Quote

That's me, he said, motioning to the robot. That's all of us. We prattle about free will, but we're nothing but response...mechanical reaction in prescribed grooves.

Alfred Bester

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Alfred Bester
Age: 73 †
Born: 1913
Born: December 18
Died: 1987
Died: September 30
Author
Journalist
Novelist
Science Fiction Writer
Screenwriter
Writer
Manhattan borough
New York City
Robots
Reaction
Reactions
Prattle
Response
Grooves
Free
Prescribed
Nothing
Robot
Groove
Mechanical

More quotes by Alfred Bester

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No matter how we defend ourselves against the outside we're always licked by something from the inside. Ther's no defense against betrayal, and we all betray ourselves.
Alfred Bester
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Don't ask the world to stop moving because you have doubts.
Alfred Bester
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The damnable frustration of revenge. Revenge is for dreams...never for reality.
Alfred Bester
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If you can have everything at fifty that you wanted when you were fifteen, you're happy.
Alfred Bester
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Most science fiction, quite frankly, is silly nonsense.
Alfred Bester
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I'm not much interested in extrapolating science and technology I merely use extrapolation as a means of putting people into new quandaries which produce colorful pressures and conflicts.
Alfred Bester
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Eight, sir seven, sir Six, sir five, sir Four, sir Three, sir Two, sir one! Tenser, said the Tensor. Tenser, said the Tensor. Tension, apprehension, And dissension have begun.
Alfred Bester
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This was a Golden Age, a time of high adventure, rich living and hard dying... but nobody thought so. This was a future of fortune and theft, pillage and rapine, culture and vice... but nobody admitted it. This was an age of extremes, a fascinating century of freaks... but nobody loved it.
Alfred Bester
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The man who gives his own decisions priority over society is a criminal.
Alfred Bester
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We always do what's natural, only sometimes we shouldn't do it.
Alfred Bester
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Damn you! Dagenham raged, Don't you realize that you can't trust people? They don't know enough for their own good. Then let them learn or die. We're all in this together. Let's live or die together.
Alfred Bester
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Be grateful that you only see the outward man. Be grateful that you never see the passions, the hatreds, the jealousies, the malice, the sicknesses... Be grateful you rarely see the frightening truth in people.
Alfred Bester
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The test of intellect is the refusal to belabor the obvious.
Alfred Bester
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Gully Foyle is my name And Terra is my nation Deep space is my dwelling place The stars my destination
Alfred Bester
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I challenge you, me. Die or live and be great.
Alfred Bester
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If a man's got talent and guts to buck society, he's obviously above average. You want to hold on to him. You straighten him out and turn him into a plus value. Why throw him away? Do that enough and all you've got left are the sheep.
Alfred Bester
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Life is a freak. That’s its hope and glory.
Alfred Bester
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Millions for nonsense, but not one cent for entropy.
Alfred Bester
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This was an age of extremes, a fascinating century of freaks... but nobody loved it.
Alfred Bester
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One of the things that everybody knows about space travel but never mentions is its aphrodisiac quality.
Alfred Bester