Michael Moorcock Quotes (1939-)

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About Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is a prolific British writer and editor, long known for his SF and fantasy works and now also for literary novels.

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β€œHow the weak hate weakness.”
β€œTyrants hate original thinking.”
β€œTime to be moving; moves to be timing.”
Michael Moorcock
β€œTime was the enemy of identity.”
Michael Moorcock
β€œThe subtlest lie of all is the full truth.”
Michael Moorcock
β€œStagnation’s no substitute for stability.”
β€œBut regret was useless now, so he forgot it.”
Michael Moorcock
β€œYesterday’s underdog is tomorrow’s tyrant.”
β€œTechnology is potential freedom from brutality.”
Michael Moorcock
β€œRegret is useless since it can achieve nothing.”
β€œMortals and gods come and go, but nature remains.”
Michael Moorcock
β€œEverything means nothingβ€”that is the only truth.”
β€œIrony, Lady Sue, is no substitute for imagination.”
Michael Moorcock
β€œMan is a rationalizing beast, if not a rational one.”
β€œPerhaps he was old and wise, perhaps he was just old.”
β€œWhy do we worship such a god when whim decides him so often?”
Michael Moorcock
β€œAgain that smile of exquisite and self-congratulatory piety.”
β€œAn unquestioned creed is a noose about the throat of Reason.”
Michael Moorcock
β€œHe realised that Law and Order were not particularly compatible.”
β€œIt’s all a question of power and rarely a question of justice.”
Michael Moorcock
β€œWild days, wild riders, and the stink of warfare across the world!”
β€œBetter wicked Lucifer for a master, thought I, than a pious Tyrant!”
Michael Moorcock
β€œβ€œYou look ahead.”
β€œI look around. Ahead’s here already.””
β€œThe barbarians don’t come from outside the walls any more, do they?”
β€œBecause I had sought to challenge Destiny, Destiny had taken vengeance.”
Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock Quotes by Topic

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Michael Moorcock on Time 3 quotes

β€œβ€œI am already late, I fear. What time is it?” β€œTime? Why the present, of course.””
Michael Moorcock
View all 3 quotes on Time →

Michael Moorcock on God

β€œIf God is merciful, He provides us with little evidence.”
Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock on Tyranny

β€œThere is nothing more puerile than the mind of a tyrant.”
Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock on Universe

β€œI addressed no one. I addressed the universe. I addressed a void.”
Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock on Eye colour

β€œShe was a sharp-jawed, pout-lipped beauty and her eyes were green as scum.”
Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock on Light skin

β€œIt is the colour of a bleached skull, his flesh; and the long hair which flows below his shoulders is milk-white.”
Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock on Free will

β€œI said: β€œThen in reality I had little choice.” β€œLet us say that your character has already determined your choice.””
Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock on Violence

β€œViolence creates nothing but violence, no matter what we call it and what the excuse. And so it goes, down all the centuries.”
Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock on Lying

β€œBy telling a single lie to oneself or to another, by denying a single fact of the world as it has been created, one adds to the World’s Pain.”
Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock on Salvation

β€œI not only questioned the possibility that salvation existed; I questioned whether God’s salvation was worth the earning. Again I began to see the struggle between God and Lucifer as nothing more than a squabble between petty princelings over who should possess power in a tiny, unimportant territory. The fate of the tenants of that territory did not much seem to matter to them; and even the reward of those tenants’ loyalty seemed thin enough to me.”
Michael Moorcock

What Michael Moorcock Said About Others

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Michael Moorcock on Women

β€œShe was a sharp-jawed, pout-lipped maiden and her eyes were green as scum.”
Michael Moorcock

Quotes About Michael Moorcock

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Joe Bernstein on Michael Moorcock

β€œA whole tangle of series, possibly including everything Moorcock's written, not excluding his grocery lists, but I'm not sure; certainly includes most of his fantasy. Various subseries are declared complete every so often, as for example in an ad for the Last Elric Book in the current issue of F&SF; such declarations sometimes prove true, but on the other hand, I've seen several previous Last Elric Books.”

China Mieville on Michael Moorcock

β€œMoorcock is an erudite Left-anarchist and a giant of fantasy literature. Almost everything he’s written is of interest, but Hawkmoon is chosen here in honor of Moorcock having said about it: β€œIn a spirit consciously at odds with the jingoism of the day, I chose a German for a hero and the British for villains.””

About Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is a prolific British writer and editor, long known for his SF and fantasy works and now also for literary novels.