Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos; the materials must, in the first place, be afforded: it can give form to dark, shapeless substances, but cannot bring into being the substance itself.
Mary Shelley, from the Introduction to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein.
If you think this world is bad, you should see some of the others.
Philip K. Dick, the title of a 1977 speech published in the collection The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick. Often improved by swapping out “world” with “universe,” but this seems not to be authentic.
There was no substitute for reality; one should be aware of imitations.
Arthur C. Clarke, The Fountains of Paradise (1979).
Whatever creativity is, it is in part a solution to a problem.
Brian Aldiss, “Apéritif” in Bury My Heart at W.H. Smith’s (1990).
Human judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is no appeal.
Arthur C. Clarke, “Maelstrom II” (1965).
Eminent men were called on to take command and arrange suitable measures. They immediately acted as eminent men so often do; they took action to retain their eminence. Their first instinct was caution. When a man is important enough, it does not matter if he never does anything. It is only required of him that he do nothing wrong. Eminent figures all over the world prepared to do nothing wrong. They were not so concerned to do anything right.
Murray Leinster, The Wailing Asteroid (1960), Chapter 3 (pp. 32–33).
Reality is what trips you up when you walk around with your eyes closed.
F. Paul Wilson, Healer (1976).
A lesson which history should have taught us thousands of years ago was finally driven home. No man can wield absolute power over other men and still retain his own mind. For no matter how good his intentions are when he takes up the power, his alternate reason is that freedom, the freedom of other people and ultimately his own, terrifies him. Only a man afraid of freedom would want this power, who could conceive of wielding it. And that fear of freedom will turn him into a slave of this power.
Samuel R. Delany, The Jewels of Aptor (1962), tenth chapter.
War, hate, jealousy, racism — what are they but manifestations of fear?
F. Paul Wilson, Reprisal (1991).
It takes all nations to keep the peace, but it only takes one to start a war.
Robert A. Heinlein, “Free Men” (1966).