Niven Quotes & Sayings

What would I have said to him if I'd known I would never see him again? — Jennifer Niven

As for AIDS, it's a plague. We are human, we get plagues. They come along every so often, kill off two thirds of the population; in the next generation it's a quarter; after that it's a childhood disease. — Larry Niven

I am broken and no one can fix it — Jennifer Niven

I've forgotten the birthdays of everyone close to me. I have forgotten to pay bills, file tax returns on time, go to meetings, and, every week, I forget to put the bins out. But I have never forgotten I want my lunch. — John Niven

I open my eyes and sit straight up , gasping, filling my lungs. I'm happy no one's here to see me, because I'm sputtering and splashing and coughing up water. There's no rush of having survived, only emptiness, and lungs that need air, and wet sticking hair to my face — Jennifer Niven

If you can heat some bourbon, I can drink it," said the kzin. "If you cannot heat it, I can still drink it." "Nessus? — Larry Niven

I'd visit the near future, close enough that someone might want to talk to Larry Niven and can figure out the language; distant enough to get me decent medical techniques and a ticket to the Moon. — Larry Niven

Music did that to me, just like God was supposed to, because music seemed both magic and holy. — Jennifer Niven

Sometimes all I did all day was just wander around in my mind. — Jennifer Niven

And every friend I've got has been writing Mars stories. It was pretty clear I'd never catch up. — Larry Niven

People are shitty for a lot of reasons. Sometimes they're just shitty people. Sometimes people have been shitty to them and, even though they don't realize it, they take that shitty upbringing and go out into the world and treat others the same way. Sometimes they're shitty because they're afraid. Sometimes they choose to be shitty to others before others can be shitty to them. So it's like self-defensive shittiness. — Jennifer Niven

I do find the sight of small children eating very moving. Watch the way their tiny fingers clamp the cutlery. The exaggeratedly precise way they move cups or glasses to their lips. — John Niven

I'm a fuckup. I'm broken, and no one can fix it. — Jennifer Niven

We learn only to ask more questions. — Larry Niven

Before I die, I want to...be the person I'm meant to be and have that be enough. — Jennifer Niven

Violet says, 'Are you okay now?' Her hair is windblow and her cheeks are flushed. Whather she likes it or not, she seemes happy. I take a good long look at her. — Jennifer Niven

If I do anything, I have to start over, but all I have is fragments of ideas. Just pieces. Like a germ of an idea for this, and a germ of an idea for that. Nothing whole or concrete" - Violet

" 'Growth itself contains the germ of happiness.' Pearl S. Buck. Maybe a germ is enough. Maybe it's all you need. We can start small. Open up a new document or pull out a black piece of paper. We'll make it our canvas. Remember what Michelangelo said about the sculpture being in the stone - it was there from the beginning, and his job was to bring it out. Your words are in there too" -Finch — Jennifer Niven

I am on the highest branch.
We are written in paint.
I believe in signs.
The glow of Ultraviolet.
A lake. A prayer. It's so lovely to be lovely in Private. — Jennifer Niven

One year later, I grew out of my clothes because, it turns out, growing fourteen inches in a summer is easy. It's growing out of a label that's hard. Which — Jennifer Niven

You know that thing where you repeat a word over and over until it just sounds like utter gibberish? That's what doing a day of press on a film is like. Ten interviews in a row, all asking pretty much the same questions until you find yourself giving pretty much the same answers. — John Niven

The only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping and showing off his shortcomings. — David Niven

I love watching the Oscars and seeing everybody saying all that 'it's an honour just to be nominated' rubbish. Then you see their faces when the split screen comes up as the winner is announced - the losers are all smiling through gritted teeth and looking as if they just swallowed half a pound of soor plooms. — John Niven

In the world of words the imagination is one of the forces of nature. — Larry Niven

I remember him standing next to me at Hoosier Hill, smiling out at the ugly trees and the ugly farmland and the ugly kids as if he could see Oz. 'Believe it or not, it's actually beautiful to some people..' So I decide to see it through his eyes. — Jennifer Niven

The thing I realize is, that it's not what you take, it's what you leave. — Jennifer Niven

Growing fourteen inches in a summer is easy. It's growing out of a label that's hard. — Jennifer Niven

I'd repair our education system or replace it with something that works. — Larry Niven

My beloved boat is broken on the rocks of daily life. I've paid my debts and no longer need to count pains I've suffered at the hands of others. The misfortunes and the insults. Good luck to those who remain. — Jennifer Niven

Come on. Let me have it. Don't disappear in there.' I mean inside herself, where I'll never get to her. — Jennifer Niven

I remember running down a road on my way to a nursery of flowers. I remember her smile and her laugh when I was my best self and she looked at me like I could do no wrong and was whole. I remember how she looked at me the same way even when I wasn't. I remember her hand in mine and how that felt, as if something and someone belonged to me. — Jennifer Niven

And he said that he wrote the Bond character based on the character of David Niven. That's how he saw Bond. — Val Guest

I love England. I live and work here. My children have grown up here. I see no conflict between this and praying that my countrymen in Scotland never have to live another day under Conservative rule from London. — John Niven

Dear friend, You are not a freak. You are wanted. You are necessary. You are the only you there is. Don't be afraid to leave the castle. It's a great big world out there. Love, a fellow reader — Jennifer Niven

One mark of a good officer, he remembered, was the ability to make quick decisions. If they happen to be right, so much the better — Larry Niven

crapulent buffoon with the IQ of a tampon. — John Niven

It's just to talk. Nothing more. It's not like I'm hitting on you. Finch: Unless you want me to. Hit on you, I mean. Me: No. Finch: "No" you don't want me to come over? Or "no" you don't want me hitting on you? — Jennifer Niven

What a terrible feeling to love someone and not be able to help them.
Actually, I know exactly how that feels. — Jennifer Niven

Every book I read and every movies I watched seems to give out the same message: high school is the worst experience you can ever have. — Jennifer Niven

I meant what I said to Embryo about drugs. We don't mix. What it comes down to for me is I have a hard enough time keeping control over my brain without something else getting in the way. — Jennifer Niven

If you put a frog in boiling water, it'll jump straight out. If you put it in cold water and gradually bring it to the boil, it'll sit right there until it dies. Scotland has been sitting in England's gradually boiling water for so long that many people are used to it. — John Niven

So what makes you angry?'
'Stupid people. Fake people. Mean people. Death. I worry about dying all the time. Like, all the time. — Jennifer Niven

In 1912, a man named Franz Reichelt jumped off the Eiffel Tower wearing a parachute suit he designed himself. He jumped to test his invention
he expected to fly
but instead he fell straight down, hitting the ground like a meteor and leaving a 5.9-inch-deep crater from the impact. Did he mean to kill himself? Doubtful. I think he was just cocky, and also stupid. — Jennifer Niven

The puppeteer unrolled completely. 'Did I hear you call me cute? — Larry Niven

Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky. — Jennifer Niven

I'm broken, and no one can fix it. — Jennifer Niven

They're the words I try to outrun, because if I let them in, they might stay there and grown and fill me up and in, until the only thing left of me is worthless stupid worthless stupid worthless stupid freak. — Jennifer Niven

I prayed maybe he hadn't seen me after all, that maybe he'd taken off after a sinner or a squirrel, instead. — Jennifer Niven

If hypothetically, I did love you, though, it's not because I see you, and Oh well, at least I can see her, so I might as well love her. I'm pretty sure I see you because I love you. And yeah, I guess I love you because I see you, as in I see you, Libby, as in all of you, as in every last amazing thing. — Jennifer Niven

When you're looking back, you can't look forward. And sometimes you run smack into something and hit your head. — Jennifer Niven

Cliff shrugged. None of their ideas sounded — Larry Niven

Music had played suddenly through the cabin, complex and lovely, rich in minor tones, like the sad call of a sex-maddened computer. Nessus whistled. — Larry Niven

For two hundred and fifty years the kzinti had not attacked human space. They had nothing to attack with. For two hundred and fifty years men had not attacked the kzinti worlds; and no kzin could understand it. Men confused them terribly. — Larry Niven

In that moment, I wish I could see it through his eyes. I wish he had glasses to give me. — Jennifer Niven

America has the largest nuclear capability in the world. All this power neither prevented 9/11 nor helped to avenge it. How could it? Who would America have attacked? — John Niven

Each nugget of information was fascinating. The world was full of new-found marvels and he wanted to share the excitement with everybody. They all did. They had a certain sense. It wasn't a sense of ennui or cynicism. It was ...
A sense of wonder.
That was it. A sense of wonder, in the fine old original meaning of the word. They wondered at their world. Because when you did that, everything was wonder-full. — Larry Niven

Better to keep the unhappy, mad, bad, unpleasant words separate, where you can watch them and make sure they don't surprise you when you're not expecting them — Jennifer Niven

I have an iPhone. I like it for the camera and the fact that you can have your email and Twitter and all that stuff in one place. However, unlike most men I know, I hate buying new technology. — John Niven

There were the meaningless greetings the humans called "formalities": insincere inquiries into the state of health, nebulous benedictions and hopes for past well-being; all compensations for the lack of human Mediators. — Larry Niven

Because in this house there's no such thing as being sick unless you can measure it with a thermometer — Jennifer Niven

For the most part, the people are the same. Everyone wants something to believe in. Everyone wants someone to love. — Jennifer Niven

The Clash had a unique, special relationship with Scotland. Perhaps it was something to do with the energy, anger and beauty in their music. In Scotland at that time, there was a lot of to be angry about. And a great need of some energy and beauty. — John Niven

If there was one thing I hated in this world, it was folks who told you that you couldn't do something. — Jennifer Niven

You saved my life. Why couldn't I save yours? — Jennifer Niven

I have to confess to not being a great forward planner. I'm the kind of person who regularly arranges to have dinner with five different people on the same night. — John Niven

LARRY NIVEN is best known as a science-fiction writer. — Neil Gaiman

The world after a war is a good world, I told myself. A happy world. A secure world. In this world, I might do anything. — Jennifer Niven

You are the most amazing person I've ever met. You're different. You're you. Always. Who else can say that except maybe Seth Powell, and he's an idiot. You, Libby Strout, are not an idiot. — Jennifer Niven

Written on the wall behind them was: 'Blues for the body, food for the soul. — Jennifer Niven

Listen, some girl will see that video and you're going to give her the courage to buy her own purple bikini. You're going to make a difference. Just watch. Girls everywhere, of all sizes, are going to want one. Clothing manufacturers across the globe will be working overtime to produce enough purple swimsuits to satisfy the demand. Girls will stop asking Do these jeans make my butt look big? They won't care if it looks big or small. They'll wear what they want to wear and fucking own it. — Jennifer Niven

I spend a fair bit of time in Los Angeles, and there is much I love about the place - the weather, the food, the beaches and the golf. And a few things I don't. Like the way an enormous number of mentally ill people seem to be forced to live on the streets with little or nothing in the way of government assistance. — John Niven

My father not only broke her heart, he pretty much shat all over her pride and self-worth. — Jennifer Niven

The majority is always sane — Larry Niven

Don't get me wrong: there are aspects of buying music online that I love. Instantly being able to hear a song the moment it crosses your mind? Where's the downside? However, I do feel for those too young to remember the thrill of going record shopping. — John Niven

Building one space station for everyone was and is insane: we should have built a dozen. — Larry Niven

Everyone in my life is a stranger, and that includes me. — Jennifer Niven

By the time I started eating- really eating- the loss was already so big it felt like I was carrying around the world. So carrying around the weight wasn't any heavier. It was trying to carry around both that got to be too much. Which is why sometimes you have to set some of it down. You can't carry all of it forever. — Jennifer Niven

I have this feeling like I'm waiting for something. But I have no idea what — Jennifer Niven

Will you want me just as much when I'm fifteen feet nine inches? — Jennifer Niven

We need to take command of the solar system to gain that wealth, and to escape the sea of paper our government is becoming, and for some decent chance of stopping a Dinosaur Killer asteroid. — Larry Niven

The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn't have a space program. And if we become extinct because we don't have a space program, it'll serve us right! — Larry Niven

People either see me or they don't. — Jennifer Niven

You know what I like about you, Finch? You're interesting. You're different. And I can talk to you. Don't let that go to your head."
... "You know what I like about you, Ultraviolet Remarkey-able? Everything. — Jennifer Niven

I mean, I know but I don't. I've always been different, but to me different is normal. — Jennifer Niven

Half of wisdom is learning what to unlearn. — Larry Niven

The value of a thing is what that thing will bring. -Legal Maxim — Larry Niven

I am carried off. We yield to this slow flood ... In and out, we are swept; ... we can not step outside its sinuous, its hesitating, its abrupt, its perfectly encircling walls. — Jennifer Niven

The only way around it is to stay with one guy forever. But does forever have a built-in ending ... ? — Jennifer Niven

There is only now,' he says, 'and if now is only two days, then two days is your life and everything in it will be in proportion. — Jennifer Niven

this isn't a season of death but one of living — Jennifer Niven

Yesterday at this time, I didn't even know her. — Jennifer Niven

I forgive everyone and ask forgiveness of everyone — Jennifer Niven

If there's one thing i know, it's that no one can promise anything. — Jennifer Niven

I can feel the apology in his fingers, and this takes the wind out of me, so I lean into him - just a little - and read over his shoulder. His hand is warm and I don't want to stop holding it. We — Jennifer Niven

Intelligence is just a tool to be used toward a goal, and goals are not always chosen intelligently. — Larry Niven

I thought I could wait, but I can't. Sorry. — Jennifer Niven

I understand that some people like certain things more than others, but by the time you are an adult, you really should be able to sit down and eat pretty much anything. — John Niven

True leadership strengthens the followers. It is a process of teaching, setting an example, and empowering others. If you seek to lead, your ability will ultimately be measured in the successes of those around you. — David Niven

The reader has certain rights. He bought your story. Think of this as an implicit contract. He's entitled to be entertained, instructed, amused; maybe all three. If he quits in the middle, or puts the book down feeling his time has been wasted, you're in violation. — Larry Niven

I'm not predicting; I just love playing with superconductors. — Larry Niven

I have a kind of psychic invisibility. As long as I can stay scared, I can keep people from seeing me. That's what we have to count on. — Larry Niven