“The universe is a dark forest. Every civilization is an armed hunter stalking through the trees like a ghost, gently pushing aside branches that block the path and trying to tread without sound. Even breathing is done with care. The hunter has to be careful, because everywhere in the forest are stealthy hunters like him. If he finds other life—another hunter, an angel or a demon, a delicate infant or a tottering old man, a fairy or a demigod—there’s only one thing he can do: open fire and eliminate them. In this forest, hell is other people. An eternal threat that any life that exposes its own existence will be swiftly wiped out. This is the picture of cosmic civilization. It’s the explanation for the Fermi Paradox.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“If I destroy you, what business is it of yours?”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“For the majority of people, what they love exists only in the imagination. The object of their love is not the man or woman of reality, but what he or she is like in their imagination. The person in reality is just a template used for the creation of this dream lover. Eventually, they find out the differences between their dream lover and the template. If they can get used to those differences, then they can be together. If not, they split up. It’s as simple as that. You differ from the majority in one respect: You didn’t need a template.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“Make time for civilization, for civilization won't make time.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“Staying alive is not enough to guarantee survival. Development is the best way to ensure survival.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“It’s a wonder to be alive. If you don’t understand that, how can you search for anything deeper?”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“Fate lies within the light cone.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“Time is the one thing that can’t be stopped. Like a sharp blade, it silently cuts through hard and soft, constantly advancing. Nothing is capable of jolting it even the slightest bit, but it changes everything.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“My dad said that people who are sensitive to beauty are good by nature, and if they’re not good, then they can’t appreciate beauty.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“Life needed smoothness, but it also needed direction. One could not always be returning to the point of origin.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“do you know what the greatest expression of regard for a race or civilization is?” “No, what?” “Annihilation. That’s the highest respect a civilization can receive. They would only feel threatened by a civilization they truly respect.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“Without the fear of heights, there can be no appreciation for the beauty of high places.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“Ten thousand times the web could be destroyed, and ten thousand times the spider would rebuild it. There was neither annoyance nor despair, nor any delight, just as it had been for a billion years.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“Perhaps the outside world really was something akin to a quantum state, and did not exist unless he observed it.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“No,no.Don't say where we are!Once we know where we are,then the world becomes as narrow as a map.When we don't know,the world feels unlimited.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“The past was like a handful of sand you thought you were squeezing tightly, but which had already run out through the cracks between your fingers. Memory was a river that had run dry long ago, leaving only scattered gravel in a lifeless riverbed.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“Earth’s suitability for human life was no coincidence, much less an effect of the anthropic principle, but rather was an outcome of the long-term interaction between the biosphere and the natural environment,”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“Those two axioms are solid enough from a sociological perspective … but you rattled them off so quickly, like you’d already worked them out,” Luo Ji said, a little surprised. “I’ve been thinking about this for most of my life, but I’ve never spoken about it with anyone before. I don’t know why, really.… One more thing: To derive a basic picture of cosmic sociology from these two axioms, you need two other important concepts: chains of suspicion, and the technological explosion.” “Interesting terms. Can you explain them?” Ye Wenjie glanced at her watch. “There’s no time. But you’re clever enough to figure them out. Use those two axioms as a starting point for your discipline, and you might end up becoming the Euclid of cosmic sociology.” “I’m no Euclid. But I’ll remember what you said and give it a whirl. I might come to you for guidance, though.” “I’m afraid there won’t be that opportunity.… In that case, you might as well just forget I said anything. Either way, I’ve fulfilled my duty. Well, Xiao Luo, I’ve got to go.” “Take care, Professor.” Ye Wenjie went off through the twilight to her final meet-up. The”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“qualitative change is only produced by long-term quantitative accumulation.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“In this forest, hell is other people. An eternal threat that any life that exposes its own existence will be swiftly wiped out. This is the picture of cosmic civilization. It’s the explanation for the Fermi Paradox.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“You know how the joke goes: On the way to the execution ground, a condemned criminal complained that it was going to rain, and the executioner said, ‘What have you got to worry about? We’re the ones who’ve got to go back through it!”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“When twilight fades, you can see the stars. When dawn fades, all that’s left is…” “All that’s left is the harsh light of reality.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“The past was like a handful of sand you thought you were squeezing tightly, but which had already run out through the cracks between your fingers. Memory was a river that had run dry long ago, leaving only scattered gravel in a lifeless riverbed. He had lived life always looking out for the next thing, and whenever he had gained, he had also lost, leaving him with little in the end.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“The past was like a handful of sand you thought you were squeezing tightly, but which had already run out through the cracks between your fingers.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“English, formerly the most widely used language, and Chinese, spoken by the largest population, had blended with each other without distinction to become the world’s most powerful language. Luo Ji learned later that the other languages of the world were undergoing the same fusion.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“Are you under the impression that the object of everyone else’s love actually exists?” “Is that even a question?” “Sure. For the majority of people, what they love exists only in the imagination. The object of their love is not the man or woman of reality, but what he or she is like in their imagination. The person in reality is just a template used for the creation of this dream lover. Eventually, they find out the differences between their dream lover and the template. If they can get used to those differences, then they can be together. If not, they split up. It’s as simple as that. You differ from the majority in one respect: You didn’t need a template.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“The stern of the ship faced the Solar System, where the sun was by now no more than a yellow star just a bit brighter than the rest. The peripheral spiral arm of the Milky Way lay in this direction, its stars sparse. The depth and expanse of deep space exhibited an arrogance that left no support for the mind or the eyes. “Dark. It’s so fucking dark,” the captain murmured, and then shot himself.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“The nurse picked up one of the umbrellas, which must have been fairly heavy, because she had to carry it over her shoulder. “Is it raining out?” She shook her head. “You think I’m carrying an … umbrella?” she said, unfamiliar with the last word. “If it’s not an umbrella, then what is it?” Luo Ji pointed to the device on her shoulder, imagining that she would say some peculiar name for it. But she didn’t. “It’s my bicycle,” she said.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“Once we know where we are, then the world becomes as narrow as a map. When we don’t know, the world feels unlimited.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
“Growing up, his father had used silence rather than speech to educate him, and words were merely the punctuation between the silences.”
― Liu Cixin, quote from The Dark Forest
Liu Cixin
Born place: Beijing, China
See more on GoodReads
“What arrogance made us think we were far enough to be safe?”
― Marcel Theroux, quote from Far North
“A muddy little stream, a village grown unfamiliar with time and trees. I turn around and retrace my way up Main Street and park and have a Coke in the confectionery store. It is run by a Greek, as it used to be, but whether the same Greek or another I would not know. He does not recognize me, nor I him. Only the smell of his place is familiar, syrupy with old delights, as if the ghost of my first banana split had come close to breathe on me.”
― Wallace Stegner, quote from Wolf Willow
“The Pythagoreans were probably the first to recognize the concept that the basic forces in the universe may be expressed through the language of mathematics.”
― quote from The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number
“Dimonte was waiting for him in the Meadowlands parking lot. He leaned out of his red Corvette. “Get in.” “A red Corvette,” Myron said. “Why aren’t I surprised?” “Just get in.” Myron opened the door and slid into the black leather seat. Though they were parked with the engine off, Dimonte gripped the steering wheel with both hands and stared in front of him. His face was sheet-white. The toothpick hung low. He kept shaking his head over and over. Yet again, the subtlety. “Something wrong, Rolly?”
― Harlan Coben, quote from Fade Away
“But I’m not naturally thin. I do struggle. I do deserve credit every single time I think about something in a helpful way or engage in helpful behavior.”
― Judith S. Beck, quote from The Beck Diet Solution
The Best of Oprah's...
Cracked
The Girl with Borrow...
Still Foolin' 'Em: W...
The Curiosities: A C...
Whistling Past the G...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.
