Alexei Panshin Quotes

• Maturity is the ability to sort the portions of truth from the accepted lies and self-deceptions that you have grown up with.

  Alexei Panshin

  Lying, Maturity, Self

  Alexei Panshin (1982). “Rite of passage”, Pocket

  7 Copy quote

• Population pressure is the ultimate cause of every war.

  Alexei Panshin

  War, Population, Pressure

  Alexei Panshin (1982). “Rite of passage”, Pocket

  4 Copy quote

• Brains are no good if you don't use them.

  Alexei Panshin

  Brain, Use, Ifs

  "Rite of Passage". Book by Alexei Panshin, 1968.

  4 Copy quote

• I finished by saying that it struck me that all the ethical systems I was discussing were after the fact. That is, that people act as they are disposed to, but they like to feel afterwards that they were right and so they invent systems that approve of their dispositions.

  Alexei Panshin

  People, Facts, Ethical

  Alexei Panshin (1982). “Rite of passage”, Pocket

  4 Copy quote

• You can't stamp on people and not get hurt in return.

  Alexei Panshin

  Hurt, People, Return

  Alexei Panshin (1982). “Rite of passage”, Pocket

  6 Copy quote

• It appears that the ground of being which underlies
  and sustains us despite our various inadequate and
  conflicting stories must be extremely tolerant, generous,
  and forgiving. All things considered, it wouldn't hurt
  if we were, too.

  Alexei Panshin

  Hurt, Forgiving, Stories

  7 Copy quote

• Some people get a feeling of power from being unpleasant.

  Alexei Panshin

  People, Feelings

  Alexei Panshin, Leo Dillon, Diane Dillon (1968). “Rite of passage”

  4 Copy quote

• If I had the opportunity, I would make the proposal that no man should be killed except by somebody who knows him well enough for the act to have impact. No death should be like nose blowing. Death is important enough that it should affect the person who causes it.

  Alexei Panshin

  Opportunity, Men, Impact

  Alexei Panshin, Leo Dillon, Diane Dillon (1968). “Rite of passage”

  5 Copy quote

• There's no reason to trade insults. We have our way of life and they have theirs. I wouldn't live as they do, but disrespect seems pointless. I'm sure there are good people among them.

  Alexei Panshin

  People, Disrespect, Way

  Alexei Panshin (1982). “Rite of passage”, Pocket

  4 Copy quote

• Everybody should espouse three or four harmless crank theories for the pure pleasure of having something harmless to be cranky about. And when a theory of this sort proves correct, it is a true moment for celebration.

  Alexei Panshin

  Four, Three, Celebration

  4 Copy quote

• There is a lesson that I learned at twelve - the world does not end at the edge of a quad. There are people outside. The world does not end on the Fourth Level. There are people elsewhere. It took me two years to learn to apply the lesson - that neither does the world end with the Ship. If you want to accept life, you have to accept the whole bloody universe. The universe is filled with people, and there is not a single solitary spear carrier among them.

  Alexei Panshin

  Years, Two, People

  Alexei Panshin (1982). “Rite of passage”, Pocket

  4 Copy quote

• This is what makes science so hard, and ultimately so fun. Think of the limits of what we know as a great suite of rooms inhabited by vast numbers of incredibly busy, incredibly messy, nearsighted people, all of whom are eccentric recluses.

  Alexei Panshin

  Fun, Thinking, Numbers

  4 Copy quote

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