"My great pleasure is creation—of this I never tire. Some of my guests have complained of a gentle melancholy which hangs in the air; I agree that the mood exists. The explanation, I believe, arises from the fugacity of beauty, the tragic pavanne to which all of us step."

Jack Vance Literature See all quotes by Jack Vance →

React to this quote

More by Jack Vance

“Evidently you do not trust me. This does not predispose me to trust you.”

“My clever baton holds your unnatural sorcery in abeyance.”

“My fees are not too high. Your wage scale may simply be too low.”

““Why not alter the habits of a lifetime and speak with candour?” asked Shimrod. “Truth, after all, need not be only the tactic of last resort.”

“I suspect that the word was invented by second-rate intelligences to describe the incomprehensible activities of their betters.”

“Of all questions, why? is the least pertinent. It begs the question; it assumes the larger part of its own response; to wit, that a sensible response exists.”

Resonant Thoughts

"The supremacy of thought also pronounces the impotence of thought in an empirical world which philosophy transcends and corrects — in thought. The rationality in the name of which philosophy passed it…"

— Herbert Marcuse

Philosophy1898–1979

#philosophy

"What is desired in order to promote the work of the great plan is that all these races should be drawn into much closer sympathy. This has already been achieved to a great extent in the case of Englan…"

— Charles Webster Leadbeater

occultism1854–1934

#education

"It was deshbhakti which inspired Gandhi ji’s freedom struggle. It is deshbhakti which is powering the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. It is deshbhakti which is powering the movement to ensure smoke-free lives …"

— Narendra Modi

Politics1950

#freedom

"There never was a greater perfectionist, there never was, and never will be, a better dancer, and I never knew anybody more kind, more considerate, or more completely a gentleman...I love Fred, John, …"

— Fred Astaire

Music1899–1987

#love