The Great Geek Manual

Facts are the children of imagination. It’s only through the eye of the imagination that you see the true picture of this strange universe. If imagination is strong and pure, unsullied by doubt, its truth is the only truth. Facts are simply what they’re imagined to be.

- “The Legend of Ernie Deacon” by William F. Temple, 1965.

Science fiction is the literature of the Technological Era. It, unlike other literatures, assumes that change is the natural order of things, that there are goals ahead larger than those we know.

- John W. Campbell, Jr., in an introduction to The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology, 1952.

[T]he course of every intellectual, if he pursues his journey long and unflinchingly enough, ends in the obvious, from which the non-intellectuals have never stirred.

- Point Counter Point by Aldous Huxley, 1928.

Whenever you see a bunch of buggers puttering around talking about truth and beauty and the best way of attacking Ethics, you can bet your sandals it’s because dozens of other poor buggers are doing all the real work around the place.

- Small Gods by Terry Pratchett, 1992.

Things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway.

Not only is science fiction an idea of tremendous import, but it is to be an important factor in making the world a better place to live in, through educating the public to the possibilities of science and the influence of science on life which, even today, are not appreciated by the man on the street.

[...] If every man, woman, boy and girl, could be induced to read science fiction right along, there would certainly be a great resulting benefit to the community, in that the educational standards of its people would be raised tremendously. Science fiction would make people happier, give them a broader understanding of the world, make them more tolerant.

- “Science FictionWeek” by Hugo Gernsback, 1930.

“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens,” said Gimli.

“Maybe,” said Elrond, “but let him not vow to walk in the dark, who has
not seen the nightfall.”

- The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1954.

Science is part of a larger human enterprise, and that enterprise includes going to the stars, adapting to other planets, adapting them to us. [. . .] The whole meaning of the universe, its beauty, is contained in the consciousness of intelligent life. We are the consciousness of the universe, and our job is to spread that around, to go look at things, to live everywhere we can.

- Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, 1992.