235 Quotes by Gene Wolfe

I said he had called them because it was from his mind that we drew them, seeking those who hated him, or at least had reason to. The giant you saw might have mastered the Commonwealth, had Severian not defeated him. The blond woman could not forgive him for bringing her back from death.

They were all thoroughly bad people of the type to which I myself belong – that is to say, bad people who are pleased to think themselves good.

I am filthy. So is Doris, but we’ll bathe and change clothes and be clean. Your filth is within you. If it were gone, you’d collapse.

What’s the difference between a human being and an animal?” “Intelligence, I suppose.” Audrey looked at me for guidance. “We’re smarter. Wouldn’t you agree?” I nodded. “As long as we’re writing the tests.

You have understood me better than I wanted, as the man said when he looked in the mirror.

The chief thing is to begin, after all – after which the chief thing is to finish.

He is the oldest of our sons, and although I loved him, I did not like him.

There have been many times when I have felt I have gone mad, for I have had many great adventures, and the greatest adventures are those that act most strongly upon our minds.

There is something in all of us that has always been dead,” I said. “If only because we know that eventually we will die. All of us except the smallest children.