Prose writers are interested mostly in life and commas.

Children know perfectly well that unicorns aren’t real, but they also know that books about unicorns, if they are good books, are true books.

We read books to find out who we are.

The model of modern Western civilization is the virus: the pure bit of information, which turns its environment into endless reproductions of itself.

The Earth is beautiful, and bright, and kindly, but that is not all. The Earth is also terrible, and dark, and cruel. The rabbit shrieks dying in the green meadows. The mountains clench their great hands full of hidden fire. There are sharks in the sea, and there is cruelty in men's eyes.

... the habit of literature [is] the best defense against believing the half-truths of ideologues and the lies of demagogues.

Sci-fi uses the images that sf - starting with H.G. Wells - made familiar: space travel, aliens, galactic wars and federations, time machines, et cetera, taking them literally, not caring if they are possible or even plausible. It has no interest in or relation to real science or technology. It's fantasy in space suits. Spectacle. Wizards with lasers. Kids with ray guns. I've written both, but I have to say I respect science fiction enough that I wince when people call it sci-fi.