Philip José Farmer Quotations

Here are some favorite quotations submitted by Phil's fans. If you have a favorite, something particularly funny or poignant, or something that just struck a cord with you, send it to Mike for inclusion on this page.

"If we were not given immortal souls, then we must create our own."

—from The Peoria-Colored Writer in THE GRAND ADVENTURE

(submitted by Christopher Paul Carey)

"Ah, Mennirox is good to his favorite worshiper." said Miran. "He that loves thee shall profit, Book of the True Gods, Chapter Ten, Verse Eight. And Mennirox knows I love him with compound interest!"

—from THE GREEN ODYSSEY

(submitted by Dalibor Frtunik)

"Any bad fiction, no matter the genre, is a wild exercise of the imagination which explodes in the night of our minds, makes garish pyrotechnics, then dies, leaving the night blacker than before. But good fiction is a steady light—even if sometimes a small one. By it we walk without stumbling, and we may return at any time to see under its flare other topographical features we did not understand the first trip."

—from White Whales, Raintress, Flying Saucers

(submitted by Michael Croteau)

"Kiss the south end of a duck flying north." and "She’s a witch, but she’s not a miracle worker."

—from A BARNSTORMER IN OZ

(submitted by Paul Spiteri)

"I still live!"

—from TARZAN ALIVE (Phil quoting Edgar Rice Burroughs)

(submitted by Win Scott Eckert)

"If Jules Verne could really have looked into the future, say 1966 A.D., he would have crapped in his pants. And 2166, oh, my!"

—from Riders of the Purple Wage

(this can be found in the book Science Fiction Quotations: From the Inner Mind to the Outer Limits)

"There is nothing that bugs an omniscient like not knowing something."

—from Osiris on Crutches

(submitted by George Crevecoeur)