140 Quotes by Larry Niven

It is a cardinal sin to bore the reader.

How much intelligence does it take to sneak up on a leaf?

What have they said to us?""I could translate, but it would be meaningless. They have welcomed us in the name of their Emperor, who appears to be an over-Master. The short, round one is Mediator to this Emperor.""Ah. We have at last found one who can communicate. Speak to her.""But he has said nothing!""Say nothing in return.

The State has a superfluity of testicles, Peersa said with no particular emphasis.

She is intelligent, tanjit! She’s just never been hurt!......All you’ve got to do is watch her walk. Clumsy. Every second, it looks like she’s going to fall over. But she doesn’t. She doesn’t knock things over with her elbows. She doesn’t spill things or drop things. She never did. She never learned not to, don’t you see? So she’s not graceful.

Bruce Sterling is one terrific writer and he's relatively new, but I don't know how long he's been doing it; he probably doesn't need the publicity anymore!

The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn't have a space program.

We need to take command of the solar system to gain that wealth, and to escape the sea of paper our government is becoming, and for some decent chance of stopping a Dinosaur Killer asteroid.

I'd repair our education system or replace it with something that works.