Robert L. Forward

They used their intelligence to control things around them, instead of letting nature and the strong-muscled have their way.

— Robert L. Forward

Finally, in one fateful trillionth of a second, a nuclear compound was formed that had two very important properties: it was stable, and it could make a copy of itself.Life had come to the crust of the neutron star.

— Robert L. Forward

An animal doesn’t need to develop curiosity and intelligence if it has no problems that need solving.

— Robert L. Forward

After a short flurry of national and international concern over the “death of the Sun,” the human race settled down to solving the insoluble problem in the best way that they knew—they ignored it and hoped it would go away.

— Robert L. Forward

Do you realize that when I get back from this trip two years from now I am going to be getting more in royalties from children’s books than I will in salary for being a space scientist?

— Robert L. Forward

She normally did not pay very much attention to religion, but, as Leader of the Clan, she was automatically Chief Worshiper of Bright at holy times, and it wouldn’t do to let things be disrupted by an obviously deranged individual.

— Robert L. Forward

His eye-stubs reached out toward the Eyes in an attempt to copulate with the stars.

— Robert L. Forward

The Leader of the Combined Clans, although nominally a devout worshiper of the God Bright, was willing to compartmentalize her mind and look at the pictures without being bothered by the religious overtones.

— Robert L. Forward

If the computer had been a human, its eyebrows would have raised.

— Robert L. Forward

They are signaling to us with the neutron star equivalent of America Indian smoke signals!

— Robert L. Forward

You are lucky. Very few theoretical scientists ever see their mathematical equations turned into working hardware in their lifetime.

— Robert L. Forward

“Inertia propulsion!” Pierre exclaimed. “On our last shift we were teaching them Newton’s law of gravity. Today they have inertia drives! Where will they be tomorrow?”“They probably will be able to control space and time and won’t have to bother with such clumsy things as black hole gravity generators and inertia drives,” Amalita replied.

— Robert L. Forward