7 Quotes & Sayings By Poul Anderson

Poul Anderson (1926-2008) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was one of the most highly acclaimed and popular writers of his generation. Anderson's work has been translated into more than 30 languages. He also had a very successful career as a teacher of writing and creative writing in the U.S., in Europe, and in Japan Read more

His novels have been made into numerous movies, notably with Fred Astaire in a live-action version of The Humanoids which starred with Carole Landis, the daughter of Orson Welles, as Caroline.

1
So much American science fiction is parochial -- not as true now as it was years ago, but the assumption is one culture in the future, more or less like ours, and with the same ideals, the same notions of how to do things, just bigger and flashier technology. Well, you know darn well it doesn't work that way... Poul Anderson
2
Heaven is not as narrowly literal-minded as hell. Poul Anderson
3
The fact is, man has never stayed by a single ideal. The mass enthusiasm when you were young gave way to cool, rationalistic classicism. Today that’s being drowned in turn by a kind of neoromanticism. God knows where that will lead. I probably won’t approve. Regardless, new generations grow up. We’ve no right to freeze them into our own mold. The universe is too wide. Poul Anderson
4
Magic! ' cried an old man. 'Tis sorcery, and we are undone! ' 'Not so, ' I told him, 'Sorcery cannot harm good Christians.' 'But I am a miserable sinner, ' he wailed. Poul Anderson
5
I think the first duty of all art, including fiction of any kind, is to entertain. That is to say, to hold interest. No matter how worthy the message of something, if it's dull, you're just not communicating.- Poul_ Anderson Poul Anderson
6
I’ve yet to see any problem, however complicated, which when you looked at it the right way didn’t become still more complicated. Poul Anderson