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Stanislaw Lem

Stanislaw Lem Quotes

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Famous Stanislaw Lem Quotes

“For the very reason that here nothing served a purpose--not ever, not to anyone--and that here no guillotine of evolution was in play, amputating from every genotype whatever did not contribute to survival, nature, constrained neither by the life she bore nor by the death she inflicted, could achieve, liberation, displaying a prodigality characteristic of herself, a limitless wastefulness, a brute magnificence that was useless, an eternal power of creation without a goal, without a need, without a meaning.”

ArtNatureStanislaw Lem
Book:Fiasco (El libro de bolsillo - Bibliotecas de autor - Biblioteca Lem)
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“El ser humano ha emprendido el viaje en busca de otros mundos, otras civilizaciones, sin haber conocido a fondo sus propios escondrijos, sus callejones sin salida, sus pozos, o sus oscuras puertas atrancadas." "El ser humano ha emprendido el viaje en busca de otros mundos, otras civilizaciones, sin haber conocido a fondo sus propios escondrijos, sus callejones sin salida, sus pozos, o sus oscuras puertas atrancadas." - Solaris”

PsicologíaCiencia FicciónPolish LiteratureSolaris
Author:Stanislaw Lem
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“We observe a fraction of the process, like hearing the vibration of a single string in an orchestra of supergiants. We know, but cannot grasp, that above and below, beyond the limits of perception or imagination, thousands and millions of simultaneous transformations are at work, interlinked like a musical score by mathematical counterpoint. It has been described as a symphony in geometry, but we lack the ears to hear it.”

ScienceUniverseSolarisStanislaw Lem
Book:BOZZA: Solaris
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“Not far from here, by a white sun, behind a green star, lived the Steelypips, illustrious, industrious, and they hadn't a care: no spats in their vats, no rules, no schools, no gloom, no evil influence of the moon, no trouble from matter or antimatter - for they had a machine, a dream of a machine, with springs and gears and perfect in every respect. And they lived with it, and on it, and under it, and inside it, for it was all they had - first they saved up all their atoms, then they put them all together, and if one didn't fit, why they chipped at it a bit, and everything was just fine.”

IfsFirstsMatterDreamCareSchoolTogetherEvilStarsBitsWhitePerfectBehindsSunTroubleInfluenceFineFitMoonSpringHumorousMachinesGreenSavedAtomsGearsGloomIndustriousSpatsVatAntimatter
Book:The Cyberiad
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“For some time there was a widely held notion (zealously fostered by the daily press) to the effect that the 'thinking ocean' of Solaris was a gigantic brain, prodigiously well-developed and several million years in advance of our own civilization, a sort of 'cosmic yogi', a sage, a symbol of omniscience, which had long ago understood the vanity of all action and for this reason had retreated into an unbreakable silence.”

ThinkingYearsWellsLongReasonActionBrainSilenceMillionsEffectsCivilizationOceanUnderstoodPressesNotionSymbolsVanityCosmicLong AgoSageYogiUnbreakableOmniscienceSolaris
Author:Stanislaw Lem
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“Giese was an unemotional man, but then in the study of Solaris emotion is a hindrance to the explorer. Imagination and premature theorizing are positive disadvantages in approaching a planet where-as has become clear-anything is possible... The fact is that in spite of his cautious nature the scrupulous Giese more than once jumped to premature conclusions. Even when on their guard, human beings inevitably theorize.”

MenHumansFactsImaginationHuman BeingsEmotionStudyClearPlanetsConclusionSpiteCautiousDisadvantagesExplorersAnything Is PossiblePrematureHindranceUnemotionalSolaris
Author:Stanislaw Lem
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“Mathematics never reveals man to the degree, never expresses him in the way, that any other field of human endeavour does: the extent of the negation of man's corporeal self that mathematics achieves cannot be compared with anything. Whoever is interested in this subject I refer to my articles. Here I will say only that the world injected its patterns into human language at the very inception of that language; mathematics sleeps in every utterance, and can only be discovered, never invented.”

MenWorldWayHumansDoeSelfLanguageSleepAchieveSubjectsFieldsDegreesMathematicsPatternsArticlesEndeavourUtteranceNegationInceptionHuman Language
Book:His Master's Voice
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“The twentieth century had dispensed with the formal declaration of war and introduced the fifth column, sabotage, cold war, and war by proxy, but that was only the begining. Summit meetings for disarmament pursued mutual understanding and a balance of power but were also held to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy. The world of the war-or-peace alternative became a world in which war was peace and peace war.”

WorldWarUnderstandingEnemyCenturyColdBalanceWeaknessMeetingsAlternativesMutualCold WarFormalDeclarationFifthSummitTwentieth CenturyPursuedColumnsDisarmamentPeace WarSabotageStrength And WeaknessProxyBalance Of PowerMutual UnderstandingDeclaration Of War
Book:Peace on Earth
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“Really, one of us ought to have the courage to call the experiment off and shoulder the responsibility for the decision, but the majority reckons that that kind of courage would be a sign of cowardice, and the first step in a retreat. They think it would mean an undignified surrender for mankind as if there was any dignity in floundering and drowning in what we don't understand and never will.”

IfsThinkingFirstsKindMeanWould BeDecisionResponsibilityStepsMankindOughtDignityMajoritySurrenderExperimentsShouldersCowardiceFirst StepsRetreatDrowningFloundering
Author:Stanislaw Lem
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