691 Quotes by Neal Stephenson

We say of some Nations, the People are lazy, but we should say only, they are poor; Poverty is the Fountain of all Manner of Idleness. – DANIEL DEFOE, A Plan of the English Commerce.

But the basic premise of Eutropianism is that technology has made us post-human. That Homo sapiens plus technology is effectively a whole new species: immortal, omnipresent because of the Net, and headed towards omnipotence.

Now he had learned that a machine, simple in its design, could produce results of infinite complexity.

It is easy to look at these waves, accomplishing so little and to think that no matter what efforts we put forth in our lives, all we’re really doing is rearranging the sand grains in a beach that in essence never changes.

Jad said, “The leakage was forcing choices, the making of which in no way improved matters.” Okay. So we were, in effect, locked in a room with a madman sorcerer. That clarified things a little.

In war, no matter how much you plan and prepare and practice, when the big day actually arrives, you still can’t find your ass with both hands.

His real job – the job that the Owners paid him for – was to be an observer of the human condition as it was so richly displayed from day to day within these walls.

I had to let her know that the reason she’d never heard of me was because I was famous.

Reptiles are just retarded birds,” said the King of the Birds, “and so I am your King, thank you very much.