Quotessence
Home / Authors / Alfred Bester
Alfred Bester

Alfred Bester Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleFreakMenSaidFictionIfsLemmingsObviousRealityScience Fiction

Famous Alfred Bester Quotes

“Here were the somatic messages that fed the cauldron; cell reactions by the incredible billion, organic cries, the muted drone of muscletone, sensory sub-currents, blood-flow, the wavering superheterodyne of blood pH ... all whirling and churning in the balancing pattern that formed the girl's psyche. The never-ending make-and-break of synapses contributed a crackling hail of complex rhythms. Packed in the changing interstices were broken images, half-symbols, partial references ... The ionised nuclei of thought.”

Thought
Book:The Demolished Man
Create image

“"There's got to be more to life than just living," Foyle said to the robot. "Then find it for yourself, sir. Don't ask the world to stop moving because you have doubts." "Why can't we all move forward together?" "Because you're all different. You're not lemmings. Some must lead, and hope that the rest will follow." "Who leads?" "The men who must... driven men, compelled men." "Freak men." "You're all freaks, sir. But you always have been freaks. Life is a freak. That's its hope and glory."”

MenWorldHas BeensSaidDifferentTogetherMovingLife IsAsksDoubtGloryDrivenMoving ForwardFreakRobotsCompelledMore To LifeLemmings
Author:Alfred Bester
Create image

“It's been suggested that most women fail to write significantly because the female mind is viscerotonic, and occupied almost exclusively with the moment-to-moment reality of emotions. If this is true, literature's loss is science fiction's gain, for Out of Bounds, Judith Merril's collection of short stories, is a warm and colorful rendering of the minutiae of the future.”

IfsWritingMindMomentsStoriesRealityLiteratureLossEmotionFictionFailingGainsFemaleScience FictionBoundsWarmCollectionsShort StoryColorfulRenderingMinutiaeFemale Mind
Author:Alfred Bester
Create image

“The appeal of science fiction has always been its iconoclasm . . . But in order to be an iconoclast, an author must be more than merely aware of the idol he wishes to destroy. He must be intimate with it and understand it in all its aspects. This means that he must have devoted serious thought to it, and have beliefs of his own which will stand up in the place of the broken idol. In other words, any child can complain, but it takes an adult to clash with accepted beliefs . . . an adult with ideas.”

MeanChildrenIdeasOrderBeliefWishFictionSeriousBrokenAdultsAspectScience FictionComplainingAcceptedAppealsIntimateIdolsDevotedClashIconoclasm
Author:Alfred Bester
Create image