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Connie Willis

Connie Willis Books

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Bellwether

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All Clear

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Passage

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Remake

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Doomsday Book

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“She had been wrong in thinking Christ had been called up against his will to fight in a war. He didn't look - in spite of the crown of thorns - like someone making a sacrifice. Or even like someone determined to "do his bit". He looked instead like Marjorie had looked telling Polly she'd joined the Nursing Service, like Mr Humphreys had looked filling buckets with water and sand to save Saint Paul's, like Miss Laburnum had looked that day she came to Townsend Brothers with the coats. He looked like Captain Faulknor must have looked, lashing the ships together. Like Ernest Shackleton, setting out in that tiny boat across icy seas. Like Colin helping Mr Dunworthy across the wreckage. He looked ... contented. As if he was where he wanted to be, doing what he wanted to do. Like Eileen had looked, telling Polly she'd decided to stay. Like Mike must have looked in Kent, composing engagement announcements and letters to the editor. Like I must have looked there in the rubble with Sir Godfrey, my hand pressed against his heart. Exalted. Happy. To do something for someone or something you loved - England or Shakespeare or a dog or the Hodbins or history - wasn't a sacrifice at all. Even if it cost you your freedom, your life, your youth.”

LoveSacrifice
Book:All Clear
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“There’s no need to say anything to Mr. Turing. I was the one who wasn’t watching where I was going” “You were the one?” Mavis said indignantly. “Turing never pays the slightest attention to where he’s going. He simply plows through pedestrians” Elspeth nodded. “Someone needs to tell him he must be more careful! He could have injured you!” And I could have injured him, Mike thought. Or killed him. If Turing had lost control of his bicycle and crashed into a lamppost instead of the curb, or into a brick wall… Mavis said, “I’ve a good mind to tell Cap—” “No. There’s no need to tell anybody. I’m Fine. No Harm done. Thank you for picking me up and dusting me off.” He picked up his bag, which Mavis had carried in… “Watch out for Turing on your way there,” Joan cut in. “And for Dilly,” Elspeth said. “He’s even worse about not watching where he’s going, and he has a car! Whenever he comes to a crossing, he speeds up.” “Dilly?” Mike said hoarsely. “Captain Knox,” Mavis said. “We work for him. He has some sort of mathematical theory that by going faster he’ll it fewer people, because of being in the crossing a shorter time.”... “I refuse to accept lifts from him anymore,” Elspeth was saying. “He forgets he’s driving and takes both hands off the—are you alright? You’re pale as a ghost.”

HumorDrivingWwiiAlan TuringUltraBad DriversBletchley Park
Author:Connie Willis
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“I’d always said that if and when the aliens actually landed, it would be a letdown. I mean, after War of the Worlds, Close Encounters, and E.T., there was no way they could live up to the image in the public’s mind, good or bad. I’d also said that they would look nothing like the aliens of the movies, and that they would not have come to A) kill us, B) take over our planet and enslave us, C) save us from ourselves à la The Day the Earth Stood Still, or D) have sex with Earthwomen. I mean, I realize it’s hard to find someone nice, but would aliens really come thousands of light-years just to get a date? Plus, it seemed just as likely they’d be attracted to warthogs. Or yucca. Or air-conditioning units.”

AliensFirst ContactEtClose Encounters
Book:All Seated on the Ground
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“The amazing thing is that chaotic systems don't always stay chaotic," Ben said, leaning on the gate. "Sometimes they spontaneously reorganize themselves into an orderly structure." "They suddenly become less chaotic?" I said, wishing that would happen at HiTek. "No, that's the thing. They become more and more chaotic until they reach some sort of chaotic critical mass. When that happens, they spontaneously reorganize themselves at a higher equilibrium level. It's called self-organized criticality.”

SaidSelfSometimesHappensWishLevelsHigherMassStructureChaosCriticalOrganizedGatesChaoticAmazing ThingsEquilibriumOrderlyCritical MassChaos Theory
Book:Futures Imperfect
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“The entire range of human experience is present in a church choir, including, but not restricted to jealousy, revenge, horror, pride, incompetence (the tenors have never been on the right note in the entire history of church choirs, and the basses have never been on the right page), wrath, lust and existential despair.”

HumansChurchPrideHorrorDespairPagesNotesIncludingRevengeLustRangeExistentialWrathHuman ExperienceBassIncompetenceChoirTenorsChurch Choir
Author:Connie Willis
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“I was on a walking tour of Oxford colleges once with a group of bored and unimpressable tourists. They yawned at Balliol's quad, T.E. Lawrence's and Churchill's portraits, and the blackboard Einstein wrote his E=mc2 on. Then the tour guide said, 'And this is the Bridge of Sighs, where Lord Peter proposed (in Latin) to Harriet,' and everyone suddenly came to life and began snapping pictures. Such is the power of books.”

SaidBookLordGroupsCollegeWalkingGuidesBridgesBoredLatinPeterPortraitsSighTouristsOxfordSnappingBlackboardTour GuidesQuads
Author:Connie Willis
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“TO ALL THE ambulance drivers firewatchers air-raid wardens nurses canteen workers airplane spotters rescue workers mathematicians vicars vergers shopgirls chorus girls librarians debutantes spinsters fishermen retired sailors servants evacuees Shakespearean actors and mystery novelists WHO WON THE WAR.”

WarGirlActorsAirMysteryWorkersServantNovelistsDriversNurseAirplaneRescueMathematicianRetiredLibrarianSailorChorusFishermanAmbulanceSpinstersWardensVicarsCanteenDebutantes
Author:Connie Willis
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“He looked resigned, as though he knew that wretched door--to where? Home? Heaven? Peace?--would never open, and at the same time he seemed resolved, ready to do his bit even though he couldn't possibly know what sacrifices that would require. Had he been kept here, too--in a place he didn't belong, serving in a war in which he hadn't enlisted, to rescue sparrows and soldiers and shopgirls and Shakespeare? To tip the balance?”

KnowsWarHomeHeavenBitsDoorsSacrificeReadyBalanceSoldierServingRescueWretchedSparrowsResignedEnlisted
Book:All Clear
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“A Grand Design we couldn't see because we were part of it. A Grand Design we only got occasional, fleeting glimpses of. A Grand Design involving the entire course of history and all of time and space that, for some unfathomable reason, chose to work out its designs with cats and croquet mallets and penwipers, to say nothing of the dog. And a hideous piece of Victorian artwork. And us.”

ReasonCoursesSpacePiecesDogDesignCatWork OutGlimpseTime And SpaceFleetingOccasionalInvolvingHideousArtworkVictorianUnfathomableCroquet
Book:To Say Nothing of the Dog
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“You'd help if you could, wouldn't you, boy?" I said. "It's no wonder they call you man's best friend. Faithful and loyal and true, you share in our sorrows and rejoice with us in our triumphs, the truest friend we ever have known, a better friend than we deserve. You have thrown in your lot with us, through thick and thin, on battlefield and hearthrug, refusing to leave your master even when death and destruction lie all around. Ah, noble dog, you are the furry mirror in which we see our better selves reflected, man as he could be, unstained by war or ambition, unspoilt by-”

IfsMenSaidWarSelfHelpingLyingKnownWonderBoysShareDogMastersSorrowAmbitionDeserveDestructionMirrorsNobleTriumphFaithfulThrownRejoiceThickLoyalBattlefieldsTruestTrue YouFurryDeserve YouThick And ThinThrough Thick And Thin
Book:To Say Nothing of the Dog
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“Don't they know science doesn't work like that? You can't just order scientific breakthroughs. They happen when you are looking at something you've been working on for years and suddenly see a connection you never noticed before, or when you're looking for something else altogether. Sometimes they even happen by accident. Don't they know you can't get a scientific breakthrough just because you want one?”

KnowsWantYearsSometimesHappensOrderConnectionsAccidentsBreakthrough
Book:Bellwether
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