171 Quotes by Bruce Sterling

"I wouldn’t describe that “position” as “parasitic.” I’d describe that experience as “edifying.” I don’t merely write from a critical intellectual distance. I actually live around here."

"They took my womb out, and they put in brain tissue. Grafts from the pleasure center, darling. I’m wired to the ass and the spine and the throat, and it’s better than being God. When I’m hot, I sweat perfume. I’m cleaner than a fresh needle, and nothing leaves my body that you can’t drink like wine or eat like candy. And they left me bright, so that I would know what submission was. Do you know what submission is, darling?"

"People in the Pentagon had colleagues killed and maimed by bin Laden. They’re trying to find bin Laden and kill him and his cult. Naturally they consider that a legitimate thing to do, but they’re having mixed success at the job."

"Mankind’s a dead issue now, cousin. There are no more souls. Only states of mind."

"Saying you have a political solution is like saying you can write a pop song that’s going to stay at the top of the list forever. I don’t have many illusions about this, but I’m not cynical about it."

"Without bacteria, the soil was a lifeless heap of imported lunar dust. With them, it was a constant mutational hazard."

"What we need is a somber, thoughtful, thorough, hype-free, even lugubrious book that honors the dead and resuscitates the spiritual ancestors of today’s mediated frenzy."

"War as Napoleon knew it just not possible any more. However, we're very unlikely to accept or recognize 'world peace' even when we get it."

"I wouldn't describe that 'position' as 'parasitic.' I'd describe that experience as 'edifying.' I don't merely write from a critical intellectual distance. I actually live around here."

"We may yet work up to some serious shooting war, or maybe some acts of urban genocide committed with rogue nuclear weapons. But if that were the case, why would we call that '9/11'? If Washington disappeared in a mushroom cloud, we'd give that huge event a different name."