“ For what are myths if not the imposing of order on phenomena that do not possess order in themselves? And all myths, however they differ from philosophical systems and scientific theories, share this… Stanislaw Lem
“ It was not possible to think except with one’s brain, no one could stand outside himself in order to check the functioning of his inner processes. Stanislaw Lem
“ We take off into the cosmos, ready for anything: for solitude, for hardship, for exhaustion, death. Modesty forbids us to say so, but there are times when we think pretty well of ourselves. And yet, i… Stanislaw Lem
“ It was not that the ocean depths served the creatures there with darkness, to protect them from attack--a darkness they could light, as they needed, with luminescence--but vice versa: the darkness gav… Stanislaw Lem
“ Purpose informed every scene on Earth, the planet that produced life, because every detail there had its benefit, its teleology. True, it did not always--but billions of years of organic labor had acc… Stanislaw Lem
“ Everyone knows that dragons don’t exist. But while this simplistic formulation may satisfy the layman, it does not suffice for the scientific mind. The School of Higher Neantical Nillity is in fact wh… Stanislaw Lem
“ One day Trurl the constructor put together a machine that could build anything beginning with the letter 'n'. Stanislaw Lem
“ Certainly not! I didn't build a machine to solve ridiculous crossword puzzles! That's hack work, not Great Art! Just give it a topic, any topic, as difficult as you like...Klapaucius thought, and thou… Stanislaw Lem
“ Every science comes with its own pseudo-science, a bizarre distortion that comes from a certain kind of mind. Stanislaw Lem
“ Books are no longer read but eaten, not made of paper but of some informational substance, fully digestible, sugar-coated. Stanislaw Lem
“ I see a poem as a multi-coloured strip behind peeling plaster, in separate, shining fragments. Stanislaw Lem
“ Of the two powers, the two categories that take possession of us when we enter the world, space is by far the less mysterious. . . . Space is, after all, solid, monolithic. . . . Time, on the other ha… Stanislaw Lem
“ It is easy not to believe in monsters, considerably more difficult to escape their dread and loathsome clutches. Stanislaw Lem
“ There was a time we tormented one another with excessive honesty in the naive belief it would save us. Stanislaw Lem
“ She was beautiful all right, beautiful in a way that was at once seductive, demonic, and raspberry. Stanislaw Lem
“ It's true that even though I'm a world unto myself, I've just a speck of dust in the avalanche of events. But nothing will ever force me to think like a speck of dust! Stanislaw Lem
“ And yet we knew, for a certainty, that when first emissaries of Earth went walking among the planets, Earth's other sons would be dreaming not about such expeditions but about a piece of bread. Stanislaw Lem
