Quotessence
Home / Authors / Dan Simmons
Dan Simmons

Dan Simmons Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllHumansWritingIfsWayDeathHuman BeingsLifeUniverseAgeArtDan SimmonsHyperionLanguageLongMemoriesPainBookHumanityInfiniteKnows

Famous Dan Simmons Quotes

“Words bend our thinking to infinite paths of self-delusion, and the fact that we spend most of our mental lives in brain mansions built of words means that we lack the objectivity necessary to see the terrible distortion of reality which language brings. Example: the Chinese pictogram for ‘integrity’ is a two-part symbol of a man literally standing next to his word. So far, so good. But what does the Late English word ‘honesty’ mean? Or ‘Motherland’? Or ‘progress’? Or ‘democracy’? Or ‘beauty’? But even in our self-deception, we become gods.”

LanguageHonestyMeaningDelusion
Book:Hyperion
Create image

“Words bend our thinking to infinite paths of self-delusion, and the fact that we spend most of our mental lives in brain mansions built of words means that we lack the objectivity necessary to see the terrible distortion of reality which language brings.”

ThinkingMeanSelfFactsRealityLanguageBrainPathTerribleBuiltInfiniteDelusionObjectivityDistortionMansionsSelf Delusion
Book:The Hyperion Cantos 4-Book Bundle: Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, The Rise of Endymion
Create image

“The life of a poet lies not merely in the finite language-dance of expression but in the nearly infinite combinations of perception and memory combined with the sensitivity to what is perceived and remembered.”

LyingLanguageMemoriesPoetExpressionPerceptionInfiniteCombinationRememberedSensitivityFinite
Book:The Hyperion Cantos 4-Book Bundle: Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, The Rise of Endymion
Create image

“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
Create image