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There is no justice. There are occasional acts of vengeance, or regret, but there's no real justice. In the natural scheme of things, it is not possible.

Jack McDevitt

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Jack McDevitt
Age: 89
Born: 1935
Born: April 14
Author
Novelist
Science Fiction Writer
Writer
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
Natural
Scheme
Real
Vengeance
Things
Occasional
Schemes
Acts
Regret
Justice
Possible

More quotes by Jack McDevitt

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Sometimes the cost of integrity is the loss of a friend.
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So we have progressed to the point where we can move politicians around faster than light. I'm not sure I see the advantage.
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Of course, they (i. e., demons) had always been observed with some regularity, but that could usually be ascribed to an overabundance of piety or wine or imagination. Take your pick.
Jack McDevitt
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Certain types of decisions can be safely ignored. Some issues will go away with the passage of time, others will be so slow developing that the decision-makers will depart before the results of their neglect becomes manifest. Which brings us to the environment.
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If you're paying attention to your wardrobe, Rudy believed, your mind isn't sufficiently occupied.
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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
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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
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Solitude is only a good idea if you have the right people along to share it.
Jack McDevitt
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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
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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
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If you want creative and successful children, resign yourself to jousting with rebels.
Jack McDevitt
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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
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Intelligence is like pornography. I can't define it, but I know if when I see it.
Jack McDevitt
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There are few professions whose primary objective is to advance the cause of humanity rather than simply to make money or accrue power. Among this limited group of humanitarians I would number teachers, nurses, bookstore owners, and bartenders.
Jack McDevitt
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We could never know who we truly were until we heard the whispers of the stars.
Jack McDevitt
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Boundaries have no existence save on charts or in small minds. Nature does not draw lines.
Jack McDevitt
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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
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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
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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
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The uplifters are forever running around telling blockheads they would do better if they would believe in themselves. But they already do. That is why they are blockheads.
Jack McDevitt