Quotes from Islands in the Net

Bruce Sterling ·  256 pages

Rating: (4.5K votes)


“The rhythm built up, high resonant notes from the buzzing xylophone, the off-scale dipping warble of the flute, the eerie, strangely primeval bass of the synthesizer.
The others punctuated the music with claps and sudden piercing shrieks from behind their veils. Suddenly one began to sing in Tamashek.
"He sings about his synthesizer," Gresham murmured.
"What does he say?"

I humbly adore the acts of the Most High,
Who has given to the synthesizer what is better than a soul.
So that, when it plays, the men are silent,
And their hands cover their veils to hide their emotions.
The troubles of life were pushing me into the tomb,
But thanks to the synthesizer,
God has given me back my life.”
― Bruce Sterling, quote from Islands in the Net


“Hey, check this cheap-shot fascist shit,” David muttered, just for the record.”
― Bruce Sterling, quote from Islands in the Net


“If America suffers from drugs, perhaps you should ask what America is lacking, [“What an asshole,”] Eric King commented suddenly. They ignored him.”
― Bruce Sterling, quote from Islands in the Net


“Because you’re a straight, Laura.” “Stop calling me that!” Laura said. “What makes you so different?” “Look at you,” Carlotta said. “You’re educated. You’re smart. You’re beautiful. You’re married to a goddamn architect. You have a wonderful baby and friends in high places.” Her eyes narrowed; she began to hiss. “Then look at me. I’m a cracker. Ugly. No family. Daddy used to beat me up. I never finished school—I can’t hardly read and write. I’m diselxic, or whatever they call it. You ever wonder what happens to people who can’t read and write? In your fucking beautiful Net world with all its fucking data? No, you never thought of that, did you? If I found a place for myself, it was in the teeth of people like you.”
― Bruce Sterling, quote from Islands in the Net


“They never forget what they can’t have”
― Bruce Sterling, quote from Islands in the Net



About the author

Bruce Sterling
Born place: in Brownsville, Texas, The United States
Born date April 14, 1954
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“I know karate, and like two other Japanese words - T-SHIRT”
― Darynda Jones, quote from Third Grave Dead Ahead


“It is known all over the world that there are no secrets in the ghetto and as long as you keep those secrets, you may keep your life.”
― Felix Alexander, quote from The Last Valentine


“She'll be back," Ranger said. "But not tonight."
[Stephanie] "How'd you get her to leave?"
"Told her I was gonna spend the next twelve hours ruining you for all other men, and so she might as well go home."
I could feel the heat rush to my face.
Ranger gave me the wolf smile. "I lied about it being tonight," he said.”
― Janet Evanovich, quote from Four to Score


“A person's got to think, otherwise that person's no better than a trained seal balancing a ball on his nose. If only that seal could think, he'd know he was making a thousand children laugh.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier


“Just because something was legal didn't automatically make it right.”
― Carl Hiaasen, quote from Hoot


Interesting books

My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey
(19.6K)
My Stroke of Insight...
by Jill Bolte Taylor
Size 14 Is Not Fat Either
(26.5K)
Size 14 Is Not Fat E...
by Meg Cabot
Shosha
(1.6K)
Shosha
by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Shadow Spinner
(6.4K)
Shadow Spinner
by Susan Fletcher
The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million
(4.4K)
The Lost: A Search f...
by Daniel Mendelsohn
Shelter Mountain
(15.4K)
Shelter Mountain
by Robyn Carr

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.