Anne McCaffrey Quotes & Sayings

I think the Internet, particularly the availability of information, is great. I do a lot of correspondence on-line and have a chat line to talk to my fans as well. — Anne McCaffrey

It's easier to flatter a man than fight him. — Anne McCaffrey

True portraits are never realistic — Anne McCaffrey

Some folk, too, believe what the loudest talker says. And some folk because it frightens them not to. — Anne McCaffrey

Old family motto: "The best revenge is revenge. — Anne McCaffrey

Fear has its uses but cowardice has none. — Anne McCaffrey

If he isn't clean now, I don't know what clean is! — Anne McCaffrey

I didn't mean to stay up all night to finish Windhaven, but I had to! — Anne McCaffrey

Man is wise to fear: it sharpens the sense of self-preservation. — Anne McCaffrey

But Ship Who Sang remains my favorite story. I really rocked folks with that and still cannot read it aloud myself without weeping at the end. — Anne McCaffrey

A good story is a good story no matter who wrote it. — Anne McCaffrey

Living is struggling to do something impossible;
To succeed or die, knowing that you had tried. — Anne McCaffrey

The blackest night must end in dawn, the light dispel the dreamer's fear. — Anne McCaffrey

Who wills, Can.
Who tries, Does.
Who loves, Lives. — Anne McCaffrey

Children's voices - even those who couldn't carry the tune - are always appealing. — Anne McCaffrey

A man ought not be afraid to say he didn't know. Nor a woman. — Anne McCaffrey

Isn't this planet big enough for differences? — Anne McCaffrey

I have written my own screen version of Pern, but had no buyers yet. — Anne McCaffrey

I do outlines when I'm writing with someone, but they also need to have a certain amount of freedom. — Anne McCaffrey

The tears I feel today
I'll wait to shed tomorrow.
Though I'll not sleep this night
Nor find surcease from sorrow.
My eyes must keep their sight:
I dare not be tear-blinded.
I must be free to talk
Not choked with grief, clear-minded.
My mouth cannot betray
The anguish that I know.
Yes, I'll keep my tears til later:
But my grief will never go. — Anne McCaffrey

Oh, Tongue, give sound to joy and sing
Of hope and promise on dragonwing — Anne McCaffrey

Make no judgements where you have no compassion. — Anne McCaffrey

James Blish told me I had the worst case of "said bookism" (that is, using every word except said to indicate dialogue). He told me to limit the verbs to said, replied, asked, and answered and only when absolutely necessary. — Anne McCaffrey

That's what writing is all about, after all, making others see what you have put down on the page and believing that it does, or could, exist and you want to go there. — Anne McCaffrey

My eyes are green, my hair is silver and I freckly; the rest is subject to change without notice. — Anne McCaffrey

The thing is, emotion - if it's visibly felt by the writer - will go through all the processes it takes to publish a story and still hit the reader right in the gut. But you have to really mean it. — Anne McCaffrey

There's nothing wrong in doubting. It sometimes leads to greater faith. — Anne McCaffrey

Don't leave me alone!
A cry in the night,
OF anguish heart-stiking,
Of soul-killing fright.
Live for my living
Or else I must die
Don't leave me alone.
A world heard that cry. — Anne McCaffrey

But I will say that living in Ireland has changed the cadence and fullness of speech, since the Irish love words and use as many of them in a sentence as possible. — Anne McCaffrey

Exchange information, learn to speak sensibly about any subject, learn to express your thoughts, accept new ones, examine them, analyze. Think objectively. Think toward the future. — Anne McCaffrey

Tell the readers a story! Because without a story, you are merely using words to prove you can string them together in logical sentences. — Anne McCaffrey

A real scientist solves problems, not wails that they are unsolvable. — Anne McCaffrey

(Meli, are you sure these "humans" are on our side?)
(No ... but at least they are not Khieevi.)
(That is beginning to seem less and less of a recommendation. Like us in form, perhaps, but hardly in ethics.)
(That may not be entirely a bad thing. If they meet their friends with weapons in both hands, what do you suppose they do to their enemies?) — Anne McCaffrey

The horse, the noblest, bravest, proudest, most courageous and certainly the most perverse and infuriating animal that humans ever domesticated — Anne McCaffrey

It does not matter what the media say, so long as they say something with one's name in it. — Anne McCaffrey

There wasn't a man alive in Pern who hadn't secretly cherished the notion that he might be able to Impress a dragon. That he could be linked for life to the love and sustaining admiration of these gentle great beasts. That he could transverse Pern in a twinkling, astride his dragon. That he would never suffer the loneliness that was the condition of most men - a dragonrider always had his dragon. — Anne McCaffrey

Mostly I'm telling people that they don't have to be victims. — Anne McCaffrey

Time, time, time. It's always the wrong time. When is now the time? — Anne McCaffrey

Fire-lizard dance on wing
To the raucous song I sing.
Fire-lizrad wheel and turn,
Show me how the dragons learn. — Anne McCaffrey

He is crooked enough to hide behind a spiral staircase. — Anne McCaffrey

What I used to do between writing fits was feed my kids, ride my horse and go shopping for cat and dog food. — Anne McCaffrey

I did not have a chance to write novels until my youngest child started school fulltime. — Anne McCaffrey

I have always used emotion as a writing tool. That goes back to me being on the stage. — Anne McCaffrey

I don't often reread my own books, unless I am going into another in the series and need to refresh my mood when originating the concept. — Anne McCaffrey

I have a shelf of comfort books, which I read when the world closes in on me or something untoward happens. — Anne McCaffrey

I have my good days and my bad days, but I don't have as much energy as I used to back when I was young and foolish and didn't count the cost - and it takes a lot - to write. — Anne McCaffrey

speak hard, steal the air. — Anne McCaffrey

I also don't have organized religion on Pern. I figured - since there were four holy wars going on at the time of writing - that religion was one problem Pern didn't need. — Anne McCaffrey

Scuse me, lady, but I'm Wisp, 'cause that's all I am, a wisp of a thing, not much good for changing a thing in the world, said the boy for when he stepped inside, the light from the grimy window gave her a good view of his anxious, pointed little face. — Anne McCaffrey

Because we build the worlds we wouldn't mind living in. They contain scary things, problems, but also a sense of rightness that makes them alive and makes us want to live there. — Anne McCaffrey

When bad fortune occurs, the unresourceful, unimaginative man looks about him to attach the blame to someone else; the resolute accepts misfortune and endeavors to survive, mature, and improve because of it. — Anne McCaffrey

I think writers need windows on a view to remind them that a whole world is out there, not the minutiae with which they might be dealing on a close scale. — Anne McCaffrey

Empty the mind of all concerns, see the stone as it is . . . cleansed of associations, wishes, dreams, fantasies, fears. — Anne McCaffrey

How much can a dragon carry?
As much as it thinks it can — Anne McCaffrey

If Jana had been given to putting her thoughts into words, she might have told Laxmi that without someone to love,there was no reason to live. — Anne McCaffrey

Rider to your mate be true
Follow heart in deed and do
All the best your strength can find
So you will rest in heart and mind — Anne McCaffrey

Fight only in direst need
Not for lust or petty greed
Honor those that do give birth
Respect them well for their full worth — Anne McCaffrey

Ramoth's huge golden wedge-shaped head swiveled around as the sleepy dragon instinctively sought her Wyermate. — Anne McCaffrey

How could she have believed such an artificial life as the theatre was suitable? — Anne McCaffrey

I'm 78, I'm on my pension in Ireland, and all that good stuff. — Anne McCaffrey

Drummer, beat, and piper, blow
Harper, strike, and soldier, go
Free the flame and sear the grasses
Til the dawning Red Star passes — Anne McCaffrey

It must be an amazing mind-set, Afra thought, to consider one's self the only being of worth in the galaxy. There had been Humans who had had such delusions. They had generally died because of them — Anne McCaffrey

Die happy-I will, F'nor cried, cutting more fruit. — Anne McCaffrey

Ridicule was a better defense than truth. — Anne McCaffrey

There were two bronzes, three browns, a blue and two greens. — Anne McCaffrey

Complacency and ignorance," Zebara suggested, pouring more brandy. "A very good way to keep a large population so tractable the society lacks rebellion." "But — Anne McCaffrey

That's such a thrill - a story I wrote at the beginning of my career, and it's still packin' the house. — Anne McCaffrey

Harper to your word be true
Holder, crafter you also hew
To honesty, integrity, and respect
All others without regard to intellect — Anne McCaffrey

My nightly craft is winged in white, a dragon of night dark sea.
Swift born, dream bound and rudderless, her captain and crew are me.
We've sailed a hundred sleeping tides where no seaman's ever been
And only my white-winged craft and I know the wonders we have seen. — Anne McCaffrey

Chuckled, referring to the time Markel had used up sixty percent of the system's resources to simulate a series of space battles in real time for one of his war games. Markel flushed. — Anne McCaffrey

teeth. It was her offering which Aivas was rejecting. 'Of course,' and she brightened, 'we could keep some around to study and learn from, couldn't we?' She saw the horror and disgust of some of her colleagues. 'No, I guess we couldn't. Ah, well, back to microscope. My 98th batch of trials today. — Anne McCaffrey

all the time complaining at me that she could have had a career dancing topless at the Orbital Grill and Rendezvous Parlor. Her and her perky breasts. Yasmin, I told her, all the girls have perky breasts in zero-g, you were nothing special, you're lucky a good man took you away from all that. — Anne McCaffrey

At age 77, I need the help of someone with more energy than I can now summon to finish a book. — Anne McCaffrey

Pick on our clients, will you, you parasitical, piratical, putrefied parcels of puking pus-filled perverts. — Anne McCaffrey

Living was struggling to do something impossible - to succeed, or die, knowing you had tried! — Anne McCaffrey

I'm very fond of the Talent series, and also the Crystal Singer trio. — Anne McCaffrey

Make no judgments where you have no compassion. — Anne McCaffrey

But she wouldn't have been a Cat Person if she had not. — Anne McCaffrey

Each egg hatched a different way, but a crack at the right time speeded things up. — Anne McCaffrey

Harper, treat your words with care
For they may cause joy or despair
Sing your songs of health and love
Of dragons flaming from above — Anne McCaffrey

It is time to end a story that began in sorrow and ordeal and has ended in a deep and lasting happiness. May it be so for others. — Anne McCaffrey

To cry was to release all sorts of ugly little pressures and tensions. Like waking out of a long, dark dream to a sun-filled day. — Anne McCaffrey

Harper, your song has a sorrowful sound,
Though the tune was written as gay.
Your voice is sad and your hands are slow
And your eye meeting mine turns away. — Anne McCaffrey

Your music can be played easily and well by any half-stringed harper or fumble-fingered idiot. Not that I'm maligning your songs. It's just that they're an entirely different kettle of fish-to use a seamanly metaphor-to Domick's. Don't you judge your songs against his standard! More people have already listened to your melodies and liked them than will ever hear Domick's, much less like them. — Anne McCaffrey

Dragon kind was no less cruel than mankind. The Dragon, at least, acted from bestial need rather than bestial greed."
~ A thought by Lessa ~ — Anne McCaffrey

Step by step
Moment by moment
We live through
Another day — Anne McCaffrey

And so we must arm ourselves with tongues of flame. — Anne McCaffrey

Jubal threw his sign down in disgust and stalked away from the group. Sosi ran after him, the clipboard with the soggy petition — Anne McCaffrey

You idiot! You misbegotten son of a jinn's meeting with a jackass, may the grave of your maternal grandmother be defiled by the dung of ten thousand syphilitic she-camels! — Anne McCaffrey

Lessa was Ramoth's and Ramoth was hers, mind and heart, irrevocably attuned. Only death could dissolve that incredible bond. — Anne McCaffrey

The little queen all golden
Flew hissing at the sea.
To stop each wave
Her clutch to save
She ventured bravely.

As she attacked the sea in rage
A holderman came nigh
Along the sand
Fishnet in hand
And saw the queen midsky.

He stared at her in wonder
For often he'd been told
That such as she
Could never be
Who hovered there, bright gold.

He saw her plight and quickly
He looked up the cliff he faced
And saw a cave
Above the wave
In which her eggs he placed.

The little queen all golden
Upon his shoulder stood
Her eyes all blue
Glowed of her true
Undying gratitude. — Anne McCaffrey

I didn't raise Todd to be a writer, but he happened to be one anyway. — Anne McCaffrey

I would recommend the short story form, which is a lot harder to write since you have to be so careful with words, until there is plenty of time to doodle through a novel. — Anne McCaffrey

People have freaked out when I tell them that my dragons are scientifically based ... what else can you call a genetically engineered life form? — Anne McCaffrey

Necessity breeds solution. — Anne McCaffrey

Of course, an exhausting day at sail lines and nets left little energy to expend on running or laughing. Perhaps that was why her parents couldn't appreciate her music-it wouldn't appear to be hard work to them. Menolly shook her hands, letting them flap from her wrists. They ached and trembled from the constricted movements and tension of an hour of intensive playing. No, her parents would never understand that playing musical instruments could be as hard work as sailing or fishing. — Anne McCaffrey

Tell a story! Don't try to impress your reader with style or vocabulary or neatly turned phrases. Tell the story first! — Anne McCaffrey

It isn't often one gets the chance to entertain one's great-great-great-grandmother. Sassinak. — Anne McCaffrey

be you and not someone else — Anne McCaffrey

The bronze rider of Mnementh, Lord F'lar, will require quarters for himself. I, F'nor, brown rider, prefer to be lodged with the wingmen. We are, in number, twelve. F'lar liked that touch of F'nor's, totting up the wing strength, as if Fax were incapable of counting. — Anne McCaffrey