Quote

The worst mistake of first contact, made throughout history by individuals on both sides of every new encounter, has been the unfortunate habit of making assumptions. It often proved fatal.

David Brin

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

David Brin
Age: 74
Born: 1950
Born: October 6
Astronomer
Astrophysicist
Novelist
Physicist
Science Fiction Writer
Scientist
Screenwriter
Writer
Glendale
California
USA
Glen David Brin
History
Individuals
Fatal
Often
Habit
Proved
Firsts
Mistake
Encounter
First
Worst
Unfortunate
Made
Sides
Encounters
Every
Literature
Assumption
Making
Throughout
Individual
Contact
Assumptions

More quotes by David Brin

Image
My education and background thoroughly inform my writing
David Brin
Image
The village is coming back, like it or not.
David Brin
Image
In the end, the work of diplomats continues even while others fight. So, it's not necessarily true that everyone needs to march.
David Brin
Image
When it comes to privacy and accountability, people always demand the former for themselves and the latter for everyone else.
David Brin
Image
I would normally never set out to write a trilogy.
David Brin
Image
Change is the very fabric of our time.
David Brin
Image
Reciprocal accountability, or criticism [is] the only known antidote to error.
David Brin
Image
I hate the whole übermensch, superman temptation that pervades science fiction. I believe no protagonist should be so competent, so awe-inspiring, that a committee of 20 really hard-working, intelligent people couldn't do the same thing.
David Brin
Image
Self-awareness is probably overrated. A complex, self-regulating system doesn't need it in order to be successful, or even smart.
David Brin
Image
Above all, TRIBES is fun, and even kind of sexy... in that every round features an Opportunity for Reproduction, which is the main aim of the game, as it is in most of Nature
David Brin
Image
Self-righteous people can talk themselves into forgetting they are part of a civilization. They can then feed on that culture, bringing it down. It's happened many times in the past. It could happen to us.
David Brin
Image
If you believe you can make a living as a writer, you already have enough ego.
David Brin
Image
In historical fact, all of history's despots, combined, never managed to get things done as well as this rambunctious, self-critical civilization of free and sovereign citizens, who have finally broken free of worshipping a ruling class and begun thinking for themselves. Democracy can seem frustrating and messy at times, but it delivers.
David Brin
Image
Predicting has a spotty record in science fiction. I've had some failures. On the other hand, I also predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of fundamentalist Islam... and I'm not happy to be right in all of those cases
David Brin
Image
Science Fiction is the jazz of literature.
David Brin
Image
It's how creativity works. Especially in humans. For every good idea, ten thousand idiotic ones must first be posed, sifted, tried out, and discarded. A mind that's afraid to toy with the ridiculous will never come up with the brilliantly original.
David Brin
Image
You don't have conversations with microprocessors. You tell them what to do, then helplessly watch the disaster when they take you literally!
David Brin
Image
My first duty to write a gripping yarn. Second is to convey credible characters who make you feel what they feel. Only third comes the idea.
David Brin
Image
The fundamental premise of sci-fi is not spaceships and lasers - it's that children can learn from the mistakes of their parents.
David Brin
Image
Cultural contamination that is directed outward is always seen as ‘enlightenment.'
David Brin