Books
When you think of science fiction, you probably think of time-traveling space explorers, intergalactic adventurers, alien encounters, and far-out futures. Although the genre is best known for its emphasis on science, technology, and action-adventure, there are actually a lot of beautiful sci-fi quotes that will make you see it in a whole new light.
Science fiction is the kind of book genre that people make a lot of assumptions about. If you've never dabbled in the sci-fi section of the bookstore, you probably assume most of the writing is about aliens and outer space, dark dystopias, and techy futures where robots and humans coexist. While it is true that sci-fi is often about these subjects and includes its fair share of science and technology jargon, for the purposes of believable world building, not every page of the books are like that. The very best stories also include emotion and heart, insight and wonderment, beauty and awe. Like any great novel, sci-fi books are more than just plot lines, character names, and technical terms. They are filled with moments of utter beauty, and there are plenty of quotes to prove it.
Get ready to be blown away with breathtaking words with these 15 surprisingly beautiful sci-fi quotes from some of the best writers in the genre.
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“After all, a person is herself, and others. Relationships chisel the final shape of one's being. I am me, and you.”
— N.K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season
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“I created the OASIS because I never felt at home in the real world. I didn't know how to connect with the people there. I was afraid, for all of my life, right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it's also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real.”
— Ernest Cline, Ready Player One
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“Kindness eases change./ Love quiets fear./ And a sweet and powerful/ Positive obsession/ Blunts pain,/ Diverts rage,/ And engages each of us/ In the greatest,/ The most intense/ Of our chosen struggles.”
— Octavia E. Butler, Parable of Talents
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“Each day means a new twenty-four hours. Each day means everything's possible again. You live in the moment, you die in the moment, you take it all one day at a time.”
— Marie Lu, Legend
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“She flies higher than she’s ever flown before, maybe she is trying to leave the earth. She isn’t sure, she isn’t thinking about it. She’s far in her mind, deep in her own thoughts, the air on her wings feels amazing, she is swimming, rolling through the air as if it’s water. She lifts her head as she flies and lets out a series of loud chirps. And that’s when she sees it. The largest bat ever. Flying faster than any hawk or eagle or owl, roaring like some sort of monster. She doesn’t know the human word ‘dragon’ otherwise she would call it that. There is no time to flee. No time to turn. No time to shriek, and no pain. It is like being thrown into the stars.”
— Nnedi Okorafor, Lagoon
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“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
— Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
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“Some things you can never leave behind. They don't belong to the past. They belong to you.”
— Rick Yancey, The 5th Wave
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“Know yourself. You are worth knowing. Examine your life. The unexamined life is not worth living. Be aware that other people have equal significance. Give them the space to make their own choices, and let their choices count as you want them to let your choices count. Remember that excellence has no stopping point and keep on pursuing it. Make art that can last and that says something nobody else can say. Live the best life you can, and become the best self you can. You cannot know which of your actions is the lever that will move worlds. Not even Necessity knows all ends. Know yourself."
— Jo Walton, The Just City
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“Maybe I'll go where I can see stars, he said to himself as the car gained velocity and altitude; it headed away from San Francisco, toward the uninhabited desolation to the north. To the place where no living thing would go. Not unless it felt that the end had come.”
— Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
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“Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a double existence: he may suffer misery, and be overwhelmed by disappointments; yet, when he has retired into himself, he will be like a celestial spirit that has a halo around him, within whose circle no grief or folly ventures.”
— Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
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“Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it, too?”
— Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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“There's something to be said for hunger: at least it lets you know you're still alive.”
— Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake
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“Stuff your eyes with wonder, he said, live as if you’d drop dead in 10 seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.”
— Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
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“His eyes were eggs of unstable crystal, vibrating with a frequency whose name was rain and the sound of trains, suddenly sprouting a humming forest of hair-fine glass spines.”
— William Gibson, Neuromancer
