John Scalzi Quotes

I grew up in southern California in the 80s. Yes, I am a walking cliche.

When you're a kid all you want to do is be somewhere else.

I'm not insane, sir. I have a finely calibrated sense of acceptable risk.

I don't care whether I really exist or don't, whether I'm real or fictional. What I want right now is to be the person who decides my own fate.

The more I want a book to be done, the faster I type because I just want to get it out.

You do what you have to do to give people closure; it makes them feel better and it doesn't cost you much to do it. I'd rather apologize for something I didn't really care about and leave someone on Earth wishing me well.

I can describe to you the taste of government cheese.

I failed angst in high school. They let me graduate anyway.

Libertarians secretly worried that ultimately someone will figure out the whole of their political philosophy boils down to “Get Off My Property.” News flash: This is not really a big secret to the rest of us.

When it came time to make the audiobook, Audible did an ingenious thing: they asked both Wil Wheaton and Amber Benson to record entire versions of the book. As the author, I'm impressed with Audible's commitment to my narrative -- and I'm geeking out that both Wil and Amber are reading my book. This is fantastic.

The original sin of Republicans is greed. Everyone understands greed. Everybody wants to get theirs. The original sin of Democrats is pity. Greed is more attractive, and a better motivator, than pity.

The Scooby gang doesn't travel because they are looking for crimes to solve. They travel because they're one step ahead of the deprogrammers. Somehow, Fred's got them all snookered. It probably has something to do with the Scooby Snacks.

I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife's grave. Then I joined the army.

There's a difference between the fact that the universe is inherently unfair on a cosmic level, and the fact that life is unfair because people are actively making it so.

I will not let my sales figures dictate what I say on the blog, because the blog is what I want to say.

If you want me to treat your ideas with more respect, get some better ideas.

When you're a teenager and you're in love, it's obvious to everyone but you and the person you're in love with.

We've already established whoever is writing us is an asshole.

My marriage had its ups and downs like anyone's, but when it came down to it, I knew it was solid. I miss that sort of security, and that sort of connection with someone.

GamerGate is about harassing, threatening and silencing women. Started that way, has been that way all along. Dont pretend otherwise.

As a reader, I have a very short attention span and a low tolerance for boredom, and I find that comes in handy with my writing. If I get bored writing something, I pity the people who will then try to read it.

I thought I saw him once, but it turned out to be a yeti

Star Wars is not entertainment. Star Wars is George Lucas masturbating to a picture of Joseph Campbell and conning billions of people into watching the money shot.

I both love and am terrified by Greg Van Eekhout's vision of Los Angeles. I already want to go back.

Reddit is not a public utility or a public square; its a privately owned space on the Internet.

Now, you may think that this is some sort of generalized hatred that I will carry for the lot of you. Let me assure you that this is not the case. Each of you will fail, but you will fail in your own unique way, and therefore I will dislike each of you on an individual basis.

Being poor is people wondering why you didn't leave.

When you lose someone you love, you die too, and you wait around for your body to catch up.

Ultimately the first, best step in getting your work noticed is to write good work. If people don't engage in your writing, no amount of serialization or free downloads is going to matter. You have to write something worth reading, and often it takes time to get at that level.

The story of how I left Huckleberry begins -- as do all worthy stories -- with a goat

Engrave this in your brain: EVERY WRITER GETS REJECTED. You will be no different.

Here's a quick rule of thumb: Don't annoy science fiction writers. These are people who destroy entire planets before lunch. Think of what they'll do to you.

Guns don’t kill people. The aliens behind the triggers do.

Christianity is a fine religion and I wish more Christians practiced it.

I didn't mind getting old when I was young. It's the being old now that's getting to me.

Sooner or later the Narrative will come for each of us.

I know a little bit about deaf culture because a friend of mine has been in the deaf culture for awhile. Over the course of 25 years, she and I have talked about many of the issues and concerns for deaf people and deaf culture.

If your social consciousness seems stuck in 1975, 2014 is gonna be a rough ride.

If your flirting strategy is indistinguishable from harassment, it's not everyone else that's the problem.

Don’t discount that part of who he was just because you didn’t know it. None of us are all of who we are to any one person.

I am not responsible for actions of the imaginary version of me you have inside your head.

You would rather face a life without me than to have me choose a life I would not choose for myself.

It's easier to miss her at a cemetery, where she's never been anything but dead, than to miss her at all the places where she was alive.

Fear is a scavenger who feeds on the future; on what may be and what is possible, extending down the line of our lives.

Never anger a sci-fi writer. These people destroy entire planets over lunch. Imagine what they'll do to you.

I do think people of good will can have different opinions but still be coming not from a place of malice.

Fear sits and smiles and is predatory, immobile and silent and serene; an observer who conserves his energy and is content to wait.

In other words, crew deaths are a feature, not a bug," Cassaway said, dryly.