66 Quotes by Robert Silverberg

Ignorance can’t be pardoned. Only cured.

Because people fight most fiercely when they dare not admit even to themselves that their cause is unjust.

Why do you think the Divine is fair? In the long run, all wrongs are righted, every minus is balanced with a plus, the columns are totaled and the totals are found correct. But that’s in the long run. We must live in the short run, and matters are often unjust there. The compensating forces of the universe make all the accounts come out even, but they grind down the good as well as the wicked in the process.

Where’s the room for free will in this mechanical universe of yours, Charles?” “There isn’t any. That’s why I say the universe stinks.” “We have no freedom at all?” “The freedom to wriggle a little on the hook.

I don’t think I can even imagine what a culture that’s been developing steadily for a billion years ought to be like. Disembodied electrical essences, maybe. Ghostly creatures flitting in and out of the eighth, ninth, and tenth dimensions. Cosmic minds that know all, perceive all, understand all. Maybe.

Gods are not granted the power of choice; it is the price and the wonder of their godhead.

In dealing with people who are enormously touchy on matters of honor and pride, I think it’s wisest to be accommodating to their needs, especially if they’re eight feet tall and provide you with your wages.

What’s personality anyway? A mask of emotions, superimposed on the body and the intellect.

Death was the only question that contained its own answer, and when you asked the question and had the answer you were gone, you were nothing.