The life of a poet lies not merely in the finite language-dance of expression but in the nearly infinite combinations of perception and memory combined with the sensitivity to what is perceived and remembered.

In such seconds of decision entire futures are made.

But I think, and hope, that the novels can be understood and enjoyed as science fiction, on their own terms.

I now understand the need for faith - pure, blind, fly-in-the-face-of-reason faith - as a small life preserver in the wild and endless sea of a universe ruled by unfeeling laws and totally indifferent to the small, reasoning beings that inhabit it.

All violence flows from the same source ... the need for power. Power is the only true morality ... the only deathless god, and the appetite for violence is its only commandment.

What, after all, is more real to us than the geography of our childhoods?

It occurs to me that our survival may depend upon our talking to one another.