Quotes by Larry Niven

About Larry Niven:

Laurence van Cott Niven is an American science fiction writer. His best-known work is Ringworld (1970), which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. The Science Fiction Writers of America named him the 2015 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. It also often includes elements of detective fiction and adventure stories. His fantasy includes the series The Magic Goes Away, rational fantasy dealing with magic as a non-renewable resource.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

But... watching Steven Barnes taught me to treat my life like an art form.

Larry Niven

The gods do not protect fools. Fools are protected by more capable fools.

Larry Niven

It's very difficult for a black man to get out of South-Central Los Angeles, and get out civilized....The only men I know who have escaped, all began reading Robert Heinlein at age ten.

Larry Niven

1a) Never throw shit at an armed man. 1b) Never stand next to someone who is throwing shit at an armed man.

Larry Niven

Psi and/or magical powers, if real, are nearly useless.

Larry Niven

Spray a book with insect spray, drop it in a bag, add some mothballs and seal it. Put it in another bag and seal it. Another. The packages piled up on the floor, each a book sealed in four plastic envelopes.

Larry Niven

The value of a thing is what that thing will bring. -Legal Maxim

Larry Niven

Never tell a computer to forget it.

Larry Niven

Everything starts as somebody's daydream.

Larry Niven

We're looking as far ahead as we can, and we don't get penalized for mistakes.

Larry Niven

Anything beats an expensive stack of paper.

Larry Niven

We should not have assumed that a political space station could be built.

Larry Niven

In general, I don't know when inspiration will pop up.

Larry Niven

I've got five or six unpublished stories kicking around looking for somebody to buy them.

Larry Niven

My problem with new writers is that it takes me five or six years to memorise the right names.

Larry Niven

Bruce Sterling is one terrific writer and he's relatively new, but I don't know how long he's been doing it; he probably doesn't need the publicity anymore!

Larry Niven

As for AIDS, it's a plague. We are human, we get plagues. They come along every so often, kill off two thirds of the population; in the next generation it's a quarter; after that it's a childhood disease.

Larry Niven

I do not believe they've run out of surprises.

Larry Niven

I do suspect that privacy was a passing fad.

Larry Niven

And every friend I've got has been writing Mars stories. It was pretty clear I'd never catch up.

Larry Niven

Author Bio

  • NameLarry Niven
  • DescriptionAmerican writer
  • BornApril 30, 1938
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionWriter; Novelist
  • WorksRingworld; The Mote In God's Eye
  • AwardsNebula Award