Jack McDevitt
Jack McDevitt
Jack McDevitt is an American science fiction author whose novels frequently deal with attempts to make contact with alien races, and with archaeology or xenoarchaeology. His two main series are the Alex Benedict series and the Priscilla Hutchins series...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
CountryUnited States of America
watches television said
Katie commented that Americans had lost the ability to enjoy themselves. "We watch television," Dave said.
mind attention rudy
If you're paying attention to your wardrobe, Rudy believed, your mind isn't sufficiently occupied.
blue perspective forever
See what the world looks like from orbit. Well, in that way, at least, there was profit to be had. Nobody could look down at the planet, green and blue, with no borders in evidence and no sign of human habitation, and not get his perspective forever altered.
saving care wonder
If you're right, and nobody really cares what's out there, I wonder whether we're even worth saving.
people want problem
The problem is that too often the only people who can act don't want change. Power doesn't so much corrupt as it breeds conservatism.
school boys reality
An optimist is somebody who thinks our various political and social systems, schools and churches, support groups and Boy Scout troops, jury trials and congressional committees, are on the up-and-up. That they are intended for the benefit of the members. The reality is that they are designed to keep everyone in line.
quality faces sometimes
Faith is conviction without evidence, and sometimes even in the face of contrary evidence. In some quarters, this quality is perceived as a virtue.
moving light politician
So we have progressed to the point where we can move politicians around faster than light. I'm not sure I see the advantage.
lying stupidity survival
I'm prepared to concede that stupidity does not help survival. One must after all understand not to poke a tiger with a stick. But intelligence leads to curiosity, and curiosity has never been a quality that helps one pour his or her genes into the pool. The truth must lie somewhere between. Whatever the reason, it is clearly mediocrity, at best, that lives and breeds.
stars laughter wine
Most of us sleepwalk through our lives. We take all its glories, its wine, food, love, and friendship, its sunsets and its stars, its poetry and fireplaces and laughter, for granted. We forget that experience is not, or should not be, a casual encounter, but rather an embrace. Consequently, for too many of us, when we come to the end, we wonder where the years have gone. And we suspect we have not lived.
believe hard-work two
People tend to believe that good fortune consists of equal parts talent, hard work, and sheer luck. It's hard to deny the roles of the latter two. As to talent, I would only say it consists primarily in finding the right moment to step in.
silence unwelcome senses
There is nothing that overwhelms the senses quite like an unwelcome silence.
mind lines doe
Boundaries have no existence save on charts or in small minds. Nature does not draw lines.
bystanders civilization soldier
The measure of a civilization is in the courage, not of its soldiers, but of its bystanders.