Quote

Intelligence is like pornography. I can't define it, but I know if when I see it.

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
Pornography
Define
Intelligence
Like

More quotes by Jack McDevitt

Image
We could never know who we truly were until we heard the whispers of the stars.
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
See what the world looks like from orbit. Well, in that way, at least, there was profit to be had. Nobody could look down at the planet, green and blue, with no borders in evidence and no sign of human habitation, and not get his perspective forever altered.
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
An optimist is somebody who thinks our various political and social systems, schools and churches, support groups and Boy Scout troops, jury trials and congressional committees, are on the up-and-up. That they are intended for the benefit of the members. The reality is that they are designed to keep everyone in line.
Jack McDevitt
Image
Sometimes the cost of integrity is the loss of a friend.
Jack McDevitt
Image
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.
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
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
Man has always seen himself the peak of creation. The part of the universe that thinks. The purpose for it all. It's no doubt a gratifying view, but the universe may have a different opinion.
Jack McDevitt
Image
Katie commented that Americans had lost the ability to enjoy themselves. We watch television, Dave said.
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
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
Image
If you want creative and successful children, resign yourself to jousting with rebels.
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 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
... 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
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
Image
Truth, beaten down, may well rise again. But there's a reason it gets beaten down. Usually, we don't like it very much.
Jack McDevitt