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Sathya Sai Baba

Sathya Sai Baba (23 November 1926 – 24 April 2011), born Sathya Narayana Raju, was a popular Indian guru, believed to be the reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi. Innumerable reports of miraculous healings, resurrection, clairvoyance, bilocation, and alleged omnipotence and omniscience have been attributed to Sai Baba by both devotees and non-devotees. The Sathya Sai Organisation, founded by Sai Baba "to enable its members to undertake service activities as a means to spiritual advancement", has over 1,200 Sathya Sai Centres (branches) in 126 countries. Through this organisation, Sai Baba established a network of free hospitals, clinics, drinking water projects, auditoriums, ashrams and schools.

Quotes

 * I have a "Task": To foster all mankind and ensure for all of them lives full of ananda (bliss). I have a "Vow": To lead all who stray away from the straight path again into goodness and save them. I am attached to a "work" that I love: To remove the sufferings of the poor and grant them what they lack. I have a "reason to be proud", for I rescue all who worship and adore me, aright. I have my definition of the "devotion" I expect: Those devoted to me have to treat joy and grief, gain and loss, with equal fortitude. This means that I will never give up those who attach themselves to me.
 * Letter Sathya Sai wrote to his older brother Seshama Raju Sathya Sai Baba's Life History   (1947)

 * There is no one who can change My course or affect My conduct to the slightest extent. I am the Master over all.
 * Discourse (28 September 1960). Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. I, p. 182.

Life is a game - play it. Life is a challenge - meet it. Life is a dream - realize it. Life is a sacrifice - offer it. Life is love - enjoy it.
 * Life is a song - sing it.

 * My construction will cover the entire Universe.
 * Sathya Sai Baba Discourse, October 1961 p. 120, 'Sathya Sai Speaks' Vol 2.

 * Christ declared. Sathya means Truth. 'He will wear a robe of red, a blood-red robe.' (Here the baba pointed to the red colored robe he happened to be wearing that day!). He will be short, with a crown (here he points to his hair). The lamb is the sign and symbol of love. Christ did not declare that he will come again, he said, 'He who made me will come again.' That ba ba (bleating of the sheep or lamb) is this Baba, and Sai, the short, curly-hair-crowned red-robed Baba, is come. He is not only this Form, but, he is every one of you, as the Dweller in the Heart.
 * Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. 11, p. 346

 * The same Divine Compassion that blessed Dharma; saved Gajendra; restored Kuchela; and stood by Prahlada, has come to the Earth as the Refuge of the refugeless; as the Lord of Peace, Harmony and Righteousness; as the Lord of all the Worlds; as the Sath-Chith-Anandamurthi; and as the Puttaparthi Sathya Sai Sath-Chakravarthi - the King of Kings.
 * As quoted in Thought For The Day, K57, published by Sri Sathya Sai Books & Publications Trust, Sathya Sai Baba Discourse, (21 October 1993), Sathya Sai Speaks Vol 26.

 * My power is immeasurable; My truth inexplicable, unfathomable.
 * Sathya Sai Baba Discourse 19-6-1974. p. 227 Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. 12.

 * I am all deities in one. You may endeavour your best for thousands of years and have all mankind with you in your search. But you cannot understand My Reality.
 * US ed. of Kasturi's authorized biography Sathyam Sivam Sundaram Vol 3 page 315

 * There was no one to understand Me until I created the whole world
 * As quoted by his official biographer, N. Kasthuri, in 'Pathway to Peace', p. 64.

 * What is it that brings to It the adoration of millions from all over the world? You will be convinced that the basic reason for this is the fact that this is the Supra-worldly Divinity in Human Form.
 * Discourse 17/5/1968. Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. 8, p 100

 * This is a human form in which every Divine entity, every Divine principle, that is to say, all the names and forms ascribed by man to God, are manifest... You are very fortunate that you have the chance to experiences the bliss of the vision of the form, which is the form of all gods, now, in this life itself.
 * Statement (1968) as quoted in ''Sathya Sai Speaks Volume VIII, p. 99f

 * God can do anything. He has all power in the palm of His Hand. My Body, like all other bodies, is a temporary habitation; but, My Power is eternal, all-pervasive, ever-dominant.
 * Christmas Day Discourse, Bombay 1970. page 136, US ed. of Kasturi's Sathyam Sivam Sundaram Vol 3.

 * Formerly when the Govardhanagiri (mountain) was raised aloft by a little boy, the gopis and gopalas realised that Krishna was the Lord. Now, it is not one Govardhanagiri, a whole range will be lifted, you will see!
 * Sathya Sai Speaks Vol.3 New Edition, p. 92,

 * The Lord is the refuge of all who seek refuge, the saviour of all who have to be saved. He is the Embodiment of Being-Awareness-Bliss (Sat-chit-ananda). He is now at Puttaparthi as the Effulgent Emperor over the region of Truth, Goodness and Beauty.
 * Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. 13, p 114

 * Were it not for the mind change of Sai devotees the world would already have fallen into complete chaos. The deterioration of mind and man has been very rapid and abrupt, even precipitous during the last fifteen years. That the world is not in total destruction is due to the change of mind of Sai devotees and to Sai's grace.
 * Conversations with... Sathya Sai Baba by Dr. J. Hislop, p. 190 old ed., page 173 new edition

 * I will have to forego the car and even the aeroplane when I move from place to place, for the crowds pressing around them will be too huge; I will have to move across the sky; yes, that too will happen, believe Me.
 * Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. II, p. 92

 * I know everything that has happened to everybody in the past, everything that is happening now and everything that will happen in the future.
 * Sathyam, Sivam, Sundaram - Part 3. by N. Kasturi. Page 305 US ed. Next to the last chapter.

 * Practise silence, for the voice of God can be heard in the region of your heart only when the tongue and the inner storm are stilled, and the waves (of the mind) are calmed. There will be no temptation for others to shout when you talk to them in whispers. Set the level of the tone yourself: as low as possible, as high as necessary to reach the outermost boundary of the circle you are addressing. Conserve sound, since it is the treasure of the element ether (Akasa), an emanation from God Himself. Reason can prevail only when the arguments are advanced without the whipping up of sound. Silence is the speech of the spiritual seeker. Soft speech is the expression of genuine love. Hate screeches; fear squeals; conceit trumpets; but love sings lullabies, it soothes, it applies balm. Practise the vocabulary of love; unlearn the language of hate and contempt.
 * "Divine Discourse" (19 February 1970)

 * LIFE + DESIRE = MAN; LIFE – DESIRE = GOD.
 * Interview with R.K. Karanjia for Blitz magazine (1976)

 * No one can understand my Mystery. The best you can do is to get immersed in it. It is no use your arguing about pros and cons; dive and know the depth; eat and know the taste.
 * As quoted in Sai Baba: Man of Miracles (1977) by Howard Murphet, p. 208

 * Trust in my wisdom. I do not make mistakes. Love my uncertainty for it is not a mistake. It is my intent and will. Remember -- nothing happens without my will. Be still. Do not ask to understand. Do not want to understand.
 * Sanathana Sarathi, August 1984

 * Everyone should prepare NOW for this change, for I promise you that it will come, and only those who are ready will survive.
 * SSSBFM, (1991), p .223

 * Sai holds the universe in his hand
 * Conversations with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba (1993) by Dr. J. Hislop. publ. Sathya Sai Publications and Book Trust, Puttaparthi.

 * The whole world will be transformed into Sathya Sai Organisation and Sathya Sai will be installed in the hearts of one and all.
 * Sanathana Sarathi (January 1999) page 16)

 * Today man is putting his senses to misuse and as a result his body is becoming weaker day by day. He shortens his life-span by his unsacred vision and by indulgence in sensual pleasures. Lakhs of light rays in his eyes are being destroyed because of his unsacred vision. That is the reason what man is developing eye defects.
 * Discourse on 5/7/2001 in Sanathana Sarathi (August 2001) p. 226

 * Some people think, Swami calls himself a powerful magnet, but He is unable to attract us. The fault lies in them only.
 * Sanathana Sarathi (January 2003), page 10

 * As the attraction power is increasing in Me... you are going to witness many astounding events in future... Even while I am speaking to you now, My feet are being pulled by the earth. If I lift one foot, the earth attracts the other foot. Whatever I touch with My hand, it also gets attracted. This magnetic power is present in every man... I try to lift My foot but it is very difficult.
 * Sanathana Sarathi (April 2003), p. 123

 * As a matter of fact, there is no trace of ill-health in Me. I am always healthy. Not only today, till 96 years I will be like this.
 * 05 Oct. 2003, Prasanthi Nilayam in Sathya Sai Speaks, volume 36 chapter 14, discourse title "Give up Dehabhimana develop Atmabhiman"

 * Be sincere; talk only about your genuine experience; do not distort, exaggerate or falsify that experience.
 * As quoted in Sathyam Sivam Sundaram (The Life Story of Sathya Sai Baba) by N. Kasturi, Ch. XXVI : Holy Joy

 * Prema (love): practise that; develop that; spread that; and all the hatreds and jealousies of today will disappear. That is the duty of the Divine Life Society, here as well as elsewhere.
 * Discourse 14-12-1958. Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. 17

 * Leadership is Idealism in Action. The Avatar comes to reveal man to himself, to restore him his birthright of Atmic (Divine) Bliss. He does not come to found a new creed, to breed a new faction, to install a new god. The Avatar comes as Man in order to demonstrate that Man is Divine, in order to be within reach of man. I have come to restore Love among mankind, to cleanse it of narrowness, and restrictive attitudes. That is the main task in the revival of Dharma (Righteousness). Be assured that the Lord has come to save the world from calamity. Your duty is to keep calm, and pray for the happiness and prosperity of all. You cannot be happy when the rest of mankind is unhappy. I offer help; never receive it. My Hand always gives; it never takes. Conclude from this that this must be Divine, not human power. I do not mention about Sai Baba in any of My discourses, though I bear the name as Avatar of Sai Baba. I do not appreciate in the least the distinction between the varied appearances of God: Sai, Rama, Krishna, Christ, Nanak, Buddha etc. I do not proclaim that this is more important or that the other is less important. Continue your worship of your chosen God along the lines already familiar to you. Then you will find that you are coming nearer and nearer to Me, for all names are Mine and all forms are Mine. There is no need to change your chosen God and adopt a new one when you have seen Me and heard Me. Come just one step forward, I shall take a hundred steps towards you. Shed just one tear, I shall wipe a hundred from your eyes. I bless only thus: May your Ananda, may your Bliss grow. I have come to give you the Key of the treasure of Ananda or Bliss, to tell you how to tap that spring, for you have forgotten the way to blessedness.I never exult when I am extolled, nor shrink when I am reviled. Few have realized My Purpose and Significance, but I am not worried. When things that are not in Me are attributed to Me, why should I worry? When things that are in Me are mentioned, why should I exult? For Me, it is always, "Yes, yes, yes." IF you give up all and surrender to the Lord, He will guard you and guide you. The Lord has come just for this very task. Many hesitate to believe that things will improve, that life will be happy for all and full of joy, and that the Golden Age will recur.  Let me assure you that this Dharmaswarupa, this divine body, has not come in vain. It will succeed in averting the crisis that has come upon humanity.
 * Forward to Sai Baba's Mahavakya on Leadership by M.L. Chibber, published by Leela Press, (December 1996)

Quotes about Sathya Sai Baba

 * Sathya Sai Baba was an avatar of compassion, love, and selfless service for all mankind. He made no distinction between human beings. Thousands of poor people undergo treatment at his super-specialty hospital in Puttapurthi free of cost. That is the ultimate sewa; for people who cannot afford expensive treatment. Sai Baba's high ideals will show mankind the way for ages to come. His followers will always feel blessed with his emotional and spiritual proximity at all times.
 * Baba Ramdev (As quoted in Times of India, April 25, 2011, http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-25/india/29471198_1_baba-ramdev-yoga-guru-avatar)

 * Elevated souls like Sathya Sai Baba do not come on this earth plane often. Unborn generations to come will wonder at and be amazed by the grandeur of the individual that Baba was and will revere him as a benefactor of humanity. His overpowering love mesmerised and drew to him thousands from all over the world. His giving nature, his caring and sharing made him focus his energies towards ameliorating the suffering of others. For him to live was to love. His enigmatic and charismatic persona will hold sway over the generations to come. His teachings will continue to guide and assist thousands. The world has been left a richer and a better place by having been blessed by the holy presence of Sathya Sai Baba.
 * Dada J.P. Vaswani (As quoted in http://www.sadhuvaswani.org/wordpress/?p=5851)

 * The demise of the body was inevitable. But like the sun, which neither rises nor sets, consciousness was indestructible. The message of love and compassion given by Sai Baba had the power to inspire all. Through the implementation of his teachings, he would live forever. May his devotees be able to follow the path of truth and dharma shown by him
 * Mata Amritanandamayi (As quoted in The Hindu, April 25, 2011, http://www.hindu.com/2011/04/25/stories/2011042565740300.htm )

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-25/india/29470987_1_sathya-sai-baba-divisions-free-world)
 * As a proponent of egalitarian values, he strived to create a world free of the divisions of caste, creed, religion, race and gender. His social initiatives, notably in the fields of education and public health, have been a great service to the world. His demise brings to a close an enigmatic persona that has been a great inspiration.
 * Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Founder, Isha Foundation (As quoted in Times of India, April 25, 2011,

and http://srisriravishankar.org/content/sri-sris-message-sri-sathya-sai-baba-leaving-his-body )
 * Sri Sathya Sai Baba will continue to live in the hearts of millions of devotees. His message of 'Love All and Serve All' will resonate in the world forever. His messages have always been universal; especially his message of 'Satya Dharma Shanti Prema' which has transcended all barriers of caste and religion. As Baba has departed earlier than he had predicted, he will return to the planet earlier.
 * Sri Sri Ravishankar ( http://www.artofliving.org/sri-sri-ravi-shankars-message-sri-sathya-sai-baba-leaving-his-body

 * Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, as he was known, is one of the great spiritual luminaries of the 21st century. Even after his Mahasamadhi, his life and teachings will continue to inspire and influence people to live a noble life. The monumental work that he initiated and achieved is indeed exemplary. In Chinmaya Mission we have many fond memories of our Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda relating his many meetings with Bhagawan, and the love and regard they shared for each other. We pay our reverential homage to him.
 * Swami Tejomayananda, Head, Chinmaya Mission Worldwide ( As quoted in a Message to Trustees of Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust and Members of the Sai family, Available at http://www.ssso.net/pnews-2011/Letter%20to%20Sri%20Sathya%20Sai%20Central%20Trust.pdf, Accessed on May 28, 2011 ).

 * It would be simpler to say that the more you limit yourself the more normal you are and the more you expand yourself the more special you are. Here the implication of the word expansion goes beyond one’s own body and immediate family, say, maybe, expanding till your neighbourhood, colony, city, country, world... the entire creation. Expansion is directly proportional to your level of evolution — the more evolved you are, the more expanded you are and the more you will care about your surroundings. Satya Sai Baba was one such evolved, expanded human being... A person who is in vairagya, which is called one of the finalities in Sanatan Kriya, is least concerned about critics or acclaims. He just moves on the chosen path. It’s of no consequence to him who is saying what about him... good or bad. It’s his mission which is important and of utmost concern to him. No matter who says what, no matter what the circumstance, no matter what the occasion, he finds some way to put his point across and that too very effectively.
 * Yogi Ashwini, Spiritual Guide, Dhyan Foundation (From the article 'Satya Sai: A born legend', Deccan Chronicle, April 28, 2011, Article available at http://www.deccanchronicle.com/editorial/op-ed/satya-sai-born-legend-726, Accessed on October 25, 2011).

 * When such a spiritual personality passes away, we do not pray for their Satgati (divine beatitude) or Atma Shanti (Supreme Peace). On the contrary, we pray to them for our peace and happiness, for they have attained all that and more even when they are in the physical bodies. Mankind will be ever greatful to Babaji for making their lives more beautiful and worth living. May Babaji's blessing continue to shower on one and all alike!
 * Message from Divine Life Society (As quoted in the 'The Divine Life', May 2011 issue, http://www.sivanandaonline.org/public_html/admin/media/pdf/2011/MAY-ENG-2011.pdf )

 * Baba's words and actions have lit the lamp of love in the hearts of devotees and they will always remember him for the good things he has done.
 * Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India, Hindustan Times, April 25, 2011

 * I learnt of the passing away of Sri Satya Saibaba with deep and profound sadness. Sri Satya Saibaba was a spiritual leader who inspired millions to lead a moral and meaningful life even as they followed the religion of their choice. His teachings were rooted in the universal ideals of truth, right conduct, peace, love and non-violence... He believed that it is the duty of every person to ensure that all people have access to the basic requirements for sustenance of life. Sri Satya Saibaba was an inspiration to people of all faiths. The passing away of Sri Satya Saibaba is an irreparable loss to all and the nation deeply mourns his passing away...
 * Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India (As quoted in http://pmindia.nic.in/prelease/content4print.asp?id=1248)

 * He's been the moving force behind my life and the life of my family. For us he is God almighty and therefore we are pained.
 * Sunil Gavaskar, Former Cricketer (As quoted in Hindustan Times, April 25, 2011 and http://my.news.yahoo.com/gavaskar-condoles-death-sri-sathya-sai-baba-140600257.html)

 * Baba has always been my mentor and it was a great loss when he left us. But I remember his lessons and will continue to adhere to them. I felt very low on the day that I sat near his body.
 * Sachin Tendulkar, Cricketer (As quoted in The Economic Times, May 11, 2011, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/i-just-could-not-control-myself-sachin-tendulkar/articleshow/8238816.cms )

 * The news of the death of Sai Baba of Puttaparthi has greatly pained me. He was a spiritual person on whom lakhs of people had faith. In his lifetime, he inspired the people of this country and those abroad towards spiritualism and religion.
 * Sonia Gandhi, UPA Chairperson and President, Indian National Congress (As quoted in Times of India, April 24, 2011, http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-24/india/29468754_1_sathya-sai-baba-bjp-leader-puttap)

 * In passing away of Sri Sathya Sai Baba the country has lost an iconic spiritual leader and a philanthropist.
 * Rajya Sabha (As quoted in News Today, August 2, 2011, http://newstodaynet.com/newsindex.php?id=23953%20&%20section=5; http://164.100.47.5/newlobsessions/sessionno/223/010811.pdf)

title: Sathya Sai Baba


text:
Theodore Sturgeon

Theodore Sturgeon (born Edward Hamilton Waldo, 26 February 1918 – 8 May 1985) was an American author of science fiction, essayist, and poet.

Quotes

 * Faith is a beautiful thing. So are forest fires, and the color of gangrene. I think faith—especially capital-F Faith—is more dangerous and more disgusting than either. It is a substitute for thought.
 * How to Avoid a Hole in the Head, in Marvel Science Stories (May 1951), p. 115

 * I repeat Sturgeon's Revelation, which was wrung out of me after twenty years of wearying defense of science fiction against attacks of people who used the worst examples of the field for ammunition, and whose conclusion was that ninety percent of it is crud. The Revelation: Ninety percent of everything is crud. Corollary 1: The existence of immense quantities of trash in science fiction is admitted and it is regrettable; but it is no more unnatural than the existence of trash anywhere. Corollary 2: The best science fiction is as good as the best fiction in any field.
 * Venture Science Fiction (March 1958) The original expression of this has often been declared to have been "Sure, ninety percent of science fiction is crud. That's because ninety percent of everything is crud." According to Philip Klass Sturgeon made the remark during a talk at New York University around 1951. It has also commonly appeared in variant forms such as "Ninety percent of everything is crap" and is often referred to as "Sturgeon's Law" — though he himself gave that title to another phrase:
 * Sturgeon's Law originally was "Nothing is always absolutely so." The other thing was known as "Sturgeon's Revelation".
 * Interview with David G. Hartwell, The New York Review of Science Fiction (March - April 1989)

 * A science fiction story is a story built around human beings, with a human problem and a human solution, which would not have happened at all without its scientific content.
 * As quoted in The Issue at Hand: Studies in Contemporary Magazine Science Fiction (1964) by James Blish, p. 14

 * If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister?
 * Title of story about the incest taboo and social pathologies in the anthology Dangerous Visions (1967) by Harlan Ellison.

 * It means "Ask the next question." Ask the next question, and the one that follows that, and the one that follows that. It's the symbol of everything humanity has ever created, and is the reason it has been created. This guy is sitting in a cave and he says, "Why can't man fly?" Well, that's the question. The answer may not help him, but the question now has been asked. The next question is what? How? And so all through the ages, people have been trying to find out the answer to that question. We've found the answer, and we do fly. This is true of every accomplishment, whether it's technology or literature, poetry, political systems or anything else. That is it. Ask the next question. And the one after that.
 * His explanation of the meaning of a small symbol he used when writing his signature, as quoted in an interview with David Duncan (with an image of his signature), sometime around 1980.

 * Science fiction, outside of poetry, is the only literary field which has no limits, no parameters whatsoever. You can go not only into the future, but into that wonderful place called "other", which is simply another universe, another planet, another species.
 * As quoted in an interview with David Duncan

Short fiction

 * "God," he cries, dying on Mars, "God, we made it!"
 * The Man Who Lost The Sea, published in, October 1959

Two Percent Inspiration (1941)

 * Originally published in the October 1941 issue of Astounding Science-Fiction

 * It's the simple things that are really effective. Try to remember that.
 * Spoken by Professor Thaddeus MacIlhainy Nudnick. Reprinted in Microcosmic God: Volume II: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon (1995), edited by Paul Williams, ISBN 1556433018, p. 322

 * That Heel. That lousy wart on the nose of progress.
 * Spoken by Hughie McCauley, quoting fictional space-opera hero Captain Jaundess. Reprinted in Microcosmic God: Volume II: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon (1995), edited by Paul Williams, ISBN 1556433018, p. 322

Killdozer! (1944)

 * Originally published in the November 1944 issue of Astounding Science-Fiction
 * Page numbers from the mass market paperback edition of To Marry Medusa, published by Baen Books, ISBN 0-671-65370-9, first printing, December 1987

 * In its shelter they developed a weapon. What is was we shall never know, and our race will live—or we shall know, and our race will perish as theirs perished.
 * pp. 165-166

 * He had been released with alacrity from the office because of his propensity for small office politics. It was a game he still played, and completely aside from his boiled-looking red face and his slightly womanish walk, he was out of place in the field, for boot-licking and back-stabbing accomplish even less out on the field than they do in an office.
 * pp. 170-171

The Martian and the Moron (1949)

 * Originally published in the March 1949 issue of Weird Tales. Page numbers from the reprint in The Ghoul Keepers (1961) edited by Leo Margulies

 * “Oh well. Chacun à son goût, as they say, which means—” And she stopped me. “Please. Don’t translate. It couldn’t be phrased as well in English.” I had been about to say “—which means Jack’s son has the gout.”
 * p. 33

 * Half of humanity doesn’t know what it wants or how to find out. The other half knows what it wants, hasn’t got it, and is going crazy trying to convince itself that it already has it.
 * p. 37

 * I remember wondering smokily whether anyone ever loves a person. People seem to love dreams instead, and for the lucky ones, the person is close to the dream. But it’s a dream all the same, a sticky dream. You unload the person, and the dream stays with you.
 * p. 44

More Than Human (1953)

 * All page numbers from the trade paperback edition published by Vintage Books

 * The idiot heard the sounds, but they had no meaning for him. He lived inside somewhere, apart, and the little link between word and significance hung broken.
 * Chapter 1 “The Fabulous Idiot”, p. 1

 * There’s this about a farm: when the market’s good there’s money, and when it’s bad there’s food.
 * Chapter 1, p. 34

 * So it was that Lone came to know himself; and like the handful of people who have done so before him he found, at this pinnacle, the rugged foot of a mountain.
 * Chapter 1, p. 60

 * That’s fairly common. We don’t believe anything we don’t want to believe.
 * Chapter 2 “Baby is Three”, p. 94

 * Logic and truth are two very different things, but they often look the same to the mind that’s performing the logic.
 * Chapter 2, p. 97

 * Reality isn’t the most pleasant of atmospheres, Lieutenant. But we like to think we’re engineered for it. It’s a pretty fine piece of engineering, the kind an engineer can respect. Drag in an obsession and reality can’t tolerate it. Something has to give; if reality goes, your fine piece of engineering is left with nothing to operate on. So it operates badly. So kick the obsession out; start functioning the way you were designed to function.
 * Chapter 3 “Morality”, p. 146

 * Love’s a different sort of thing, hot enough to make you flow into something, interflow, cool and anneal and be a weld stronger than what you started with.
 * Chapter 3, p. 169

 * Morals: They’re nothing but a coded survival instinct!
 * Chapter 3, p. 175

 * Do you know what morals are? Morals are an obedience to rules that people laid down to help you live among them.
 * Chapter 3, p. 181

 * An ethic isn’t a fact you can look up. It’s a way of thinking.
 * Chapter 3, p. 183

 * The most human thing about anyone is a thing he learns and … and earns. It’s a thing he can’t have when he’s very young; if he gets it at all, he gets it after a long search and a deep conviction. After that it’s truly part of him as long as he lives.
 * Chapter 3, p. 184

 * Here, too, was the guide, the beacon, for such times as humanity might be in danger; here was the Guardian of Whom all humans knew — not an exterior force, nor an awesome Watcher in the sky, but a laughing thing with a human heart and a reverence for its human origins, smelling of sweat and new-turned earth rather than suffused with the pale odor of sanctity.
 * Chapter 3, p. 186

The Dreaming Jewels (1950)

 * All page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Baen Books, ISBN 0-671-65370-9, first printing, December 1987

 * I wouldn’t give you sand if I met you on the beach.
 * Chapter 1 (p. 3)

 * This country has music through its blood and bones like a disease, and a man cannot draw in a breath of air that isn’t a-thrum with it.
 * Chapter 4 (p. 24)

 * A man with talent eats, sweats, and cares for his children like any other. And if talent is a natural thing, remember that water is also, and fire, and wind; therefore flood and holocaust and hurricane are as natural as talent, and can consume and destroy you.
 * Chapter 4 (p. 27)

 * Love, Caroline, isn’t…that. Love is everything else that can be between a man and a woman, without that.
 * Chapter 6 (p. 40)

 * There are always many ways to accomplish anything, but only one of them is really best. Which of them is best—that is the source of all argument on the production of anything, the creator of factions among the designers, and the first enemy of speed and efficiency.
 * Chapter 26 (pp. 142-143)

Venus Plus X (1960)

 * All page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Pyramid Books (T-2552)
 * The sections in the novel are not numbered. They are numbered here for ease of reference
 * Nominated for the 1961 Hugo award

 * There were a lot of people living in his time who never did latch on to the idea that the curve of technological progress was not a flat slanting line like a diving board, but a geometrical curve like a ski-jump. These wistful and mixed-up souls were always suffering from attacks of belated conservatism, clutching suddenly at this dying thing and that, trying to keep it or bring it back. It wasn’t real conservatism at all, of course, but an unthought longing for the dear old days when one could predict what would be there tomorrow, if not next week. Unable to get the big picture, they welcomed the conveniences, the miniaturization of this and the speed of that, and then were angrily confused when their support of these things changed their world.
 * Section 11 (p. 33)

 * You have questions—urgent questions—I know that. And what makes them urgent is that you have in your mind the answers you want to hear. You will be more and more angry if you do not get those answers, but some can’t be given as you would hear them, because they would not be true.
 * Section 13 (p. 40)

 * And Charlie asked questions! His unease had long since disappeared, and two of his most deep-dyed characteristics took over: one, the result of his omnivorous, undisciplined, indefatigable reading and picking of brains; second, the great gaping holes this had left in his considerable body of knowledge. Both appeared far more drastic than he had heretofore known; he knew ever so much more than he knew he knew, and he had between five and seven times as much misinformation and ignorance than he had ever dreamed.
 * Section 19 (p. 59)

 * As Adam said when his wife fell out of the tree—Eve’s dropping again.
 * Section 24 (p. 71)

 * “Now how can you like a man without wanting him?” she demands of herself aloud. There is no answer. It is an article of faith with her. If you like a man, it has to be because you want him. Whoever heard of it any other way?
 * Section 32 (p. 101)

 * Is it men’s disgust of women that makes so many of them treat women with such contempt? Is it that which makes it so easy to point out that the Don Juans and the Lotharios, for all their hunger for women, are often merely trying to see how many women they can punish?
 * Section 36 (p. 114)

 * Mankind has in it a crushing need to feel superior. This doesn’t have to bother the very small minority who actually are superior, but it sure troubles the controlling majority who are not. If you can’t be really good at anything, then the only way to be able to prove you are superior is to make someone else inferior. It is this rampaging need in humanity which has, since pre-history, driven a man to stand on the neck of his neighbor, a nation to enslave another, a race to tread on a race. But it is also what men have done to women. Did they actually find them inferior to begin with, and learn from that to try to feel superior to other things outside—other races, religions, nationalities, occupations? Or was it the other way around: did men make women inferior for the same reason they tried to dominate the outsider? Which is cause, which effect?
 * Section 36 (p. 115)

 * A pig among people is a pig, he tells himself, but a pig among pigs is people.
 * Section 38 (p. 118)

 * You cannot be objective about this because you have been indoctrinated, sermonized, drenched, imbued, inculcated and policed on the matter since first you wore blue booties. You come from a time and place in which the maleness of the male, and the femaleness of the female, and the importance of their difference, were matters of almost total preoccupation.
 * Section 41 (p. 123)

 * So it is easily seen that the sexual insignes are nothing in themselves, for any of them, in another time and place, might belong to both sexes, the other sex, or neither. In other words, a skirt does not make the social entity, woman. It takes a skirt plus a social attitude to do it. But all through history, in virtually every culture and country, there has indeed been a “woman’s province” and a “man’s province,” and in most cases the differences between them have been exploited to fantastic, sometimes sickening extremes. Why?
 * Section 41 (p. 125)

 * There is in mankind a deep and desperate necessity to feel superior. In any group there are some who genuinely are superior...but it is easy to see that within the parameters of any group, be it culture, club, nation, profession, only a few are really superior; the mass, clearly, are not. But it is the will of the mass that dictates the mores, initiated though changes may be by individuals or minorities; the individuals or minorities, more often than not, are cut down for their trouble. And if a unit of the mass wants to feel superior, it will find a way. This terrible drive has found expression in many ways, through history—in slavery and genocide, xenophobia and snobbery, race prejudice and sex differentiation. Given a man who, among his fellows, has no real superiority, you are faced with a bedevilled madman who, if superiority is denied him, and he cannot learn one or earn one, will turn on something weaker than himself and make it inferior. The obvious, logical, handiest subject for this inexcusable indignity is his woman. He could not do this to anyone he loved.
 * Section 41 (p. 126)

 * There are only three ways of dealing with sex. It may be gratified; it may be repressed; or it may be sublimated. The latter is, through history, often an ideal and frequently a success, but it is always an instability.
 * Section 41 (p. 128)

 * Pleasure, the outer edge of ecstasy, was in the dour days of Protestantism, considered sinful in itself, wherever gained; Rome held specifically that any or all sexual pleasure was sinful. And for all this capped volcano produced in terms of bridges and houses, factories and bombs, it gouted from its riven sides a frightful harvest of neurosis. And even where a nation officially discarded the church, the same repressive techniques remained, the same preoccupation with doctrine, filtered through the same mesh of guilt. So sex and religion, the real meaning of human existence, ceased to be meaning and became means; the unbridgeable hostility between the final combatants was the proof of the identity of their aim—the total domination, for the ultimate satisfaction of the will to superiority, of all human minds.
 * Section 41 (p. 130)

 * Father-dominated people who form father-dominated cultures have father-religions: a male deity, an authoritative scripture, a strong central government, an intolerance for inquiry and research, a repressive sexual attitude, a deep conservatism (for one does not change what Father built), a rigid demarcation, in dress and conduct, between the sexes, and a profound horror of homosexuality. Mother-dominated people who form mother-dominated cultures have mother religions: a female deity served by priestesses, a liberal government—one which feeds the masses and succors the helpless—a great tolerance for experimental thought, a permissive attitude toward sex, a hazy boundary between the insignes of the sexes, and a dread of incest.
 * Section 43 (pp. 131-132)

Quotes about Theodore Sturgeon

 * I liked his work because he was such a good craftsman. Sometimes science fiction writers were more pulp writers than they had to be because they didn't bother to learn. I'm talking about the old-time science fiction writers now, the ones who were more concerned with the wonderful machine than with the people who were supposed to be having something to do with the machine. They didn't characterize very well. Their women characters in particular were stick people, puppets, and Sturgeon, even though he was easily old enough to be my father, didn't write that way, and a few others didn't write that way. I especially paid attention to their writings... By the way, I don't believe that Sturgeon ever graduated from high school. He made a comment when he was teaching the class, an extension course: he said probably America is the only country where a man who never graduated from high school can teach at college. He might have had a point.
 * 1997 interview in Conversations with Octavia Butler

 * Theodore Sturgeon was a well-known science fiction writer. He's dead now, but supposedly he was on a panel at a science fiction convention once when somebody complained to him, "Ted, 90 percent of science fiction is shit." Sturgeon said, "Ninety percent of everything is shit."
 * 1997 interview in Conversations with Octavia Butler

 * Theodore Sturgeon influenced me-he was a real craftsman. I probably liked The Synthetic Man, which was originally called The Dreaming Jewels, and More Than Human, the best. The writers who influenced me most tended to be those who were the most prolific.
 * 1997 interview in Conversations with Octavia Butler

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Theodore Sturgeon


text:
Gary Gygax

Ernest Gary Gygax (27 July 1938 – 4 March 2008) was an American writer and game designer famous for designing the fantasy role playing game, Dungeons & Dragons, with co-creator Dave Arneson.

Quotes

 * The most immediate influences upon AD&D were probably de Camp & Pratt, R. E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, H. P. Lovecraft, and A. Merritt.
 * Writing in Appendix N, AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide (1979), p. 224

 * While it is possible to play a single game, unrelated to any other game events past or future, it is the campaign for which these rules are designed. It is relatively simple to set up a fantasy campaign, and better still, it will cost almost nothing. In fact you will not even need miniature figures, although their occasional employment is recommended for real spectacle when battles are fought. A quick glance at the Equipment section of this booklet will reveal just how little is required. The most extensive requirement is time. The campaign referee will have to have sufficient time to meet the demands of his players, he will have to devote a number of hours to laying out the maps of his "dungeons" and upper terrain before the affair begins.
 * Preface of the Original Dungeons & Dragons, (1 November 1973)

 * One of the things stressed in the original game of D&D was the importance of recording game time with respect to each and every player character in a campaign. In AD&D it is emphasized even more: YOU CAN NOT HAVE A MEANINGFUL CAMPAIGN IF STRICT TIME RECORDS ARE NOT KEPT.
 * "Time in the Campaign", AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide (1979), p. 38

 * Hello Fry, it's a ... *[stops mid-sentence, throws a D20 and a D6]* pleasure to meet you.
 * Voicing himself in "Anthology of Interest I" on Futurama (21 May 2000)

 * One more thing: don’t spend too much time merely reading. The best part of this work is the play, so play and enjoy!
 * Preface to the Oriental Adventures (1985)

 * Games give you a chance to excel, and if you're playing in good company you don't even mind if you lose because you had the enjoyment of the company during the course of the game.
 * GameSpy interview by Allen Rausch, Pt. 1 (15 August 2004)

 * The idea that a game is anything more than a game… You know, there are people who are basically unbalanced who are going to misuse a game and have bad results. If a golfer who insists on playing during a lightning storm gets hit by a stroke of lightning and is killed nobody says, 'There's golfers dying by the droves being hit by lightning!' You can overdo what you really like, and if you're unbalanced you go overboard.
 * GameSpy interview, Pt. 1 (15 August 2004)

 * In many ways I still resent the wretched yellow journalism that was clearly evident in (the media's) treatment of the game — 60 Minutes in particular. I've never watched that show after Ed Bradley's interview with me because they rearranged my answers. When I sent some copies of letters from mothers of those two children who had committed suicide who said the game had nothing to do with it, they refused to do a retraction or even mention it on air. What bothered me is that I was getting death threats, telephone calls, and letters. I was a little nervous. I had a bodyguard for a while.
 * GameSpy interview, Pt. I (15 August 2004)

 * The new D&D is too rule intensive. It's relegated the Dungeon Master to being an entertainer rather than master of the game. It's done away with the archetypes, focused on nothing but combat and character power, lost the group cooperative aspect, bastardized the class-based system, and resembles a comic-book superheroes game more than a fantasy RPG where a player can play any alignment desired, not just lawful good.
 * GameSpy interview, Pt. 2 (16 August 2004)

 * The books I write because I want to read them, the games because I want to play them, and stories I tell because I find them exciting personally.
 * GameSpy interview, Pt. 2 (16 August 2004)

 * I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else.
 * GameSpy interview, Pt. 2 (16 August 2004)

 * Pen-and-paper role-playing is live theater and computer games are television. People want the convenience and instant gratification of turning on the TV rather than getting dressed up and going out to see a live play. In the same way, the computer is a more immediately accessible way to play games.
 * As quoted in "Dungeon Masters in Cyberspace" in The New York Times (27 February 2006)

 * The essence of a role-playing game is that it is a group, cooperative experience. There is no winning or losing, but rather the value is in the experience of imagining yourself as a character in whatever genre you’re involved in, whether it’s a fantasy game, the Wild West, secret agents or whatever else. You get to sort of vicariously experience those things.
 * Interview in 2006, as quoted in "Gary Gygax, Game Pioneer, Dies at 69" in The New York Times (5 March 2008)

 * There is no intimacy; it’s not live. [he said of online games] It’s being translated through a computer, and your imagination is not there the same way it is when you’re actually together with a group of people. It reminds me of one time where I saw some children talking about whether they liked radio or television, and I asked one little boy why he preferred radio, and he said, "Because the pictures are so much better."
 * Interview in 2006, as quoted in "Gary Gygax, Game Pioneer, Dies at 69" in The New York Times (5 March 2008)

 * I think a lot of what I was taught, gathered, and learned is worth keeping. Heritage and "wisdom" and simply personal family and local history enrich the one able to tap such information. As it is I wish I had garnered more from my grandparents and parents.
 * "An Interview with Gary Gygax" by Christopher Smith at Lejendary Adventure

Quotes about Gygax

 * It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them ... He really enjoyed that.
 * Gail Gygax, his widow, as quoted in "Dungeons & Dragons Co-Creator Dies at 69" The Associated Press (AP)

title: Gary Gygax


text:
Fritz Leiber

Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. (December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror and science fiction.

Night's Black Agents (1947)

 * All page numbers from the mass market expanded edition published by Berkley ISBN 0-425-03669-3 in 1978

 * Besides, what difference did if make if there had been two genuine coincidences? The universe was full of them. Every molecular collision was a coincidence. You could pile a thousand coincidences on top of another, he averred, and not get Tom Digby one step nearer to believing in the supernatural. Oh, he knew intelligent people enough, all right, who coddled such beliefs. Some of his best friends liked to relate “yarns” and toy with eerie possibilities for the sake of a thrill. But the only emotion Tom ever got out of such stuff was a nauseating disgust. It cut too deep for joking. It was a reversion to that primitive, fear-bound ignorance from which science had slowly lifted man, inch by inch, against the most bitter opposition.
 * “The Hill and the Hole” (p. 165); originally published in Unknown Worlds, August 1942

 * He had the illusion, he said, of getting perilously close to the innermost secrets of the universe and finding they were rotten and evil and sardonic.
 * “The Dreams of Albert Moreland” (p. 182); originally published in The Acolyte, #10, Spring 1945

 * I’ll have to learn to snowshoe. I had my first lesson this morning and cut a ludicrous figure. I’ll be virtually a prisoner until I learn my way around. But any price is worth paying to get away from the thought-destroying din and soul-killing routine of the city!
 * “Diary in the Snow” (p. 203); originally published in the first edition of Night's Black Agents (1947)

 * There are vampires and vampires, and not all of them suck blood.
 * “The Girl with the Hungry Eyes” (p. 228); originally published in The Girl with the Hungry Eyes and Other Stories, Avon Publishing, 1949

 * That’s what everybody’s been looking for since the Year One—something a little more than sex.
 * “The Girl with the Hungry Eyes” (p. 230)

 * There are vampires and vampires, and the ones that suck blood aren’t the worst.
 * “The Girl with the Hungry Eyes” (p. 240)

 * I realized that wherever she came from, whatever shaped her, she’s the quintessence of the horror behind the bright billboard. She’s the smile that tricks you into throwing away your money and your life. She’s the eyes that lead you on and on, and then show you death. She’s the creature you give everything for and never really get. She’s the being that takes everything you’ve got and gives nothing in return. When you yearn towards her face on the billboards, remember that. She’s the lure. She’s the bait. She’s the Girl.
 * “The Girl with the Hungry Eyes” (p. 241)

 * I’ve never found anything in occult literature that seemed to have a bearing. You know, the occult—very much like stories of supernatural horror—is a sort of game. Most religions, too. Believe in the game and accept its rules—or the premises of the story—and you can have the thrills or whatever it is you’re after. Accept the spirit world and you can see ghosts and talk to the dear departed. Accept Heaven and you can have the hope of eternal life and the reassurance of an all-powerful god working on your side. Accept Hell and you can have devils and demons, if that’s what you want. Accept—if only for story purposes—witchcraft, druidism, shamanism, magic or some modern variant and you can have werewolves, vampires, elementals. Or believe in the influence and power of a grave, an ancient house or monument, a dead religion, or an old stone with an inscription on it—and you can have inner things of the same general sort. But I’m thinking of the kind of horror—and wonder too, perhaps—that lies beyond any game, that’s bigger than any game, that’s fettered by no rules, conforms to no man-made theology, bows to no charms or protective rituals, that strides the world unseen and strikes without warning where it will, much the same as (though it’s of a different order of existence than all of these) lightning or the plague or the enemy atom bomb. The sort of horror that the whole fabric of civilization was designed to protect us from and make us forget. The horror about which all man’s learning tells us nothing.
 * “A Bit of the Dark World” (pp. 261-262); originally published in Fantastic, February 1962

 * I thought of how people are like planets—lonely little forts of mind with immense black distance barring them off from each other.
 * “A Bit of the Dark World” (p. 263)

Poor Superman (1951)

 * Published in Galaxy, July 1951, with the original title Appointment in Tomorrow

 * Everyone knows Newton as the great scientist. Few remember that he spent half his life muddling with alchemy, looking for the philosopher's stone. That was the pebble by the seashore he really wanted to find.

Try and Change the Past (1958)

 * Published in Astounding (March 1958)

 * He had the dim realization that the universe, like a huge sleepy animal, knew what he was trying to do and was trying to thwart him. This feeling of opposition made him determined to outmaneuver the universe—not the first guy to yield to such a temptation, of course.

A Pail of Air (1964)

 * All page numbers from the mass market first edition published by Ballantine (#U2216)

 * “Life’s always been a business of working hard and fighting the cold,” Pa was saying. “The earth’s always been a lonely place, millions of miles from the next planet. And no matter how long the human race might have lived, the end would have come some night. Those things don’t matter. What matters is that life is good. It has a lovely texture, like some thick fur or the petals of flowers—you’ve never seen those, but you know our ice-flowers—or like the texture of flames, never twice the same. It makes everything else worth while. And that’s as true for the last man as for the first.”
 * “A Pail of Air” (p. 20); originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction, December 1951

 * To understand why George fell for this story, one must remember his stifled romanticism, his sense of personal failure, his deep need to believe. The thing came to him like, or rather instead of, a religious conversion.
 * “Time Fighter” (p. 67); originally published in Fantastic Universe, March 1957

 * “You are not the first to be shocked and horrified by chess,” he assured her. “It is a curse of the intellect. It is a game for lunatics—or else it creates them.”
 * “The 64-Square Madhouse” (p. 74); originally published in If, May 1962

 * Work and pray, Live on hay. You’ll get pie In the sky When you die— It’s a lie!
 * “Bread Overhead” (p. 121); originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction, February 1958; alluding to the song The Preacher and the Slave.

Crazy Joanna (1968)

 * Published in Galaxy, February 1968

 * Two things will last to the end of time, at least for the tribes of Western Man, no matter how far his spaceships rove. They are sorcery and romantic love, which come to much the same thing in the end.

Catch that Zeppelin! (1975)

 * This short story won both the 1976 Hugo Award and the 1975 Nebula Award
 * Published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March 1975

 * Beside me, traffic growled and snarled, rising at times to a machine-gun rata-tat-tat, while pedestrians were scuttling about with that desperate ratlike urgency characteristic of all big American cities, but which reaches its ultimate in New York.

 * There is an inescapable imperative about certain industrial developments. If there is not a safe road of advance, then a dangerous one will invariably be taken.

A Rite of Spring (1977)

 * Published in Universe 7, edited by Terry Carr

 * The Seven Subjects of Sensational Journalism: crime, scandal, speculative science, insanity, superstitions such as numerology, monsters, and millionaires.
 * p. 26

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series (1939-1988)

 * The books are listed in their series order, not chronologically by date of publication

Swords and Deviltry (1970)

 * Page numbers from the mass market paperback first edition published by Ace (Catalogue number 79170)
 * See Fritz Leiber's Internet Science Fiction Database page for original publication details

 * Then he was running not so much away from the cold and its crippling, supernatural horrors, as toward civilization, which was once again a bright emblem in his brain, an answer to all small-mindedness.
 * The Snow Women (p. 67)

 * Sooner give a cobra a kiss, than a secret to a woman.
 * The Snow Women (p. 71)

 * Barbarism can match civilization’s every stench. Not one move in our frostbit lives but is strictured by a mad god’s laws, which we call customs, and by black-handed irrationalities from which there is no escape.
 * The Snow Women (p. 73)

 * Afterward loses too many battles to Too Late.
 * The Snow Women (p. 77)

 * I know, I know, the folk here are narrow-visioned, custom-bound. But matched with the twisted minds of civilization, they’re straight as pines.
 * The Snow Women (p. 89)

 * Women are horrible. I mean, quite as horrible as men. Oh, is there anyone in the wide world that has aught but ice water in his or her veins?
 * The Snow Women (p. 115)

 * Aye, we played at being mice, forgetting cats are real.
 * The Unholy Grail (p. 138)

 * And I, well, in the month I’ve been here I’ve learned that the only way to survive in civilization is to abide by its unwritten rules—far more important than its laws chiseled in stone—and break them only at peril, in deepest secrecy, and taking all precautions.
 * Ill Met in Lankhmar (p. 194)

 * For what is life but greed in action?
 * Ill Met in Lankhmar (p. 230)

 * Fafhrd retorted, a little hotly, “Killing in fight isn’t murder.” Again the Mouser shrugged. “Killing is murder, no matter what nice names you give. Just as eating is devouring, and drinking guzzling.”
 * Ill Met in Lankhmar (p. 242)

Swords Against Death (1970)

 * Page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Ace ISBN 0-441-79190-5, 12th printing, August 1984
 * See Fritz Leiber's Internet Science Fiction Database page for original publication details

 * Revenge is empty. It cannot bring back the dead.
 * The Circle Curse (p. 12)

 * We have searched the wide world over and not found forgetfulness.
 * The Circle Curse (p. 15)

 * “Oaths are made to be kept only until their purpose be fulfilled,” the fluty voice responded. “Every geas is lifted at last, every self-set rule repealed. Otherwise orderliness in life becomes a limitation to growth; discipline, chains; integrity, bondage and evil-doing.”
 * The Circle Curse (p. 17)

 * Thieves and astrologers moved restlessly in their sleep, sensing that the hours of night and work were drawing near.
 * The Jewels in the Forest (p. 21)

 * Let fools seek it. They shall win it not. For although my treasure house be empty as air, no deadly creature in rocky lair, no sentinel outside anywhere, no pitfall, poison, trap, or snare, above and below the whole place bare, of demon or devil not a hair, no serpent lethal-fanged yet fair, no skull with mortal eye a-glare, yet have I left a guardian there. Let the wise read this riddle and forbear.
 * The Jewels in the Forest (pp. 24-25)

 * Unlike men, rubies and emeralds do not rest quietly in their graves.
 * The Jewels in the Forest (p. 27)

 * “What’s the use of knowing the name of a skull? One would never have occasion to talk of it,” said the fat thief loudly. “What interests me is that it has rubies for eyes.”
 * Thieves’ House (p. 63)

 * Too much good luck was always dangerous.
 * The Sunken Land (p. 130)

 * They, like many priests, had been much too fanatical and not nearly as clever as the god they served.
 * The Seven Black Priests (pp. 175-176)

 * Girls had a way of blotting out all lesser, but not thereby despicable, delights. Girls were for dessert.
 * Bazaar of the Bizarre (p. 231)
 * First published in Fantastic Stories of Imagination (1963), this novelette has been reprinted in several anthologies, including The Spell of Seven (ed. L. Sprague de Camp, Pyramid Books, 1965), Bazaar of the Bizarre (Donald M. Grant, Publisher, 1978), and Ill Met in Lankhmar (White Wolf Publishing, 1995), ISBN 1-56504-926-8.

 * The Devourers want not only the patronage of all beings in all universes, but—doubtless because they are afraid someone will some day raise the ever-unpleasant question of the true worth of things—they want all their customers reduced to a state of slavish and submissive suggestibility, so that they are fit for nothing whatever but to gawk at and buy the trash the Devourers offer for sale.
 * Bazaar of the Bizarre (pp. 233-234)

 * The Devourers want to brood about their great service to the many universes—it is their claim that servile customers make the most obedient subjects for the gods.
 * Bazaar of the Bizarre (p. 234)

Swords in the Mist (1968)

 * Page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Ace (catalogue number 79181)
 * See Fritz Leiber's Internet Science Fiction Database page for original publication details

 * “So tell me, giant philosopher, why we’re not dukes,” the Gray Mouser demanded, unrolling a forefinger from the fist on his knee so that it pointed across the brazier at Fafhrd. “Or emperors, for that matter, or demigods.” “We are not dukes because we’re no man’s man,” Fafhrd replied smugly, setting his shoulders against the stone horse-trough. “Even the duke must butter up a king, and demigods the gods. We butter no one. We so our own way, choosing our own adventures—and our own follies! Better freedom and a chilly road than a warm hearth and servitude.” “There speaks the hound turned out by his last master and not yet found new boots to slaver on,” the Mouser retorted with comradely sardonic impudence.
 * The Cloud of Hate (p. 13)

 * Aye, there’s the bitter core of all freedom: no pay!
 * The Cloud of Hate (p. 16)

 * Bored and insecure men will loose arrows at dust motes.
 * Lean Times in Lankhmar (p. 24)

 * Pulg, alongside his pink streak of sentimentality, had recently taken to sporting a gray one of superstition.
 * Lean Times in Lankhmar (p. 35)

 * There would have been no insurmountable problem at all, of course, if Bwadres had only had that touch of realism about money matters that, when a true crisis arises, is almost invariably shown by even the fattest, greediest priest or the skinniest, most unworldly holy man.
 * Lean Times in Lankhmar (p. 35)

 * I can see now that if I’d stayed I’d have gone the way of Pulg and all such Great Men—fat, power-racked, lieutenant-plagued, smothered with false-hearted dancing girls, and finally falling into the arms of religion. At least I’m saved that last chronic ailment, which is worse than the dropsy.
 * Lean Times in Lankhmar (pp. 64-65)

 * Know it or not, man treads between abysses a tightrope that has neither beginning nor end.
 * When the Sea-King’s Away (p. 84)

 * It was the laughter of the Elder Gods observing their creature man and noting their omissions, miscalculations and mistakes.
 * Adept’s Gambit, Section 1 Tyre (p. 106)

 * That is as far from the truth as I am from the Secret of the Sphinx.
 * Adept’s Gambit, Section 2 Ningauble (p. 115)

 * It was more a patriotic than religious matter with Fafhrd. He believed in Odin only during moments of sentimental weakness.
 * Adept’s Gambit, Section 2 Ningauble (p. 115)

 * They are in their fashion fearless, irreligiously considering themselves the coequals of destiny and having only contempt for the Demigoddess of Chance, the Imp of Luck, and the Demon of Improbability.
 * Adept’s Gambit, Section 2 Ningauble (p. 119)

 * Eventually the tale came to an end, suddenly and seemingly in the middle, like a piece of foreign music.
 * Adept’s Gambit, Section 2 Ningauble (p. 123)

 * He who lies artistically, treads closer to the truth than ever he knows.
 * Adept’s Gambit, Section 2 Ningauble (p. 123)

 * Knowledge takes precedence over death.
 * Adept’s Gambit, Section 9 The Castle Called Mist (p. 187)

Swords Against Wizardry (1968)

 * Page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Ace (Catalogue number 79161)
 * See Fritz Leiber's Internet Science Fiction Database page for original publication details

 * The worst thing about mountain climbing is that the easy parts go so quickly.
 * Stardock (p. 41)

 * Let never the gems of business be mixed with the jewels of pleasure.
 * The Two Best Thieves in Lankhmar (p. 88)

 * He knew that sooner or later, in spite of all protecting charms and precautions, Death would creep silently on him or spring suddenly from some unguarded moment. This very night his horoscope might signal Death’s instant escapeless approach; and though men lived by lies, treating truth’s very self as lie to be exploited, the stars remained the stars.
 * The Lords of Quarmall (p. 116)

The Swords of Lankhmar (1968)

 * Page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Ace (Catalogue number 79221)

 * With a happy roaring shout only he could hear, blood rushed through the Mouser’s arteries toward his center, reviving his limp manhood in a mere moment, as a magically summoned genie offhandedly builds a tower.
 * Chapter 8 (p. 97)

 * This was ecstacy indeed, he assured himself. It seemed to him that he was now in the Ninth and topmost Heaven, where a few select heroes luxuriate and dream and submit themselves to almost unendurable pleasures, at whiles glancing down with lazy amusement at all the gods toiling at their sparrow-watching and incense-sniffing and destiny-directing on the many tiers below.
 * Chapter 8 (p. 99)

 * When one achieves revenge, the innocent perforce suffer.
 * Chapter 8 (p. 106)

 * The more brilliant the enchanted male, the stupider the enchanting female.
 * Chapter 12 (p. 165)

Swords and Ice Magic (1977)

 * Page numbers from the mass market paperback first edition published by Ace ISBN 0-441-79166-2, first printing (July 1977)
 * See Fritz Leiber's Internet Science Fiction Database page for original publication details

 * Now it may be that in the world of Newhon there are gods of whom even Death does not know and who from time to time take pleasure in putting obstacles in his path. Or it may be that Chance is quite as great a power as Necessity.
 * The Sadness of the Executioner (p. 9)

 * For the gods have very sharp ears for boasts, or for declarations of happiness and self-satisfaction, or for assertions of a firm intention to do this or that, or for statements that this or that must surely happen, or any other words hinting that a man is in the slightest control of his own destiny. And the gods are jealous, easily angered, perverse, and swift to thwart.
 * Under the Thumbs of the Gods (p. 35)

 * “There are some things man was not meant to know,” the Mouser said in a most portentous voice. Then, swiftly switching to the familiar, “or rather, since I am in no way superstitious, there are some things that have not yet yielded to our philosophy.”
 * Trapped in the Sea of Stars (p. 62)

 * And just think what rare delights—nay, what whole sets of ecstasies and blisses—this much gold would buy. How fortunate that metal was mindless slave of the man who held it!
 * The Frost Monstreme (p. 85)

 * Inconsiderate creatures, gods were.
 * Rime Isle (p. 191)

 * That was another trouble with women, they were never there when you wanted or really needed them. They helped each other, all right, but they expected men to do all sorts of impossible feats of derring-do to prove themselves worthy of the great gift of their love (and what was that when you got down to it?—a fleeting clench-and-wriggle in the dark, illuminated only by the mute, incomprehensible perfection of a dainty breast, that left you bewildered and sad).
 * Rime Isle (p. 196)

 * But oh, this lifelong servitude to girls—whimsical, innocent, calculating, icicle-eyed and hearted, fleeting, tripping little demons! White, slim-necked, sharp-toothed, restlessly bobbing weasels with the soulful eyes of lemurs!
 * Rime Isle (p. 198)

The Knight and Knave of Swords (1988)

 * Page numbers from the mass market paperback first edition published by Ace ISBN 0-441-45125-X, first printing (February 1990)
 * See Fritz Leiber's Internet Science Fiction Database page for original publication details

 * Lord, what romantical fools men were, to overpass the known and good in order to strain and stretch after the mysterious merely unknown. Were dreams simply better than reality? Had fancy always more style?
 * Sea Magic (p. 12)

 * Food for the hungry Isle. There was your real thinking man’s treasure, he told himself, beside which gold and twinkling jewels were merest trinkets, or the pointy breasts of young love or words of poets or the pointed stars themselves that astrologers cherished and that made men drunk with distance and expanse.
 * The Mer She (p. 26)

 * Women have power over men almost as great as gods do.
 * The Curse of the Smalls and the Stars (p. 62)

 * And the mighty are great worriers and spend much time preventing anything that troubles their peace of mind.
 * The Curse of the Smalls and the Stars (p. 67)

 * “Legends travel on rainbow wings and sport gaudy colors,” the harbormaster answered him, “while truth plods on in sober garb.”
 * The Curse of the Smalls and the Stars (p. 84)

 * Old legends said Death had a skinny sister denominated Pain, passionately devoted to the loathsome torture that often was Death’s prelude.
 * The Mouser Goes Below (p. 166)

 * Great conquerors live on as their enemies’ devils.
 * The Mouser Goes Below (p. 176)

 * Yes, indeed, he assured himself rapidly, things did seem to be working around to a grand payoff in the great game of trading heroic feats for intimate maidenly favors that all heroes lived or at least hoped by, no matter how disordered and irregular the bookkeeping.
 * The Mouser Goes Below (p. 246)

Gather, Darkness! (1950)

 * First serialized in Astounding Science Fiction in 1943; published as a novel in 1950. All page numbers from the 1975 mass market paperback edition published by Ballantine Books (Catalogue number 24585)

 * “You have been told that the Great God rules the universe—earth and sky. I tell you the Great God is fake!”
 * Chapter 1 (p. 8)

 * But now the priests think only one thing. How to hold on to their power as long as mankind lasts—until the sun darkens and the earth freezes!
 * Chapter 1 (p. 15)

 * No matter how hard and wearisome an age this might be, it was certainly a very exciting one with regard to manifestations of the supernatural.
 * Chapter 5 (p. 54)

 * “Armon Jarles, there is only the cosmos and the electronic entities that constitute it, without soul or purpose, save so far as neuronic minds impose purpose upon it. “Armon Jarles, the Hierarchy embodies the highest form of such purpose. “Armon Jarles, the supernatural and the idealized have one trait in common. They are not. There is only reality.”
 * Chapter 10 (p. 105)

 * What is idealism? It is distortion. A giving of false values to things which in reality do not possess those values. Personalities differ chiefly in their pattern of values. When the values are largely false, the personality is unstable.
 * Chapter 10 (p. 106)

 * He knew that ahead lay many perils—threats to his bodily welfare. And recently Jarles had come to have a great respect for that bag of flesh and bones which contained his ego.
 * Chapter 12 (p. 117)

 * The idea of brutality actually shocks him, thought Goniface amusedly. I wonder what name he has for the toil we exact of the commoners, and the penances we impose on them?
 * Chapter 13 (p. 126)

 * I suppose that every blundering idealist who hasn’t been brought face to face with the hard facts of life carries, at the back of his mind, a sneaking suspicion that villainy is a very dashing and romantic thing. When your mind turned turtle, or when they turned it for you, your new personality was necessarily fabricated out of all your fragmentary romantic notions of villainy—unlimited ambition and conceit, absolute lack of emotion, and all the rest of the supervillain ideology!
 * Chapter 14 (p. 144)

 * “Dreams mean nothing,” he said coldly. “They are unreal.” “They’re as real as anything else,” she shot back at him. “And they merely mean conscience.”
 * Chapter 14 (p. 145)

 * “Conscience is only social pressure,” he told her, tense without quite knowing why, “the impulse to submerge your ego in that of the herd, and do what other people want you to because you’re afraid of their censure. Realistic self-interest frees a person from the childish restrictions of conscience.” “Are you sure of that, Jarles? What about your dreams? Conscience may be partly what you say it is, but it’s more than that. It’s hearkening to the wisest thoughts that have occurred to the minds of the human race.”
 * Chapter 14 (pp. 145-146)

 * After all, to the truly skeptical mind, diabolic forces are just as reasonable building blocks for the cosmos as mindless electrons. No possibility, however seemingly fantastic, should revolt the truly skeptical mind. It all depends on the evidence. The evidence decides everything.
 * Chapter 19 (p. 195)

 * Goniface was thinking how like his own was the destiny of the whole Hierarchy and of every priest in it. Whether they murdered their families—and their own youth—actually or only in spirit, it amounted to the same thing. They betrayed and deserted them, left them for dead, to enjoy the power and pleasures of a sterile tyrant class.
 * Chapter 19 (p. 207)

Conjure Wife (1953)

 * First published in Unknown Worlds in 1943; published as a novel in 1953. All page numbers from the 2009 trade paperback edition published by Orb

 * What is superstition, but misguided, unobjective science? And when it comes down to that, is it to be wondered if people grasp at superstition in this rotten, hate-filled, half-doomed world of today? Lord knows, I'd welcome the blackest of black magic, if it could do anything to stave off the atom bomb.
 * Chapter 2 (p. 26).

 * A scientist ought to have a healthy disregard for coincidences.
 * Chapter 3 (p. 39).

 * Thoughts are dangerous, he told himself, and thoughts against all science, all sanity, all civilized intelligence, are the most dangerous of all.
 * Chapter 10 (p. 106).

 * What was life worth, anyway, if you had to sit around remembering not to mention this, that, and the other thing because someone else might be upset?
 * Chapter 11 (p. 116).

 * Things are different from what I thought. They’re much worse.
 * Chapter 20 (p. 209).

The Green Millennium (1953)

 * All page numbers from the May 1976 mass market paperback edition published by Ace (catalog number 30301)

 * He opened his eyes and looked down at his pale chest With the two lone hairs that were a sardonic last farewell from glorious jungle ape-hood.
 * Chapter 1 (p. 2)

 * Hey, am I dreaming?...Or have I really blasted off from behind the hair line? The second question, though not spoken, was quickly suppressed. He felt too good to let it worry him. If this was insanity, then three cheers for paranoia!
 * Chapter 1 (p. 2; ellipsis represents a minor elision of description)

 * The only thing robots couldn’t do, it seemed, was sit in foxholes. That was one place where Phil recalled no mechanical competition.
 * Chapter 1 (p. 5)

 * For a full century now Americans have been living in one of those ages of collective madness and herd delusion, comparable only to the Dutch tulip mania, the witchcraft dread, the dancing madness, Trotskyism, and the Crusades. Until 1950 ours might have been called the Automobile Mania, but now the imagination can only grope for a name—I’m writing an unpopular book on the subject, you see. Not that this current social madness is a deep secret or anything to be startled at. What other results could have been expected when American society began to overvalue on the one hand security, censorship, an imagined world-saving idealism and self-sacrifice in war, and on the other hand insatiable hunger for possessions, fiercely competitive aggressiveness, sadistic male belligerence, contempt for parents and the state, and a fantastically overstimulated sexuality?
 * Chapter 4 (p. 32)

 * They sat in small parties with a truculent quietness that sneered at and challenged the frantic hustle of the times and the belief that the hustle was leading anywhere.
 * Chapter 9 (p. 90)

The Big Time (1958)

 * What have I always told you about Soldiers? The bigger the gripe, the smaller the cause! It is infallible!

 * I know only too well from a personal experience that is number one on my list of things to be forgotten.

 * It’s this mucking inefficiency and death of the cosmos — and don’t tell me that isn’t in the cards! — masquerading as benign omniscient authority.

 * Nations are as equal as so many madmen or drunkards.

 * In the wake of a Big Change, cultures and individuals are transposed, it’s true, yet in the main they continue much as they were, except for the usual scattering of unfortunate but statistically meaningless accidents.

 * Sometimes I wonder if our memories are as good as we think they are and if the whole past wasn’t once entirely different from anything we remember, and we’ve forgotten that we forgot.

 * Poets are wiser than anyone because they’re the only people who have the guts to think and feel at the same time.

 * Of course, if you assume a big enough conspiracy, you can explain anything, including the cosmos itself.

 * Now is a bearable burden. What buckles the back is the added weight of the past’s mistakes and the future’s fears.

 * For that matter, where did I get off being critical of anyone?

The Silver Eggheads (1962)

 * All page numbers from the Del Rey mass market paperback edition, ISBN 0-345-27966-2, 3rd printing, February 1979

 * Humans aren’t as you idealized them, Blanda. Humans are dream-killers. They took the bubbles out of soapsuds, Blanda, and called it detergent. They took the moonlight out of romance and called it sex.
 * Chapter 5 (p. 28)

 * "Excuse me, Gaspard,” Flaxman interjected, “but would you mind turning the emotional down and the factual up?”
 * Chapter 8 (p. 39)

 * Their feeble attempts to appear concerned only made them look to him more like two fat cats full of stolen cream and with a map of the secret tunnel leading to the meat locker tucked inside their fur vests.
 * Chapter 8 (p. 39)

 * “How like humans,” he said drily. “The universe is vast, majestic, intricate, patterned with inexhaustible beauty, vivid with infinitely varied life—and there’s only one thing in it that really interests you. The same thing that makes you buy books, build families, create atomic theories (I imagine) or, once upon a time, write poetry. Sex.”
 * Chapter 26 (p. 116)

 * To Space-Age man, every mystery is a greed-magnet.
 * Chapter 30 (p. 135)

The Wanderer (1964)

 * All page numbers from the 2000 paperback edition published by Victor Gollancz

 * I abominate any organization that denies cats are people!
 * Chapter 3.

 * It was always worth everything to get away by himself, climb a bit, and study the heavens.
 * Chapter 3 (p. 26).

 * There was always something new to be seen in the unchanging night sky.
 * Chapter 5 (p. 33).

 * They’ve heard about space but they still don’t believe in it. They haven’t been out here to see for themselves that there isn’t any giant elephant under the earth, holding it up, and a giant tortoise holding up the elephant. If I say “planet” and “spaceship” to them, they still think “horoscope” and “flying saucer”.
 * Chapter 6 (p. 37).

 * Devils may be nothing but beings intent on their purpose, which now happens to collide with yours.
 * Chapter 16 (p. 113).

 * Not for the first time Richard reflected that this age’s vaunted ‘communications industry’ had chiefly provided people and nations with the means of frightening to death and simultaneously boring to extinction themselves and each other.
 * Chapter 21 (p. 158).

 * There was an omnipresent sense of crisis.
 * Chapter 33 (p. 259).

 * The greater the variety of intelligent life Don saw, the more he became sensitive to its presence.
 * Chapter 33 (p. 259).

 * Paul stared out at the randomly scattered, lonely stars and wondered why he had always so easily accepted that they represented order.
 * Chapter 34 (p. 270).

 * Then time seemed to stop, or rather to lose its directional urgency of movement; it became a place in the open where one stood rather than a low, narrow corridor down which one was hurried.
 * Chapter 40 (p. 312).

 * The gods spend the wealth the universe gathers, they scan the wonders and fling them to nothingness. That’s why they’re the gods! I told you they were devils.
 * Chapter 42 (pp. 336-337).

 * What do you care? You always liked loneliness better than you liked people. No offence — liking yourself’s the beginning of all love.
 * Chapter 42 (p. 340).

Our Lady of Darkness (1977)

 * All page numbers are from the mass market paperback edition published by Berkley Medallion ISBN 0-425-03660-X

 * Science has only increased the area of the unknown. And if there is a God, her name is Mystery.
 * Chapter 8 (p. 43)

 * You know, all insanity is a form of artistic expression, I often think. Only the person has nothing but himself to work with—he can’t get at outside materials to manipulate them—so he puts all his art into his behavior.
 * Chapter 10 (p. 56)

 * It was funny, though, how the human mind would cast doubt even on itself in order to explain away unusual and unconventional things it had seen vividly and unmistakably. It left you in the middle, the human mind did.
 * Chapter 15 (p. 83)

 * I am up to date only sporadically. I live firmly in the world of art, where reality and fantasy are one.
 * Chapter 16 (p. 89)

 * Now as for thinking your account a tale or story, my dear Franz, to be a good story is to me the highest the highest test of the truth of anything. I make no distinction whatever between reality and fantasy, or the objective and the subjective. All life and all awareness are ultimately one, including intensest pain and death itself. Not all the play need please us, and ends are never comforting. Some things fit together harmoniously and beautifully and startlingly with thrilling discords—those are true—and some do not, and those are merely bad art.
 * Chapter 17 (p. 95)

 * I think all modern cities, especially the crass, newly built, highly industrial ones, should have ghosts. They are a civilizing influence.
 * Chapter 18 (p. 98)

 * What was the whole literature of supernatural horror but an essay to make death itself exciting?—wonder and strangeness to life’s very end.
 * Chapter 27 (p. 166)

 * “You’ve got to believe there’s some sort of sense in everything that crazies say.” “Crazies?” “All of us.”
 * Chapter 30 (p. 181)

title: Fritz Leiber


text:
Zsa Zsa Gabor

Zsa Zsa Gabor (born Sári Gábor, February 6, 1917 – December 18, 2016) was a Hungarian-American actress and socialite.

Quotes

 * Husbands are like fires - they go out when unattended.
 * Newsweek, March 28, 1960

 * A man in love is incomplete until he has married. Then he's finished.
 * Newsweek, March 28, 1960

 * I never hated a man enough to give him his diamonds back.
 * The Observer, "Sayings of the Week", August 28, 1957

 * I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his house.
 * How to Catch a Man, Keep a Man, and Get Rid of a Man (Doubleday, 1970)

title: Zsa Zsa Gabor


text:
User:GeorgGerber

see http://www.wikipedia.de/wiki/Benutzer:GeorgGerber

title: User:GeorgGerber


text:
Chanakya

Chanakya (also known as Kautilya or Vishnu Gupta (c. 370–283 BC) was an Indian teacher, philosopher, and royal adviser. He was initially a professor of economics and political science at the ancient Takshashila University in Takshashila (in present day Pakistan). He managed the first Maurya emperor Chandragupta's rise to power at a young age. He played an important role in the establishment of the Maurya Empire, which was the first empire in archaeologically recorded history to rule most of the Indian subcontinent. Chanakya served as the chief advisor to both Chandragupta and his son Bindusara (whose son was Emperor Ashoka.) Chanakya is credited with authoring two treatises said to be the first of its genre in the world – the Arthasastra (Economics), the ancient Indian political treatise; the Nitishastra, the Chanakya Niti, a treatise on the ideal way of life and his policies. His works predate Niccolò Machiavelli's by about 1,800 years. He is compared to Aristotle, the great Greek philosopher who taught Alexander as both had identical views on the republican forms of governance. His works which were lost towards the end of the Gupta dynasty could be discovered only in 1915.He successfully established maurya Empire

Book in Wikisource
 * Whoever imposes severe punishment becomes repulsive to the people; while he who awards mild punishment becomes contemptible. But whoever imposes punishment as deserved becomes respectable. For punishment when awarded with due consideration, makes the people devoted to righteousness and to works productive of wealth and enjoyment; while punishment, when ill-awarded under the influence of greed and anger or owing to ignorance, excites fury even among hermits and ascetics dwelling in forests, not to speak of householders.
 * Book I : "Concerning Discipline" Chapter 4 "Determination of the Place of Varta and of Dandaniti"
 * If a king is energetic, his subjects will be equally energetic. If he is reckless, they will not only be reckless likewise, but also eat into his works. Besides, a reckless king will easily fall into the hands of his enemies. Hence the king shall ever be wakeful.
 * Book I : "Concerning Discipline" Chapter 19 "The Duties of a King"

 * All urgent calls he shall hear at once, but never put off; for when postponed, they will prove too hard or impossible to accomplish.
 * Book I : "Concerning Discipline" Chapter 19

 * The king who is situated anywhere immediately on the circumference of the conqueror's territory is termed the enemy. The king who is likewise situated close to the enemy, but separated from the conqueror only by the enemy, is termed the friend (of the conqueror).
 * Book VI, "The Source of Sovereign States"

 * The area extending from the Himalayas in the north to the sea and a thousand yojanas wide from east to west is the area of operation of the King-Emperor.
 * Chakravarti-kshetra as described by Kautilya: Arthashastra 9:1:17 (tr. L.N. Rangarajan), quoted from Elst, Koenraad (2001). Decolonizing the Hindu mind: Ideological development of Hindu revivalism. New Delhi: Rupa. p.457

 * Ravana, unwilling under the influence of vanity to restore a stranger's wife, as well as Duryodhana to part with a portion of his kingdom.
 * Arthasastra of Kautilya, giving examples how people suffered from vanity and other vices. quoted in Lal, B. B. (2008). Rāma, his historicity, mandir, and setu: Evidence of literature, archaeology, and other sciences. New Delhi: Aryan Books International. p.14

 * Don't judge the future of a person based on his present conditions, because time has the power to change black coal to shiny diamond.
 * A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and honest people are screwed first.
 * Till the enemy's weakness is known, he should be kept on friendly terms.
 * Our bodies are perishable, wealth is not at all permanent and death is always nearby. Therefore we must immediately engage in acts of merit.
 * The serpent, the king, the tiger, the stinging wasp, the small child, the dog owned by other people, and the fool: these seven ought not to be awakened from sleep.
 * Skills are called hidden treasure as they save like a mother in a foreign country.
 * The world's biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman.
 * Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years. For the next five years, scold them. By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a friend. Your grown up children are your best friends.
 * Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth, comes of Her own accord where fools are not respected, grain is well stored up, and the husband and wife do not quarrel.
 * There is no disease so destructive as lust.
 * The wise man should restrain his senses like the crane and accomplish his purpose with due knowledge of his place, time and ability.
 * We should always speak what would please the man of whom we expect a favour, like the hunter who sings sweetly when he desires to shoot a deer.
 * It is better to live under a tree in a jungle inhabited by tigers and elephants, to maintain oneself in such a place with ripe fruits and spring water, to lie down on grass and to wear the ragged barks of trees than to live amongst one's relations when reduced to poverty.

Maxims of Chanakya

 * Maxims of Chanakya by V K Subramanian

 * सुखस्य मुलं धर्मः
 * Righteousness is the root of happiness.

 * न कृतार्थानां मारणाभयम्
 * The contented have no fear of death.

 * नास्ति खलस्य मित्रम्
 * The wicked have no friends.

About Kautilya's Arthashastra

 * [Arvind] Sharma speculates that a reason for India's downfall was the eclipse of the category of Chakravarti as mentionned in the Arthashastra. A Chakravarti's domain was from ocean to ocean; he was above all the other kings who were local. He feels that the Arthashastra at some point ceased to be taught for learning realpolitik. There appears to have been an attack on it by liberal passivism. It is ironic, he says, that during British rule the Arthashastra text had disappeared until a copy suddenly surfaced with a farmer in Kerala in the early twentieth century... Sharma recommends introducing the study of Arthashastra in all schools in all languages.
 * Rajiv Malhotra, (2019). Battle for Sanskrit: Is Sanskrit Political or Sacred? Oppressive or Liberating? Dead or Alive?. HarperCollins Publishers.

title: Chanakya