The worst mistake of first contact, made throughout history by individuals on both sides of every new encounter, has been the unfortunate habit of making assumptions. It often proved fatal.

It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.

I would normally never set out to write a trilogy.

Cultural contamination that is directed outward is always seen as ‘enlightenment.'

You don't have conversations with microprocessors. You tell them what to do, then helplessly watch the disaster when they take you literally!

Change is the principal feature of our age and literature should explore how people deal with it. The best science fiction does that, head-on.

Self-awareness is probably overrated. A complex, self-regulating system doesn't need it in order to be successful, or even smart.