In almost every book there's a line or two that will make you say, "Oh, that's perfect!" Maybe it's a line that strikes just the right chord or one that makes you think or look at something in a new way. Sometimes... it's just a smile. 

So what do I do?  I steal 'em!  Well, I borrow them anyway and share them with friends. Who knows... it might just get you to go out and find the book.  Steve K  3/1/2003

Editors note: Often books with a lot of memorable one-liners are just that... books with a lot of memorable one-liners but with no substantial plot, character development or any other compelling reason to be read. This is not the case with Gregory Benford or Tom Robbins works who are both featured in this issue and whose books I highly recommend..

It's a hard man who's only just, and a sad man who's only wise.

Fame is the accumulation of misunderstandings around a well-known name.

Alas, a hundred true believers cannot redeem millions of hypocrites.

Villains are undone by what is worst in them, heroes by what is best.

Violence is the diplomacy of the incompetent.

"We don't see things as they are," the learned lady said, "we see them as we are."

... the most savage controversies are about matters for which there is no good evidence either way.

Every interview begins as a seduction and ends as a betrayal.

An idea seems self-evident, once you've forgotten learning it.

... 'pessimist' is a term invented by optimists to describe realists.

Here's a rule: Whenever you find something you like, buy a lifetime supply, because they're sure to stop making it.

Ummm. Politics -- I always found it enticing. A game of elegant ideas, played by bullies.

Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.

the above quotes are all from Foundations Fear by Gregory Benford

A must read for anyone who has read any of the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. A first rate continuation of Asimov's Saga of the Foundation and Psychohistory.- editor

And though that vow was made in my salad days, when I was green and fresh, I do not retract a word of it. Elizabeth II, Queen of England 1977

If you believe you are working for posterity... you're working for an ungrateful client. Paul Schrader, Film Director

God might moan like that, If He had lost everything He had ever loved, and if He had a throat like an organ pipe a thousand kilometers long.

The third day was not as bad as the second, in the same way the Chicago Fire was not as bad as the San Francisco Earthquake.

John Varley - Titan

Inessential insanities are a brittle amalgamation of ambition, aggression, and pre-adolescent anxiety - garbage that should have been dumped long ago. Essential insanities are those impulses one instinctively senses are virtuous and correct, even though peers may regard them as coo coo.
Inessential insanities get one in trouble with oneself. Essential insanities get one in trouble with others. It's always preferable to be in trouble with others. In fact, it may be essential.

Galileo was right to drop objects rather than ideas off of his tower...

The problem starts... not with the originator or developer of the idea but with the people who are attracted by it, ... and who invariably lack the overview, flexibility, imagination, and, most importantly, sense of humor, to maintain it in the spirit in which it was hatched. Ideas are made by masters, dogma by disciples...

Tunnel vision is a disease in which perception is restricted by ignorance and distorted by vested interest...

We waste time looking for the perfect lover instead of creating the perfect love.

When we're incomplete, we're always searching for somebody to complete us. When, after a few years or a few months of a relationship, we find that we're still unfulfilled, we blame our partners and take up with somebody more promising. This can go on and on... until we admit that while a partner can add sweet dimensions to our lives, we, each of us, are responsible for our own fulfillment.

all the above quotes are from Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins

Recently revisited most of Tom Robbins books and they are all still highly recommended. "Still Life with Woodpecker", written in 1980, is as fresh (and refreshing) today as it was when first published. - editor

"Forward: Thinking" - personal thoughts on "FWD: FWD: FWD'ed" e-mail

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