Quote

Tides are like politics. They come and go with a great deal of fuss and noise, but inevitably they leave the beach just as they found it. On those few occasions when major change does occur, it is rarely a good news.

Jack McDevitt

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Jack McDevitt
Age: 89
Born: 1935
Born: April 14
Author
Novelist
Science Fiction Writer
Writer
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
Good
Deals
Rarely
Like
Leave
Occasions
Politics
Beach
Found
Noise
Change
Majors
Fuss
Doe
Major
Tides
Come
News
Inevitably
Great
Deal
Occur

More quotes by Jack McDevitt

Image
Boundaries have no existence save on charts or in small minds. Nature does not draw lines.
Jack McDevitt
Image
Solitude is only a good idea if you have the right people along to share it.
Jack McDevitt
Image
If you're paying attention to your wardrobe, Rudy believed, your mind isn't sufficiently occupied.
Jack McDevitt
Image
Throughout our long and sorry history it has been men who supposed themselves to be exemplars of integrity who have done all the damage. Every crusade, whether for decent literary standards or to cover women's bodies or to free the holy land, had been launched, endorsed, and enthusiastically perpetrated by men of character.
Jack McDevitt
Image
Courage is perhaps our most admirable trait. The man, or woman, who possesses it is able to plunge ahead, despite dangers, despite warnings, despite hazards of all kinds, to attack the task at hand. Often, it is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Jack McDevitt
Image
So we have progressed to the point where we can move politicians around faster than light. I'm not sure I see the advantage.
Jack McDevitt
Image
The real problem has to do with the inability by people to admit that a position they've held a long time might be wrong. That's all. Not that it is. Just that it might be. I don't know why it is, but we tend to fall in love with things we believe, Threaten them, and you threaten us.
Jack McDevitt
Image
If you're right, and nobody really cares what's out there, I wonder whether we're even worth saving.
Jack McDevitt
Image
If you want creative and successful children, resign yourself to jousting with rebels.
Jack McDevitt
Image
Faith is conviction without evidence, and sometimes even in the face of contrary evidence. In some quarters, this quality is perceived as a virtue.
Jack McDevitt
Image
So long as men and women are free, no one is safe. People will be in danger because others can't operate vehicles responsibly or shoot straight. Because physicians are sometimes incompetent and lawyers dishonest. But most of all they will be in danger from ideas. It is the price we willingly pay to be free. Nor would we have it any other way.
Jack McDevitt
Image
Sometimes the cost of integrity is the loss of a friend.
Jack McDevitt
Image
The problem is that too often the only people who can act don't want change. Power doesn't so much corrupt as it breeds conservatism.
Jack McDevitt
Image
When things go wrong, the standard management strategy is to decide who takes the blame. This should be an underling, as far down the chain as possible, but preferably with some visibility so people know management means business.
Jack McDevitt
Image
... the truth is that when your people don't tell you what you need to know, it's a failure of leadership.
Jack McDevitt
Image
There's not much to be said for sightseeing. You go somewhere that has a waterfall. You have a beer, watch the water go over the edge, and move on. Tours are all the same. In the end, the only thing that matters is the beer.
Jack McDevitt
Image
Life is a walk in the fog. Most people don't know that. They're fooled by the sunlight into thinking they can see what's ahead. But it's the reason they are forever getting lost or falling into ditches or committing matrimony.
Jack McDevitt
Image
Idiots are not responsible for what they do. The real guilt falls on rational people who sit on their hands while morons run wild. You can opt out if you want to. Play it safe. But if you do, don't complain when the roof comes down.
Jack McDevitt
Image
The Peacekeepers had a tradition that every problem had a solution. It was a nice slogan. Wasn't true, but it sounded good.
Jack McDevitt
Image
We could never know who we truly were until we heard the whispers of the stars.
Jack McDevitt