Kindness - Quotes from Science Fiction

A lot of quotations carefully collected from a very big amount of books and divided by categories.

Have fun reading it, this is really interesting and breathtaking!

''I say, you do have a heart!'' ''Sometimes,'' he replied. ''When I have the time.''

- Jules Verne, Around theWorld in Eighty Days (1873), translated by William Butcher (1995)

Generous deed should not be checked by cold counsel.

- J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King (1955)

If a man gets lost in the mountains, hundreds will search and often two or three searchers are killed. But the next time somebody gets lost just as many volunteers turn out. Poor arithmetic . . . but very human. It runs through all our folklore, all human religions, all our literature - a racial conviction that when one human needs rescue, others should not count the price. Weakness? It might be the unique strength that wins us a Galaxy.

- Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers (1959)

If a man is able to help his neighbors and does not, then he ends up something less than a man.

- Michael Shaara, ''Citizen Jell'' (1959)

Isn't it odd how we misunderstand the hidden unity of kindness and cruelty?

- Frank Herbert, Dune (1965)

He thought no more of performing the lesser arts of magic than a bird thinks of flying. Yet a greater, unlearned skill he possessed, which was the art of kindness.

- Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea (1968)

It is a terrible thing, this kindness that human beings do not lose. Terrible, because when we are finally naked in the dark and cold, it is all we have. We who are so rich, so full of strength, we end up with that small change. We have nothing else to give.

- Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)

The measure of a man is not his intelligence. It is not how high he rises in the freak establishment. The measure of a man is this: how swiftly can he react to another person's need? And how much of himself can he give?

- Philip K. Dick, Our Friends from Frolix 8 (1970)

Man, despite his enormous shortcomings, is nevertheless possessed of a greater number of kindly impulses than all the other beings where instincts are the larger part of life. These impulses, I believe, are owed directly to this capacity for guilt. It is involved in both the worst and the best of man.

- Roger Zelazny, ''Home Is the Hangman'' (1975)

Kindness is more pro-survival than cruelty. But which feels better? Which provides more pleasure? Poll any hundred people at random and you'll find at least twenty or thirty who know all there is to know about psychological torture and psychic castration - and maybe two that know how to give a terrific back rub.

- Spider Robinson, ''God Is an Iron'' (1979)

Being nice all the time can be very, very boring.

- Charles L. Grant, ''Secrets of the Heart'' (1980)

Spock: In any case, were I to invoke logic, logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Kirk: Or the one.

- Jack B. Sowards, Star Trek II: TheWrath of Khan (film, 1982)

Because the needs of the one outweighed the needs of the many.

- Harve Bennett, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (film, 1984)

When it comes to a choice between kindness and honesty, my vote is for kindness, every time - giving or receiving.

- Robert A. Heinlein, The Cat WhoWalks throughWalls (1985)

His curtness she could meet and match with her own flippancy, guarding herself as with a fencer's foil. His kindness was like fencing with the sea, her strokes going soft and losing all volition.

- Lois McMaster Bujold, Shards of Honor (1986)

''Gratitude'': An imaginary emotion that rewards an imaginary behavior, ''altruism.'' Both imaginaries are false faces for selfishness, which is a real and honest emotion.

- Robert A. Heinlein, To Sail beyond the Sunset (1987)

A gentle touch; A smile; Kind words By such small things Are lives changed.

- Tara K. Harper, Shadow Leader (1991)