SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Euripides was a master of these:

"The men of old times had little sense;
...They invented songs, and all the sweetness of music,
To perform at feasts, banquets, and celebrations;
But no one thought of using
Songs and stringed instruments
To banish the bitterness and pain of life." (from Medea)

"O Zeus! Why have you given us clear signs to tell
True gold from counterfeit; but when we need to know
Bad men from good, the flesh bears no revealing mark?" (also from Medea)

"How strange, that bad soil, if the gods send rain and sun,
Bears a rich crop, while good soil, starved of what it needs,
Is barren; but man's nature is ingrained - the bad
Is never anything but bad, and the good man
Is good: misfortune cannot warp his character,
His goodness will endure." (from Hecabe)

And my personal favourite:

"... Misfortunes in the end
Grow tired of plaguing; storms in time blow themselves out.
So luck will change from man to man; and everything
Yields place to something else. Despair is cowardly;
The brave man holds fast to confidence and hope." (from Heracles)

“Hatching is not the end of what lies inside the egg, only the end of the shell around it. There’s no flight without the shatter, and no flock without the flight. What we’re made of will go on. A fledgling in some other place and time will look up for guidance and maybe see the path we leave behind, even when all of this as it is”—she flutters her free hand at the darkened desert —“dries and blows away. Change is comforting, in that way.”

From a devastatingly beautiful short story called No Flight Without the Shatter which I found here: https://www.tor.com/2018/08/15/no-fli...

'"Hope for the best and plan for the worst," she said. "Sometimes the best actually happens." - Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan

This is, of course, quite a common saying. Reading it last night it seemed quite appropriate and actually came with a source for this version.

Beth wrote: "“Hatching is not the end of what lies inside the egg, only the end of the shell around it. There’s no flight without the shatter, and no flock without the flight. What we’re made of will go on. A f..."

Thanks for the tip! I just read it. "devastatingly beautiful" is a very apt description. She really has a way with words.

Here's another, from Beartown:

"If you are honest, people may deceive you. Be honest anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfishness. Be kind anyway. All the good you do today will be forgotten by others tomorrow. Do good anyway."

That's really cool.

Imagination is the only weapon against reality.
- Lewis Caroll
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything.
- Albert Einstien

"If you are honest, people may deceive you. Be honest anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfishness. Be kind anyway. All the good you do today will be forgotten by others tomorrow. Do good anyway."

This reminds me of the poem "Do It Anyway" that Mother Teresa is reputed to have used. I do not know the original source.

I like that one.

Me too.

Me three

"A five letter curse; a two-syllable question which had no answer. Honor." From The Backlash Mission by Timothy Zahn

Is honor an outdated concept? I believe it is not. Friends and (especially) business acquaintences seem to fall into two groups. Those who can always be trusted and those that can't. And in my experience it comes down to whether or not that person is honorable.

It's actually a six letter curse.

You crazy Americans...

and the crazy brits who like to add extra letters to lots of words like aluminium instead of aluminum. Actually I think honour like theatre and centre comes from the French originally.

Don’t get me started! I’m American, so naturally I prefer American spellings including -ize, cozy and the like, as well as vocabulary usage. I live in the UK and since nobody is grading my spelling I refuse to adopt the British spellings.

However, since the was metal element was only discovered so recently (1825), aluminum and aluminium are a special case, which I find fascinating. It was first called alumium by the person who first coined the name and then change to aluminum and then a few years later (beginning of 19th century) to aluminium. It has gone back and forth similarly for 1.5 centuries. Both spellings are correct and accepted.

DivaDiane wrote: " It was first called alumium by the person who first coined the name and then change to aluminum and then a few years later (beginning of 19th century) to aluminium.."

How fascinating, I never knew that! This is going to be my new fun fact to bring out whenever people start discussing spelling differences!

The most important thing I took away from studying linguistics at university was that, as long as it doesn't stop you understanding, there is no such thing as "correct" language use. I use English spellings, but that doesn't mean I look at the word "color" and don't understand it. There are more differences just between dialects in England than between standard English and American English. Language is all one big beautiful mess and I love it!

This thread needs some love: Now You're Speakin' My Language (or Dialect) ^_^

“An explanation of some kind was necessary, just as some working explanation of the universe is necessary — however absurd — to the happiness of every individual who seeks to do his duty in the world and face the problems of life.”

Algernon Blackwood, in his story The Willows (1907) anthologized in British Weird: Selected Short Fiction 1893 - 1937.

Succinctly stated but something of a cliche, like the character in so many stories who insists “there has to be some logical explanation” in the face of the unexpected. There also seems to be a sort of period naivete to the thought as expressed, imho.

Those interested in Blackwood’s story can find it easily in the Delphi “Collected Works of Algernon Blackwood.” It is not complete, just what is out of copyright, but that is still a lot. A big change from when I was trying to find copies in the 1970s, before easy searching of library holdings, and on-line dealers — and publishers.

Ian wrote: "Those interested in Blackwood’s story can find it easily in the Delphi “Collected Works of Algernon Blackwood.” It is not complete, just what is out of copyright, but that is still a lot. A big cha..."

I love those Delphi Collections. I picked up a bunch when I was in France (their copyright dates were way earlier than the US end of copyright dates. For example, the James Joyce version included Finnegan's Wake in France, but not in the US

For me, the quote to literally live by was Dune's Litany Against Fear. I think many people are familiar with this quote, and there is no need to quote it in full here.
When I first read the first Dune book, I was a little girl, not even a teenager. I was only 9 years old and I was reading books that belonged to my father. So I started reading Dune because the main character was only 15 at the beginning of the book and I thought it was suitable reading for children and teens. :)
I was very shy at the time. I was afraid of the slightest pain and the thought of injections, let alone going to the dentist, terrified me. But the story of the Gom Jabbar test and the Litany Against Fear had a positive effect on me and I learnt to be more restrained even when I was afraid or in pain.
Later, when I was an adult, I would still sometimes remember that quote when I started to panic, no matter what the reason, and it really helped me.
But that's an old story. I recently read a fantasy book called Chimeras of Estmer. Of course, you can't compare it to Dune or LOTR, but it still seemed quite quotable. There are a few quotes I like.
“To be” and “to be like” are two different things, my dear.” This was said as the witch was explaining to the little girl the difference between magical transformation and illusion, but it made me think about people who try to appear better than they are on their social media.
“There is only one thing in this world that is irreversible, and that is death.”
“In my opinion, being human means helping people when you can, and not letting anyone do evil things in your presence.”
“People are just like apples. They need their time to ripen for change.” This has been said about certain changes in society, and it is very true.
“A good piece of cake is the best remedy for any illness, whether physical or mental.” It's a quote that may not be to the taste of health food fanatics, but it does have a funny ring to it.
“You're human when you act human.”
“You will be free when you stop being afraid.”
“The dead don’t pay taxes”.
There are other great lines, but not all of them make sense out of context

Ambereyes wrote: "For me, the quote to literally live by was Dune's Litany Against Fear. I think many people are familiar with this quote, and there is no need to quote it in full here.
When I first read the first ..."

Ambereyes, I read Dune first as a teenager, and the Litany Against Fear has also always stuck with me. I find myself saying it whenever I need to psych myself up to do something that I find scary or that makes me really anxious.

@ Ambereyes

“A good piece of cake is the best remedy for any illness, whether physical or mental.”

Now that is a quote to live by! 😆

Beth wrote: "@ Ambereyes

“A good piece of cake is the best remedy for any illness, whether physical or mental.”

Now that is a quote to live by! 😆"

As I mentioned in another thread, there is a lot of humour in this book. For example, one of the main characters in this book is a wizard who has been turned into a cat, and the other is a small puddle of sentient water who has a very low opinion of humanity.

Kaia wrote: "Ambereyes wrote: "For me, the quote to literally live by was Dune's Litany Against Fear. I think many people are familiar with this quote, and there is no need to quote it in full here.
When I fir..."

It's good to know that I'm not the only one weird enough to use a quote from a sci-fi book to keep from panicking in real life. :)

My favorite quote to live by is from Robin Williams, “ You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it.”

From Speaking Bones:

"'... conscience is the only scale that can tell truth apart from lies, separate gold from dross. But conscience belongs to you and you alone, and can be calibrated by no philosophy or religion, only experience.'"

"No one make you feel inferior without your consent." Eleanor Roosevelt
“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.” Marcus Aurelius
“Don’t think money does everything or you are going to end up doing everything for money.” Voltaire

Beth wrote: "@ Ambereyes

“A good piece of cake is the best remedy for any illness, whether physical or mental.”

Now that is a quote to live by! 😆"

I remember that book and that episode. I thought it was hilarious, and the hilarity came from the fact that this valuable advice was being given by a caring mother to her poor, lovesick daughter.
Also, I think ‘The dead don't pay taxes’ and other quotes from this book belong in the Quotes out of Context thread because they are very unexpected and funny. But it's hard to think of them as quotes to live by. Unless, of course, you are a pirate leader and want to conquer a country at the head of your fleet, or something like that.