John W. Campbell quotes
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“It was the law that if a white man was caught trying to educate a Negro slave, he was liable to prosecution entailing a fine of fifty dollars and a jail sentence. . . Our ignorance was the greatest hold the South had on us. We knew we could run away, but what then?”
-- John W. Campbell -
“Science is not a sacred cow-but there are a large number of would-be sacred cowherds busily devoting quantities of time, energy and effort to the task of making it one, so they can be sacred cowherds.”
-- John W. Campbell -
“Man studied birds for centuries, trying to learn how to make a machine to fly like them. He never did do the trick; his final success came when he broke away entirely and tried new methods.”
-- John W. CampbellSource : John W. Campbell Jr. (1955). “Who Goes There?: And Other Stories”
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“History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells, 'Can't you remember anything I told you?' and lets fly with a club.”
-- John W. CampbellSource : Analog Science Fiction and Fact Magazine, 1965.
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“We presuppose two things: that there is yet to be learned infinitely more than is now known, and that man can learn it.”
-- John W. Campbell -
“Immunity corrupts; absolute immunity corrupts absolutely.”
-- John W. CampbellSource : Analog Science Fiction and Fact Magazine, 1970.
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“Write me a creature that thinks as well as a man or better than a man, but not like a man.”
-- John W. Campbell -
“Never accept the initial premise of the opposition.”
-- John W. Campbell -
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“That's the trouble with languages. They have to be learned.”
-- John W. Campbell -
“No literature is sound, no philosophy of action workable, if it doesn't take a hard look at itself.”
-- John W. CampbellSource : John W. Campbell (2011). “Cloak of Aesir”, p.6, Hachette UK
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“Generally, a desirable, practically attainable idea, suggested in prophecy, has a chance of forcing itself into reality by its very existence.”
-- John W. Campbell -
“Pioneering basically amounts to finding new and more horrible ways to die”
-- John W. Campbell -
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“There's nothing quite so stultifying as having someone around who has all the answers-and gives them to you.”
-- John W. Campbell -
“Too darned good a machine can be a menace, not a help.”
-- John W. CampbellSource : John W. Campbell (2011). “Cloak of Aesir”, p.6, Hachette UK
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