Neal Stephenson citáty

„My se ve světě protloukáme, protože víme, že dvě plus dvě jsou čtyři, a držíme se toho tak usilovně, až je to kapku hloupý a občas se to může dotknout něčích citů. Je mi to líto.“
„Čích citů jako? Lidí, co si myslí, že dvě plus dvě je pět?“
„Lidí, pro který je důležitější společenský chování než to, aby každá věta vyslovená během rozhovoru byla doslovně pravdivá.“
„Jako, kupříkladu… žen?“
Randy asi míli skřípe zuby a pak řekne: „Pokud vůbec existuje nějaký zevšeobecnění toho, jak uvažujou muži versus ženy, tak podle mě je to v tom, že muži se dokážou soustředit jako laserovej paprsek na neuvěřitelně mrňavou maličkost a nemyslet na nic jinýho.“
„Kdežto ženy to nedokážou?“
„Předpokládám, že dokážou. Ale zřejmě málokdy chtějí.“

„Jedna z nejděsivějších věcí na skutečným inťoušovi pro většinu lidí není to, že se neumí chovat – protože to zažili všichni – ale spíš že se kvůli tomu vůbec necítí hloupě.“

„Hmyz v džungli vás považuje za velké kusy živého, avšak nepříliš dobře hájeného jídla. Schopnost pohybu není ani tak odstrašující prostředek, spíš slouží jako nezfalšovatelná záruka čerstvosti.“

“Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker's game because they almost always turn out to be—or to be indistinguishable from—self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time.”

“The difference between stupid and intelligent people – and this is true whether or not they are well-educated – is that intelligent people can handle subtlety.”

“She's a woman, you're a dude. You're notto understand her. That'swhat she's after…. She doesn't want you to understand. She knowsimpossible. She just wants you to understand. Everything else is negotiable.”

“Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs," I said. "We have a protractor.”

“When you are wrestling for possession of a sword, the man with the handle always wins.”

“To condense fact from the vapor of nuance.”

“Whenever serious and competent people need to get things done in the real world, all considerations of tradition and protocol fly out the window.”

“Nothing is more important than that you see and love the beauty that is right in front of you, or else you will have no defense against the ugliness that will hem you in and come at you in so many ways.”

“It was, of course, nothing more than sexism, the especially virulent type espoused by male techies who sincerely believe that they are too smart to be sexists.”

“I don't even want you to nod, that's how much you annoy me. Just freeze and shut up.”

“Boredom is a mask frustration wears.”

“Talent was not rare; the ability to survive having it was.”

“The full cosmos consists of the physical stuffconsciousness. Take away consciousness and it's only dust; add consciousness and you get things, ideas, and time.”

“That we occasionally violate our own stated moral code does not imply that we are insincere in espousing that code.”

“Most countries are static, all they need to do is keep having babies. But America's like this big old clanking smoking machine that just lumbers across the landscape scooping up and eating everything in sight.”

“This made him a grad student, and grad students existed not to learn things but to relieve the tenured faculty members of tiresome burdens such as educating people and doing research.”

“Well, all information looks like noise until you break the code.”

“This Snow Crash thing--is it a virus, a drug, or a religion?”

Juanita shrugs. “What's the difference?”

“The best way to know someone is to have a conversation with them.”

“It is what you don't expect… that most needs looking for.”

“That's funny because if anyone actually did prove the existence of God we'd just tell him 'nice proof, Fraa Bly' and start believing in God.”

“Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bomc,' I said. 'We have a protractor.'
Okay, I'll go home and see if I can scrounge up a ruler and a piece of string.”

“I beg your pardon?" Robson says.

One thing Waterhouse likes about these Brits is that when they don't know what the hell you're talking about, they are at least open to the possibility that it might be their fault.”

“And it happened all the time that the compromise between two perfectly rational alternatives was something that made no sense at all.”

“Gold is the corpse of value…”

“She looked at me like I was crazy. Most of my lovers do, and that's partly why they love me, and partly why they leave”

“All people have religions. It's like we have religion receptors built into our brain cells, or something, and we'll latch onto anything that'll fill that niche for us.”

“Which path do you intend to take, Nell?' said the Constable, sounding very interested. 'Conformity or rebellion?'
Neither one. Both ways are simple-minded - they are only for people who cannot cope with contradiction and ambiguity.”

“Men who believe that they are accomplishing something by speaking speak in a different way from men who believe that speaking is a waste of time.”