I think that if there's one key insight science can bring to fiction, it's that fiction - the study of the human condition - needs to broaden its definition of the human condition. Because the human condition isn't immutable and doomed to remain uniform forever.
Charles Stross
Related Fiction is the study of the human condition under imagined circumstances. CHARLES STROSS The business of fiction is the study of the human condition, and gender is something that many human... CHARLES STROSS Bradbury would have said his plots are myths and metaphors that tell stories about the human conditi... SAM WELLER Certainly, I think being depressed is absolutely part of the human condition, it has to be, if there... BOB GELDOF If I laugh a couple of times a day, I'm doing good. People think it's their God-given right ... JOHN MELLENCAMP One of the things that science fiction gets to do is thought experiments about the human condition t... ROBERT J. SAWYER I think it's unfair, but they have the right as fallible, screwed-up humans to be unfair; that... ALBERT ELLIS I just think that fiction that isn't exploring what it means to be human today isn't art. DAVID FOSTER WALLACE Man's biological weakness is the condition of human culture. ERICH FROMM The function of the novel is the exploration of the human condition. Really, that's what it'... PATRICK O'BRIAN I try to find scripts of stories that kinda celebrate the human condition... let's talk about th... GARRY MARSHALL The human condition today is better than it's ever been, and technology is one of the reasons fo... TOM CLANCY All nonmimetic fiction is a balancing act between 'reality' and the obviously unreal, with n... NANCY KRESS If we can't laugh at ourselves and the human condition, we're going to be mean. EILEEN BRENNAN I love the grandiosity, how sweepingly entertaining films can be. And I think there's a place fo... COLIN FARRELL Writing means sharing. It's part of the human condition to want to share things - thoughts, idea... PAULO COELHO I think that's what distinguishes Schmidt, really. In the movies now, so much of what is appeali... JACK NICHOLSON I don't believe in alcohol. It's a sort of a medicinal necessity for the human condition, no... T. J. MILLER Are you taking us to the beach?" - Dan Cahill JUDE WATSON I was attracted to science fiction because it was so wide open. I was able to do anything and there ... OCTAVIA BUTLER I was attracted to science fiction because it was so wide open. I was able to do anything and there ... OCTAVIA E. BUTLER I think music is a lifting force, I think love is the lifting force in the human condition. I think ... DAVID CROSBY It looks ancient," - Amy Cahill JUDE WATSON Ridley Scott's 'Prometheus' is a magnificent science-fiction film, all the more intrigui... ROGER EBERT I don't feel one's personal medical condition is everybody's business. It just isn't... ARETHA FRANKLIN Everybody is looking for validation, no matter who you are, and I think that's a need of the hum... ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ INARRITU A short story is a shard, a sliver, a vignette. It's a biopsy on the human condition but it does... WILL SELF Expand the definition of 'reading' to include non-fiction, humor, graphic novels, magazines,... JON SCIESZKA The "human condition" is always to push forward for the better and economics is the study of that pr... BRIAN S. WESBURY Linguistics is very much a science. It's a human science, one of the human sciences. And it'... SAMUEL R. DELANY It SMELLS ancient," - Dan Cahill JUDE WATSON Palm trees were fanned by a warm, light breeze, and they rolled down their windows to smell the sea. JUDE WATSON I don't know if my work is a concerted effort to make kids sad! But life and death go hand in ha... PATRICIA POLACCO I'm consistently telling stories about the value of the human condition and connectedness and th... J. H. WYMAN Practically every fella that breaks the law has a danged good reason, to his own way of thinking, wh... JIM THOMPSON Anybody who dedicates himself to exploring the human condition, there's always a detached eye th... OSCAR ISAAC Many science fiction writers are literary autodidacts who focus on the genre primarily as a literatu... CHARLES STROSS People who are mean or unkind or rigid - think about it - cannot laugh at themselves. If we can'... EILEEN BRENNAN In most of history, societies have not been free. It's a very rare society that is free. The def... MICHAEL NOVAK I'm just trying to say that it should reassure us that the inevitable traumas of being human do ... MALCOLM GLADWELL Fiction's about what it is to be a human being. DAVID FOSTER WALLACE In terms of the mechanics of story, myth is an intriguing one because we didn't make myth up; my... BAZ LUHRMANN I think it is a quest of literature throughout the ages to describe the human condition. WERNER HERZOG There must be possible a fiction which, leaving sociology and case histories to the scientists, can ... RALPH ELLISON The guitar for me is a translation device. It's not a goal. And in some ways, jazz isn't a d... PAT METHENY I think sometimes people can get lost in the bigger special effects, science fiction, robot stuff, a... DAKOTA FANNING I don't think most people are all heroic or all villainous, so I find ambiguity of motivations t... ANN NOCENTI Mortality defines the human condition. DREW GILPIN FAUST When you're writing non-fiction, you go as far as you can go, and then ethically you have to sto... GERALDINE BROOKS [...] if Jesus is not the answer to the human condition, there is no answer. NIK RIPKEN I think the Hajj tends to reflect the state of the Ummah. That's one of the things about the Haj... HAMZA YUSUF I think there's always been, to some degree, a misunderstanding about what science fiction is al... ROBERT J. SAWYER The truth, of course, is that the only necessary and sufficient condition for human beings to murder... JEFFREY KLUGER There is a reason the word belonging has a synonym for want at its center; it is the human condition... JODI PICOULT Living is a constant process of deciding what we are going to do. JOSé ORTEGA Y GASSET People carry their secrets in hidden places, not on their faces. They carry suffering on their faces... STEVE TOLTZ Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. STEPHEN R. COVEY It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social b... KARL MARX All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits... WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE What you think of others is what you know about yourself THOMAS WEIDEMANN It was childish to feel disappointed, but childishness comes almost as naturally to a man as to a ch... ISAAC ASIMOV Your kind has a supersitious terror of things ugly and broken; you gear that their conditon may some... CLIVE BARKER Oamenii sunt păsări nemaiîntâlnite, cu aripi crescute înlăuntru, care bat plutind, p... NICHITA STăNESCU The practice of patience toward one another, the overlooking of one another's defects, and the b... LAWRENCE G. LOVASIK If you record the world honestly, there's no way people can stop being funny. A lot of fiction w... LORRIE MOORE There isn't a religion on earth that isn't damaging to the human race because every one of t... SUSAN POWTER No society has been able to abolish human sadness, no political system can deliver us from the pai... EUGENE IONESCO No society has been able to abolish human sadness, no political system can deliver us from the pain ... EUGENE IONESCO In the end, we know what makes us happy. We also know what makes us unhappy. That's the irony. W... HARLAN COBEN There's a reason why every human society has fiction. It teaches us how to be 'good', to... ORSON SCOTT CARD I wanted to understand pain and the human condition, which is full of pain and regret and sadness - ... KIM CATTRALL I really believe that all of us have a lot of darkness in our souls. Anger, rage, fear, sadness. I d... KEVIN BACON It's quite fun to mess with the human voice. It's quite special in the sense that the voice ... FLUME At the end of day, what matters most to God, what moves His heart, isn't our fancy words and imp... VICTORIA OSTEEN Whether its a real person or not, is irrelevant, ... The human condition is the same. CHARLIZE THERON Remember, science fiction's always been the kind of first level alert to think about things to c... STEVEN SPIELBERG The challenge of the retail business is the human condition. HOWARD SCHULTZ There is a condition worse than blindness, and that is, seeing something that isn't there. THOMAS HARDY I like science fiction. Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick and Vonnegut, and I really like Margaret At... CONOR OBERST Human life moves only in one direction - toward disease, damage, and death. The best you can hope fo... THOMAS LIGOTTI I'm drawn to ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances, which is a big ... SISSY SPACEK The 'science' in 'science fiction' isn't just physics and engineering. It can al... ANN LECKIE I came to love silence, because it's so rare, and it's now my favorite aural condition. MIKE NICHOLS NI love watching science fiction because I feel like when it's done well, it's not just mons... ALAN ARKIN Try to come to a place where you accept your own imperfections. Where it‟s okay to be less than pe... DANU MORRIGAN Science fiction writers have usually been very poor prognosticators of the future, either in literar... L. E. MODESITT, JR. Man's biological weakness is the condition of human culture. ERICH FROMM The earth is the very quintessence of the human condition. HANNAH ARENDT If you are in any way squeamish or genteel, skip 'Gillespie and I.' If you'd like to kno... CAROLYN SEE And by the way, I wanted to point out that Kindred is not science fiction. You'll note there'... OCTAVIA BUTLER Gambling is part of the human condition. I love it. I have the best time gambling. I've been win... JERRY LEWIS Every man bears the whole stamp of the human condition. MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE Anybody who believes and experiences their life and doesn't have shades of gray in it doesn'... ALEXIS DENISOF The largest room in the world is room for improvement. You know, some mornings my thighs are fat. So... DIANE LANE The human condition is not perfect. We are not perfect specimens, any of us. We're not robots. MICHAEL OVITZ The road to enlightenment requires a life dedicated to self-study, accepting the minor tragedies of ... KILROY J. OLDSTER I can't do fiction unless I visualize what's going on. When I began to write science fiction... WILLIAM GIBSON I think (art) teaches us about another time period, about the human condition. ELLEN ALVORD I definitely gravitate towards quality genre projects and genre of any kind whether it's science... EMMA CAULFIELD Gossip isn't scandal and it's not merely malicious. It's chatter about the human race by... PHYLLIS MCGINLEY
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CHARLES DICKENS How sweet it is to learn the Savior's love when nobody else loves us! When friends flee, what a ... CHARLES SPURGEON Cast away your sloth, your lethargy, your coldness, or whatever interferes with your chaste and pure... CHARLES SPURGEON 'You are no saint,' says the devil. Well, if I am not, I am a sinner, and Jesus Christ came ... CHARLES SPURGEON None are more unjust in their judgments of others than those who have a high opinion of themselves. CHARLES SPURGEON Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are... CHARLES SPURGEON A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you... CHARLES SPURGEON Free will carried many a soul to hell, but never a soul to heaven. CHARLES SPURGEON Many people cycle or swim to keep trim. But if swimming is so good for the figure, how do you explai... CHARLES SAATCHI Cows are my passion. What I have ever sighed for has been to retreat to a Swiss farm, and live entir... CHARLES DICKENS In architecture the idea degenerated. Design allows a more direct and pleasurable route. CHARLES EAMES We work because it's a chain reaction, each subject leads to the next. CHARLES EAMES It is not easy to do something good, but it is extremely difficult to do something bad. CHARLES EAMES Ideas are cheap. Always be passionate about ideas and communicating those ideas and discoveries to o... CHARLES EAMES To whom does design address itself: to the greatest number, to the specialist of an enlightened matt... CHARLES EAMES It is almost impossible to reconcile self expression with the creative act. CHARLES EAMES It makes me feel guilty that anybody should have such a good time doing what they are supposed to do... CHARLES EAMES The real questions are: Does it solve a problem? Is it serviceable? How is it going to look in ten y... CHARLES EAMES Who ever said that pleasure wasn't functional? CHARLES EAMES Art resides in the quality of doing, process is not magic. CHARLES EAMES Choose your corner, pick away at it carefully, intensely and to the best of your ability and that wa... CHARLES EAMES Having a bunch of cats around is good. If you're feeling bad, you just look at the cats, you'... CHARLES BUKOWSKI It is only the great hearted who can be true friends. The mean and cowardly, Can never know what tru... CHARLES KINGSLEY Inside my empty bottle I was constructing a lighthouse while all the others were making ships. CHARLES SIMIC Sincerity makes the very least person to be of more value than the most talented hypocrite. CHARLES SPURGEON Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that&... CHARLES MINGUS The possessors of wealth can scarcely be indifferent to processes which, nearly or remotely have bee... CHARLES BABBAGE Some kinds of nails, such as those used for defending the soles of coarse shoes, called hobnails, re... CHARLES BABBAGE The accumulation of skill and science which has been directed to diminish the difficulty of producin... CHARLES BABBAGE Telegraphs are machines for conveying information over extensive lines with great rapidity. CHARLES BABBAGE The public character of every public servant is legitimate subject of discussion, and his fitness or... CHARLES BABBAGE Surely, if knowledge is valuable, it can never be good policy in a country far wealthier than Tuscan... CHARLES BABBAGE In England, the profession of the law is that which seems to hold out the strongest attraction to ta... CHARLES BABBAGE Another mode of accumulating power arises from lifting a weight and then allowing it to fall. CHARLES BABBAGE That the state of knowledge in any country will exert a directive influence on the general system of... CHARLES BABBAGE The difference between a tool and a machine is not capable of very precise distinction; nor is it ne... CHARLES BABBAGE The fatigue produced on the muscles of the human frame does not altogether depend on the actual forc... CHARLES BABBAGE There are few circumstances which so strongly distinguish the philosopher, as the calmness with whic... CHARLES BABBAGE In mathematics we have long since drawn the rein, and given over a hopeless race. CHARLES BABBAGE The half minute which we daily devote to the winding-up of our watches is an exertion of labour almo... CHARLES BABBAGE The economy of human time is the next advantage of machinery in manufactures. CHARLES BABBAGE Whenever the work is itself light, it becomes necessary, in order to economize time, to increase the... CHARLES BABBAGE At each increase of knowledge, as well as on the contrivance of every new tool, human labour becomes... CHARLES BABBAGE A tool is usually more simple than a machine; it is generally used with the hand, whilst a machine i... CHARLES BABBAGE If there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers. CHARLES DICKENS Nothing reflects so much honor on a workman as a trial of his work and its endurance of it. So it is... CHARLES SPURGEON There is a mystique about psychiatry that people think that you have some kind of a magical lens, yo... CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER I realized that If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes. CHARLES LINDBERGH I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse. CHARLES V One of the important things about temptation is, if I'm going to deal with it I'm going to h... CHARLES STANLEY A Christian has no right being in a fight unless it's a spiritual fight. CHARLES STANLEY A man can preach no better than he prays. CHARLES STANLEY An unschooled man who knows how to meditate upon the Lord has learned far more than the man with the... CHARLES STANLEY The Bible is clear that those who fail to heed the Lord's discipline - whether nations, cities, ... CHARLES STANLEY Helping someone come to a saving knowledge of Christ is the greatest achievement possible. CHARLES STANLEY In our friendships we have to be wise that we choose godly people to be our friends. Somebody might ... CHARLES STANLEY Basically, there are two paths you can walk: faith or fear. It's impossible to simultaneously tr... CHARLES STANLEY The bottom line in the Christian life is obedience and most people don't even like the word. CHARLES STANLEY One of Satan's most deceptive and powerful ways of defeating us is to get us to believe a lie. A... CHARLES STANLEY Earthly wisdom is doing what comes naturally. Godly wisdom is doing what the Holy Spirit compels us ... CHARLES STANLEY Every test, every trial, every heartache that's been significant, I can turn it over and see how... CHARLES STANLEY What if others suffer shipwreck, yet none that sail with Jesus have ever been stranded yet. CHARLES SPURGEON You have to believe in a placebo or it won't work, but if it works, it's obviously working i... CHARLES JENCKS Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory. RAY CHARLES Friendship is held to be the severest test of character. It is easy, we think, to be loyal to a fami... CHARLES EASTMAN The Bible tells us that God will meet all our needs. He feeds the birds of the air and clothes the g... CHARLES STANLEY The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take... CHARLES BUKOWSKI In the same way the sun never grows weary of shining, nor a stream of flowing, it is God's natur... 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CHARLES DICKENS There are women who can make you feel more with their bodies and their souls, but these are the exac... CHARLES BUKOWSKI The rule in carving holds good as to criticism; never cut with a knife what you can cut with a spoon... CHARLES BUXTON Iron hand in a velvet glove. CHARLES V It takes a real man to make a true confession - a Chocolate Soldier will excuse or cloak his sin. CHARLES STUDD There exist only three beings worthy of respect: the priest, the soldier, the poet. To know, to kill... CHARLES BAUDELAIRE You can repeat things because it's on a set and there are actors. But if it's a great moment... LARRY CHARLES I don't want to just add another DVD to the pile. So I think, 'Is this going to have an impa... LARRY CHARLES I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. I grew up in a very Jewish neighbourhood and thought the whole worl... LARRY CHARLES There is nothing so strong or safe in an emergency of life as the simple truth. 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CHARLES TUPPER My wife and I met right down the street. Our single, 'Just a Kiss' is kind of about that mom... CHARLES KELLEY I thought it very touching to see these two women, coarse and shabby and beaten, so united; to see w... CHARLES DICKENS We said that a single injustice, a single crime, a single illegality, particularly if it is official... CHARLES PEGUY We should weep for men at their birth, not at their death. CHARLES MONTESQUIEU There is no such thing as death. In nature nothing dies. From each sad remnant of decay, some forms ... CHARLES MACKAY Those who think in Britain they can push the Brexit button and not have a bill to pay are seriously ... CHARLES MICHEL In Britain ever more, they will realize that Brexit, well, has consequences - economic, commercial, ... CHARLES MICHEL God buries His workmen but carries on His work. CHARLES WESLEY Make em laugh; make em cry; make em wait. CHARLES READE The power of administrative bodies to make finding of fact which may be treated as conclusive, if th... CHARLES HUGHES We are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is, and the judiciary is... CHARLES HUGHES Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many - not on your past misfortunes, of w... CHARLES DICKENS There is a wisdom of the head, and a wisdom of the heart. CHARLES DICKENS