John W. Campbell Quotes

That's the trouble with languages. They have to be learned.

Pioneering basically amounts to finding new and more horrible ways to die

Write me a creature that thinks as well as a man or better than a man, but not like a man.

Editors never buy manuscripts that are left on the closet shelf at home.

We presuppose two things: that there is yet to be learned infinitely more than is now known, and that man can learn it.

Never accept the initial premise of the opposition.

History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells, 'Can't you remember anything I told you?' and lets fly with a club.

No literature is sound, no philosophy of action workable, if it doesn't take a hard look at itself.

Generally, a desirable, practically attainable idea, suggested in prophecy, has a chance of forcing itself into reality by its very existence.

Immunity corrupts; absolute immunity corrupts absolutely.

Man studied birds for centuries, trying to learn how to make a machine to fly like them. He never did do the trick; his final success came when he broke away entirely and tried new methods.

There's nothing quite so stultifying as having someone around who has all the answers-and gives them to you.

Too darned good a machine can be a menace, not a help.