American Quotes

We're not lost. We're locationally challenged.

There are readers who want every point to be clearly and unambiguously set forth, and there are those who want to pry ideas and meanings out for themselves.

There are people who believe in an absolutely transparent prose; with every respect for clarity of expression, I don't.

The people who don't like it tend to dislike it intensely. That's unfortunate, but not surprising when one deliberately goes against audience expectations.

The language fictional characters use is chosen for effect, at least if the author is concentrating.

The ideal, it seems to me, is to show things happening and allow the reader to decide what they mean.

The cynical part of the answer is that I expect to see a good deal more space opera, set far enough in the future as to be disconnected from contemporary issues.

Sometimes the reader will decide something else than the author's intent; this is certainly true of attempts to empirically decipher reality.

People tell me they laughed hard enough to wake their spouses, that they've given away numerous copies to friends, and that it's the one Trek book they'll give to people they wouldn't expect to like others.

Naturally, the reader has access only to the events I show and the way I show them, but as has been said, there's generally a good deal of ambiguity in that presentation.

If I were to write Web now, it would be a much, much darker book.

I'm very happy that the New York Times has spoken well of my stuff; who wouldn't be? But it's not a choice I made.

I don't think anyone wants a reader to be completely lost - certainly not to the point of giving up - but there's something to be said for a book that isn't instantly disposable, that rewards a second reading.

Creating the fictional background for a game world isn't significantly different from creating a background for fiction.

At one point I intended to write precursor and sequel novels, about the establishment of the Web and its next evolution, but I am very unlikely to now; they would take place in a different universe.

Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.

The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.

Business is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must do a certain amount of scratching around for what it gets.

If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person's point of view and see things from that person's angle as well as from your own.

Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas.

There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.

If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.

It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.

You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.

Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.

When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.

If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.

A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.

Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right.

My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.