John M. Ford Quotes & Sayings

The worm drives helically through the wood
And does not know the dust left in the bore
Once made the table integral and good;
And suddenly the crystal hits the floor.
Electrons find their paths in subtle ways,
A massless eddy in a trail of smoke;
The names of lovers, light of other days
Perhaps you will not miss them. That's the joke.
The universe winds down. That's how it's made.
But memory is everything to lose;
Although some of the colors have to fade,
Do not believe you'll get the chance to choose.
Regret, by definition, comes too late;
Say what you mean. Bear witness. Iterate. — John M. Ford

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

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

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

Observe, don't imitate. — John M. Ford

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. — John M. Ford

We're all living on borrowed time. The trick is to come up with works of sufficient interest to pay off the debt. — John M. Ford

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

Every book is three books, after all; the one the writer intended, the one the reader expected, and the one that casts its shadow when the first two meet by moonlight. — John M. Ford

Well, it's an adventure story, and a Bildungsroman, of course, but there was also the intention to describe a culture that had been seen in rather narrow terms. — John M. Ford

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. — John M. Ford

Then the syncretist Ficino, sitting hunched with Lorenzo standing at his side, put all the ideas together, along with Lorenzo's new song: chariots blazing between the worlds as gods fought rebel gods, the destruction of a city
a planet?
by fire, beasts beyond imagining both to terrify and befriend the heroes.
"It needs a title," Signorina Scala said.
Pulci had his mouth open, but Ficino beat him to the pun.
"It shall be dedicated to Isis and Mars," he said, "and we will call it Stella Martis. — John M. Ford

We're not lost. We're locationally challenged — John M. Ford

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. — John M. Ford

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. — John M. Ford

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. — John M. Ford

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. — John M. Ford

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

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. — John M. Ford

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

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. — John M. Ford

I long for the simplicity of theatre. I want lessons learned, comeuppances delivered, people sorted out, all before your bladder gets distractingly full. That's what I want. What I know is what we all know, whether we'll admit it or not: every attempt to impose the roundness of a well-made play on reality produces a disaster. Life just isn't so, nor will it be made so. — John M. Ford

Askade took the battertoast, looked at it blearily. "I can't rewire it into a death ray without some extra parts," he said, and took a bite. "Hm. Tastes okay. What's the problem? — John M. Ford