Greg Bear

Nothing is lost. Nothing is forgotten.
It was in the blood, the flesh,
And now it is forever.

Gregory Dale Bear (born 20 August 1951) is a science fiction author.

Sourced

• There is nothing finer in the world than the telling of tales. Split atoms if you wish, but splitting an infinitive—and getting away with it—is far nobler. Lance boils if you wish, but pricking pretensions is often cleaner and always more fun.
  • "The White Horse Child", Universe 9 (1979), ed. Terry Carr

• You deserve whoever governs you ... Everyone is responsible for the actions of their leaders.
  • "The Wind from a Burning Woman", Analog, October 1978; reprinted in the anthology of the same name (1983)
  • Cf. Joseph de Maistre: "Every nation gets the government it deserves." (1811)

• Nothing is lost. Nothing is forgotten.
  It was in the blood, the flesh,
  And now it is forever.
  • Blood Music (1985), Closing lines

• The price of freedom—of individuality—is attention to politics, careful planning, careful organization; philosophy is no more a barrier against political disaster than it is against plague.
  • Heads (1990)

• The hardest theme in science fiction is that of the alien. The simplest solution of all is in fact quite profound—that the real difficulty lies not in understanding what is alien, but in understanding what is self. We are all aliens to each other, all different and divided. We are even aliens to ourselves at different stages of our lives. Do any of us remember precisely what it was like to be a baby?
  • "Introduction to 'Plague of Conscience'", The Collected Stories of Greg Bear (2002)

Eon (1985)

All page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Tor Books

• Sometimes I feel like a beetle crawling through a fusion power plant. I can feel a certain amount, see a certain amount, but I sure as hell don’t understand everything.
  • p. 73

• “That’s insane,” Lanier said.
  “Not very. It’s politics.”
  • p. 153

• Grief is not productive. It simply represents an inefficiency in accepting change of status.
  • p. 263

• Having one’s eyes opened doesn’t make one grateful.
  • p. 291

The Forge of God (1987)

All page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Tor Books

• “We’d like to agree with you.” He glanced at Arthur.
  “We can’t, however,” Arthur said.
  “For the moment, then, amicable disagreement and open minds.”
  • Chapter 24 (p. 159)

• Apocalypse could not be repealed by the democratic process.
  • Chapter 34 (p. 250)

• “It’s not impossible,” Minelli said.
  “No,” Edward admitted, “but it’s paranoid as hell, and that’s the last thing we need, more fear.”
  • Chapter 37 (p. 264)

• I sometimes think we deserve to die, we’re all so goddamned stupid.
  • Chapter 50 (p. 342)

• Life on earth is hard. Competition for the necessities of life is fierce. How ridiculous to believe that the law of harsh survival would not be true elsewhere, or that it would be negated by the progress of technology in an advanced civilization...
  • Chapter 52 (p. 352)

• Altruism is masked self-interest. Aggressive self-interest is a masked urge to self-destruction.
  • Chapter 52 (p. 352)

• A Stellar’s jay hopped along behind him, watching closely for dropped crumbs. “It’s dark,” he told the bird. “Go to sleep. I've eaten already. Where were you? No food now.” The bird persisted, however; it knew humans were liars.
  • Chapter 54 (p. 362)