a Greek or morally neutral way, as mere science, as deterministic impartial cause-and-effect. I loved them all. Here is the list, to whom I dedicate my love: To Gaylene deceased To Ray deceased To Francy permanent psychosis To Kathy permanent brain damage To Jim deceased To Val massive permanent brain damage To Nancy permanent psychosis To Joanne permanent brain damage To Maren deceased To Nick deceased To Terry deceased To Dennis deceased To Phil permanent pancreatic damage To Sue permanent vascular damage To Jerri permanent psychosis and vascular damage . . . and so forth. In Memoriam. These were comrades whom I had; there are no better. They remain in my mind, and the enemy will never be forgiven. The "enemy" was their mistake in playing. Let them all play again, in some other way, and let them be happy.”” [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage reflects on reckless indulgence, fleeting happiness, and the severe consequences of self‑destructive choices, likening them to a fast‑forwarded life **In simple terms:** Living fast leads to painful consequences Key Takeaway Avoid reckless shortcuts, value long‑term wellbeing Themes addiction consequences existentialism Mood somber reflective Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - addiction recovery - mental health counseling - risk assessment - ethical decision‑making Key Concepts free will fatalism social pathology Questions to Reflect On - What choices accelerate life’s “speed”? - How can we balance joy with responsibility? A Different Perspective May be overly bleak, ignoring resilience ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Addiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/) [Beyond belief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beyond-belief/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Children playing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children-playing/) [Crime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crime/) [Drug addiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drug-addiction/) [Drugs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drugs/) [Health](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/health/) [Human existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-existence/) [Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel/) ## Related quotes > [It's disingenous for me to say that I wasn't trying to write a moral novel. 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Dick > [So we and our elaborately evolving computers may meet each other halfway. Someday a human being, named perhaps Fred White, may shoot a robot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/so-we-and-our-elaborately-evolving-computers-may-meet-each-other/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) > [Even if all life on our planet is destroyed, there must be other life somewhere which we know nothing of. It is impossible that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/even-if-all-life-on-our-planet-is-destroyed-there-must-be-other-life/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) > [“That is not how you do it; you do not solve one problem with another, greater problem.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/that-is-not-how-you-do-it-you-do-not-solve-one-problem-with-another/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) > [For each person there is a sentence—a series of words—which has the power to destroy them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/for-each-person-there-is-a-sentence-a-series-of-words-which-has-the/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) > [I want to write about people I love, and put them into a fictional world spun out of my own mind, not the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/i-want-to-write-about-people-i-love-and-put-them-into-a-fictional/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) > [Why does a man cry? he wondered. Not like a woman; not for that. Not for sentiment. A man cries over the loss of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/why-does-a-man-cry-he-wondered-not-like-a-woman-not-for-that-not-for/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) > [The day came. The wrath descended. Sin, guilt, and retribution? 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Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) > [You're killing yourself with cynicism. Your idols got taken away from you one by one and now you have nothing to give your love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/you-re-killing-yourself-with-cynicism-your-idols-got-taken-away-from/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) > [What scared me the most was when my father would put on the gasmask. His face would disappear... This was not a human being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/what-scared-me-the-most-was-when-my-father-would-put-on-the-gasmask/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) > [“A man is an angel that has become deranged, Joe Fernwright thought. Once they – all of them – had been genuine angels, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/a-man-is-an-angel-that-has-become-deranged-joe-fernwright-thought/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) > [“When do I see a photograph, when a reflection?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/when-do-i-see-a-photograph-when-a-reflection/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) > [My major preoccupation is the question, 'What is reality?'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/my-major-preoccupation-is-the-question-what-is-reality/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) [Explore all 489 Philip K. Dick quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) ## More 60s quotes > [“Sometimes Karl, you have to realize your weeknesses and be willing to discuss them with adults.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-maguire-mcgill/sometimes-karl-you-have-to-realize-your-weeknesses-and-be-willing-to/) Molly Maguire McGill > [“I was always fishing for something on the radio. Just like trains and bells, it was part of the soundtrack of my life. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/i-was-always-fishing-for-something-on-the-radio-just-like-trains-and/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [ “All I can say is, it's a good thing we didn't win the revolution \[laughter\]. We would've ended up with people like Abie Hoffman… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-crumb/all-i-can-say-is-it-s-a-good-thing-we-didn-t-win-the-revolution/) R. Crumb > [“When the hippie era ended and the hangover began, as idealism gives way to disillusionment, the hair of the marchers and street-dancers kept getting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tommy-walker/when-the-hippie-era-ended-and-the-hangover-began-as-idealism-gives/) [Tommy Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tommy-walker/) > [“I write about what life was like for typical young women of the sixties—not the type that made headlines, the Hanoi Janes or Angela…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kay-kendall/i-write-about-what-life-was-like-for-typical-young-women-of-the/) Kay Kendall > [“Like almost all of Beefheart's recorded work, it was not even "ahead" of its time in 1969. Then and now, it stands outside time,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lester-bangs/like-almost-all-of-beefheart-s-recorded-work-it-was-not-even-ahead-of/) [Lester Bangs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lester-bangs/) Browse all 7 60s quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“This has been a novel about some people who were punished entirely too much for what they did. They wanted to have a good time, but they were like children playing in the street; they could see one after another of them being killed--run over, maimed, destroyed--but they continued to play anyhow. We really all were very happy for a while, sitting around not toiling but just bullshitting and playing, but it was for such a terrible brief time, and then the punishment was beyond belief: even when we could see it, we could not believe it. For example, while I was writing this I learned that the person on whom the character Jerry Fabin is based killed himself. My friend on whom I based the character Ernie Luckman died before I began the novel. For a while I myself was one of these children playing in the street; I was, like the rest of them, trying to play instead of being grown up, and I was punished. I am on the list below, which is a list of those to whom this novel is dedicated, and what became of each. Drug misuse is not a disease, it is a decision, like the decision to step out in front of a moving car. You would call that not a disease but an error in judgment. When a bunch of people begin to do it, it is a social error,a life-style. In this particular life-style the motto is \"Be happy now because tomorrow you are dying,\" but the dying begins almost at once, and the happiness is a memory. It is, then, only a speeding up, an intensifying, of the ordinary human existence. It is not different from your life-style, it is only faster. It all takes place in days or weeks or months instead of years. \"Take the cash and let the credit go,\" as Villon said in 1460. But that is a mistake if the cash is a penny and the credit a whole lifetime. There is no moral in this novel; it is not bourgeois; it does not say they were wrong to play when they should have toiled;it just tells what the consequences were. In Greek drama they were beginning, as a society, to discover science, which means causal law. Here in this novel there is Nemesis: not fate, because any one of us could have chosen to stop playing in the street, but, as I narrate from the deepest part of my life and heart, a dreadful Nemesis for those who kept on playing. I myself,I am not a character in this novel; I am the novel. So, though, was our entire nation at this time. This novel is about more people than I knew personally. Some we all read about in the newspapers. It was, this sitting around with our buddies and bullshitting while making tape recordings, the bad decision of the decade, the sixties, both in and out of the establishment. And nature cracked down on us. We were forced to stop by things dreadful. If there was any \"sin,\" it was that these people wanted to keep on having a good time forever, and were punished for that, but, as I say, I feel that, if so, the punishment was far too great, and I prefer to think of it only in a Greek or morally neutral way, as mere science, as deterministic impartial cause-and-effect. I loved them all. Here is the list, to whom I dedicate my love: To Gaylene deceased To Ray deceased To Francy permanent psychosis To Kathy permanent brain damage To Jim deceased To Val massive permanent brain damage To Nancy permanent psychosis To Joanne permanent brain damage To Maren deceased To Nick deceased To Terry deceased To Dennis deceased To Phil permanent pancreatic damage To Sue permanent vascular damage To Jerri permanent psychosis and vascular damage . . . and so forth. In Memoriam. These were comrades whom I had; there are no better. They remain in my mind, and the enemy will never be forgiven. The \"enemy\" was their mistake in playing. Let them all play again, in some other way, and let them be happy.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Philip K. Dick" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/this-has-been-a-novel-about-some-people-who-were-punished-entirely/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "60s" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/this-has-been-a-novel-about-some-people-who-were-punished-entirely/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/841/philip-k-dick-502_60s_this-has-been-a-novel-about-some-people_523324.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/841/philip-k-dick-502_60s_this-has-been-a-novel-about-some-people_523324.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/841/philip-k-dick-502_60s_this-has-been-a-novel-about-some-people_523324.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“This has been a novel about some people who were punished entirely too much for what they did. They wanted…” — Philip K. 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