I got to spend all of my time every day at work reading and editing papers about cutting-edge technical research and getting paid for it. Then I'd go home at night and turn what I learned into science fiction stories.

I had a minor in Russian history, and this was at the time when the big Cold War was going on.

A moment of consideration often prevents a thousand apologies

Of course you don't make any noise in space, because there's no air.

Over the years, I've trained myself to speak using the same language I would use if I were typing: meaning using full sentences in the way that paragraphs and scenes are arranged.

There will come a time of fire and night, when enemies rise and empires fall, when the stars themselves begin to die.

We must think beyond ourselves