Work - 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!

Even if one has been to the moon, one has still to earn a living.

- H. G.Wells, The First Men in the Moon (1901)

We rather spread ourselves, telling of the advantages of competition; how it developed fine qualities; that without it there would be ''no stimulus to industry.'' Terry was very strong on that point. ''No stimulus to industry,'' they repeated, with that puzzled look we had learned to know so well. ''Stimulus? To industry? But don't you like to work?''

- Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland (1915)

Laziness in doing stupid things can be a great virtue.

- James Hilton, Lost Horizon (1933)

Very few people have the imagination and the temperament to spend a lifetime in leisure.

- Robert A. Heinlein, Beyond This Horizon (1942)

The Romance of Interplanetary Travel - it looked well in print, but he knew what it was: a job, monotony, no scenery, bursts of work, tedious waits, no home life.

- Robert A. Heinlein, ''Space Jockey'' (1947)

The only thing you can do easily is be wrong, and that's hardly worth the effort.

- Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth (1961)

If you only do the easy and useless jobs, you'll never have to worry about the important ones which are so difficult.

- Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth (1961)

''Okay!'' he said resignedly. ''Another day, another world!''

- Murray Leinster, ''Third Planet'' (1963)

''There's a law,'' Chuck said, ''which I call Rittersdorf 's Third Law of Diminished Returns, which states that proportional to how long you hold a job you imagine that it has progressively less and less importance in the scheme of things.''

- Philip K. Dick, Clans of the Alphane Moon (1964)

It is dangerous to disturb a magician at work.

- Randall Garrett, ''The Muddle of theWoad'' (1965)

Housework is never completed, the chaos always lurks ready to encroach on any area left unweeded, a jungle filled with dirty pans and the roaring of giant stuffed toy animals suddenly turned savage. Terrible glass eyes.

- Pamela Zoline, ''The Heat Death of the Universe'' (1967)

The Padre's weightless voice floated reassuringly back to him. ''You have worked and not worked. Not working is the hardest work of all.'' That's what I get for dialing Zen, Joe said to himself.

- Philip K. Dick, Galactic Pot-Healer (1969)

The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.

- Richard Bach, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (1977)

Nikopoulis was a professional who kept his humanity in some desk drawer of his life, to be indulged secretly.

- George Turner, Drowning Towers (1987)

I was happy in that cluttered office, in that insignificant museum, doing work that no one on earth cared a damn about.

- KateWilhelm, ''Isosceles'' (1988)

The way to deal with an impossible task was to chop it down into a number of merely very difficult tasks, and break each one of them into a group of horribly hard tasks, and each of them into tricky jobs, and each one of them . . .

- Terry Pratchett, Truckers (1989)

All I understand about living is having your work to do, and being able to do it. That's the pleasure, and the glory, and all. And if you can't do the work, or it's taken from you, then what's any good? You have to have something . . .

- Ursula K. Le Guin, Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea (1990)

At the day's end there was supper together, and bed together, and sleep, and wake at dawn and back to work, and so round and so round, like the wheel of a water mill, rising full and emptying, the days like the bright water falling.

- Ursula K. Le Guin, Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea (1990)

Now the world falls into the hands of the little men, the hypocrites and clerks. Look at them. They have not the mettle for the great work. They will botch it.

- William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, The Difference Engine (1991)

Whenever you see a bunch of buggers puttering around talking about truth and beauty and the best way of attacking Ethics, you can bet your sandals it's because dozens of other poor buggers are doing all the real work around the place.

- Terry Pratchett, Small Gods (1992)