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Famous Dan Simmons Quotes

“She had always felt that the essence of human experience lay not primarily in the peak experiences, the wedding days and triumphs which stood out in the memory like dates circled in red on old calendars, but, rather, in the unself-conscious flow of little things - the weekend afternoon with each member of the family engaged in his or her own pursuit, their crossings and connections casual, dialogues imminently forgettable, but the sum of such hours creating a synergy which was important and eternal.”

HumansLittlesImportantTimeFeltHoursMemoriesMembersEternalCreatingConsciousRedFlowConnectionsEssenceExperienceLaysPursuitDialogueTriumphEngagedLittle ThingsAfternoonWeekendHuman ExperienceCasualCrossingsCalendarsSynergyWedding DayPeak ExperiencesForgettable
Author:Dan Simmons
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“Poetry is only secondarily about words. Primarily, it is about truth. I dealt with the Ding an Sich, the substance behind the shadow, weaving powerful concepts, similes, and connections the way an engineer would raise a skyscraper with the whiskered-alloy skeleton being constructed long before the glass and plastic and chromaluminum appears.”

WayLongTruthPoetryPowerfulBehindsConceptsShadowConnectionsRaisesGlassesSubstancePoetry IsPlasticEngineersSimileSkeletonsWeavingSkyscraper
Book:The Hyperion Cantos 4-Book Bundle: Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, The Rise of Endymion
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“It is a mystery, and to tell the truth, I am intrigued by mysteries even if this is to be my last week of enjoying them. I would welcome some glimmer of understanding but, failing that, working on the puzzle will suffice.”

IfsLastsEnjoyUnderstandingFailingMysteryWeekWelcomeTelling The TruthPuzzlesIntrigued
Book:The Hyperion Cantos 4-Book Bundle: Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, The Rise of Endymion
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“The pack of media brayed and bellowed outside the house for seven weeks. Sol realized then what he had known and forgotten about very small communities: they were frequently annoying, always parochial, sometimes prying on a one-to-one level, but never had they subscribed to the vicious legacy of the so-called "public's right to know".”

KnowsSometimesHouseCommunityLevelsKnownWeekMediaSevenForgottenLegacyAnnoyingPacksKnow MeViciousSmall Communities
Book:The Hyperion Cantos 4-Book Bundle: Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, The Rise of Endymion
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“Gass once wrote: "Language serves not only to express thought but to make possible thoughts which could not exist without it." Here is the essence of mankind's creative genius: not the edifices of civilization nor the bang-flash weapons which can end it, but the words which fertilize new concepts like spermatozoa attacking an ovum. It might be argued that the Siamese twin infants of word/idea are the only contribution the human species can, will, or should make to the raveling cosmos.”

ShouldHumansIdeasEndsMightLanguageCreativeMankindGeniusCivilizationWeaponsConceptsEssenceSpeciesContributionCosmosFlashTwinsInfantBangsAttackingHuman SpeciesEdificeCreative Genius
Author:Dan Simmons
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“There were reprints of American editorials. Liberals saw it as a resurgence of social protest and decried the discrimination, poverty, and hunger that had provoked it. Conservative columnists acidly pointed out that hungry people don't steal stereo systems first and called for a crackdown in law enforcement. All of the reasoned editorials sounded hollow in light of the perverse randomness of the event. It was as if only a thin wall of electric lighting protected the great cities of the world from total barbarism.”

PeopleIfsWorldFirstsLightLawSocialCitiesPovertySawsEventsWallHungerConservativeStealingHungryDiscriminationProtestProtectedElectricLaw EnforcementEnforcementHollowIn-lawsLightingBarbarismEditorialsGreat CitiesRandomnessColumnistsProvokedResurgence
Book:Song of Kali
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