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Gene Wolfe Quotes (1931-2019)
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About Gene Wolfe
Gene Rodman Wolfe (May 7, 1931 – April 14, 2019) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith. He has won many awards in the field, and is hailed by prominent critics and writers as one of the best and most important then-living science fiction authors.
Best Gene Wolfe Quotes
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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Gene Wolfe quotes.
“The jokes of the gods are long in the telling.”
“People who wish to be lost always get their way.”
“Men build scales, but the gods blow upon the lighter pan.”
“One of the questions whose answers we seek is why we seek.”
“As you intend to live hereafter, it is in your power to live here.”
“He was proud, like all lonely men. Lonely men must be proud or die.”
“Paradoxes explain everything. Since they do, they cannot be explained.”
“Experience is a wonderful teacher, but one whose lessons come too late.”
“People who fear death live no longer than those who don't, and live scared.”
“When neither our fellows nor our gods spoil our plans, we spoil them ourselves.”
““You’re called a holy man,” she said. “I see you’re wholly deranged.””
“When a tree is very old, yet still lives, sometimes the limbs are strangely twisted.”
““We can only hope.”
“That’s like the frog said when he seen the stork.””
“That’s like the frog said when he seen the stork.””
“Be careful about extending credit, too, and doubly careful about refusing to extend it.”
Gene Wolfe Quotes by Topic
Find exactly what you are looking for by browsing this categorized list of Gene Wolfe quotes by topic.
Gene Wolfe on Paradox 2 quotes
“Paradoxes explain everything. Since they do, they cannot be explained.”
Gene Wolfe on Afterlife
“As you intend to live hereafter, it is in your power to live here.”
Gene Wolfe on Solemnity
Gene Wolfe on Silence
Gene Wolfe on Explanations
“Paradoxes explain everything. Since they do, they cannot be explained.”
Gene Wolfe on Experience
“Experience is a wonderful teacher, but one whose lessons come too late.”
Gene Wolfe on Faith
Gene Wolfe on Birds
Gene Wolfe on Alcoholism
“Men to whom wine had brought death long before lay by springs of wine and drank still, too stupefied to know their lives were past.”
Gene Wolfe on Drunkenness
“Men to whom wine had brought death long before lay by springs of wine and drank still, too stupefied to know their lives were past.”
Gene Wolfe on Language
“Evolution teaches us the original purpose of language was to ritualize men's threats and curses, his spells to compel the gods; communication came later.”
Gene Wolfe on Communication
“Evolution teaches us the original purpose of language was to ritualize men's threats and curses, his spells to compel the gods; communication came later.”
What Gene Wolfe Said About Others
Discover personal opinions Gene Wolfe shared regarding contemporaries.
Gene Wolfe on British people
“The British have always fought, to be sure. No nation on Earth can be taken seriously in historical circles unless it has had at least one war with the British; it's like not having an American Express card. And yet the very idea of Britain in a contemporary war is a shock. Britain, one feels, fights in history books and not on TV.”
Gene Wolfe on R. A. Lafferty
“No true reader who has read as much as a single story by Raphael Aloysius Lafferty needs to be told that he is our most original writer. … Just about everything Lafferty writes is fun, is witty, is entertaining and playful. But it is not easy, for it is a mingling of allegory with myth, and of both with something more ... In fact, he may not be just ours, but the most original writer in the history of literature.”
Quotes About Gene Wolfe
Gain deeper perspective through quotes about Gene Wolfe from others.
Neil Gaiman on Gene Wolfe
“Reading Gene Wolfe is dangerous work. It's a knife-throwing act, and like all good knife-throwing acts, you may lose fingers, toes, earlobes or eyes in the process. Gene doesn't mind. Gene is throwing the knives.”
China Mieville on Gene Wolfe
“Gene Wolfe is a religious Republican, but his tragico-Catholic perspective leads to a deeply unglamorized and unsanitized awareness of social reality.”
Joanna Russ on Gene Wolfe
“Wolfe writes theology when he writes SF (he's Catholic, you know). I find some of his stories very restrictive because of this, but he does convey this sense of wonder beautifully.”
About Gene Wolfe
Gene Rodman Wolfe (May 7, 1931 – April 14, 2019) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith. He has won many awards in the field, and is hailed by prominent critics and writers as one of the best and most important then-living science fiction authors.