1.
Engrave this in your brain: EVERY WRITER GETS REJECTED. You will be no different.
John Scalzi
2.
If you want me to treat your ideas with more respect, get some better ideas.
John Scalzi
3.
I am not responsible for actions of the imaginary version of me you have inside your head.
John Scalzi
4.
I didn't mind getting old when I was young. It's the being old now that's getting to me.
John Scalzi
5.
Part of what makes us human is what we mean to other people, and what people mean to us.
John Scalzi
6.
I thought I saw him once, but it turned out to be a yeti
John Scalzi
7.
There's a difference between the fact that the universe is inherently unfair on a cosmic level, and the fact that life is unfair because people are actively making it so.
John Scalzi
8.
When you're a teenager and you're in love, it's obvious to everyone but you and the person you're in love with.
John Scalzi
9.
The original sin of Republicans is greed. Everyone understands greed. Everybody wants to get theirs. The original sin of Democrats is pity. Greed is more attractive, and a better motivator, than pity.
John Scalzi
10.
Now, you may think that this is some sort of generalized hatred that I will carry for the lot of you. Let me assure you that this is not the case. Each of you will fail, but you will fail in your own unique way, and therefore I will dislike each of you on an individual basis.
John Scalzi
11.
The Scooby gang doesn't travel because they are looking for crimes to solve. They travel because they're one step ahead of the deprogrammers. Somehow, Fred's got them all snookered. It probably has something to do with the Scooby Snacks.
John Scalzi
12.
Christianity is a fine religion and I wish more Christians practiced it.
John Scalzi
13.
Don’t discount that part of who he was just because you didn’t know it. None of us are all of who we are to any one person.
John Scalzi
14.
My marriage had its ups and downs like anyone's, but when it came down to it, I knew it was solid. I miss that sort of security, and that sort of connection with someone.
John Scalzi
15.
I don't care whether I really exist or don't, whether I'm real or fictional. What I want right now is to be the person who decides my own fate.
John Scalzi
16.
Libertarians secretly worried that ultimately someone will figure out the whole of their political philosophy boils down to “Get Off My Property.” News flash: This is not really a big secret to the rest of us.
John Scalzi
17.
When you're a kid all you want to do is be somewhere else.
John Scalzi
18.
You would rather face a life without me than to have me choose a life I would not choose for myself.
John Scalzi
19.
If your social consciousness seems stuck in 1975, 2014 is gonna be a rough ride.
John Scalzi
20.
It's easier to miss her at a cemetery, where she's never been anything but dead, than to miss her at all the places where she was alive.
John Scalzi
21.
Star Wars is not entertainment. Star Wars is George Lucas masturbating to a picture of Joseph Campbell and conning billions of people into watching the money shot.
John Scalzi
22.
Sooner or later the Narrative will come for each of us.
John Scalzi
23.
The story of how I left Huckleberry begins -- as do all worthy stories -- with a goat
John Scalzi
24.
We've already established whoever is writing us is an asshole.
John Scalzi
25.
I do think people of good will can have different opinions but still be coming not from a place of malice.
John Scalzi
26.
I know a little bit about deaf culture because a friend of mine has been in the deaf culture for awhile. Over the course of 25 years, she and I have talked about many of the issues and concerns for deaf people and deaf culture.
John Scalzi
27.
I failed angst in high school. They let me graduate anyway.
John Scalzi
28.
Reddit is not a public utility or a public square; its a privately owned space on the Internet.
John Scalzi
29.
The more I want a book to be done, the faster I type because I just want to get it out.
John Scalzi
30.
I can describe to you the taste of government cheese.
John Scalzi
31.
Fear sits and smiles and is predatory, immobile and silent and serene; an observer who conserves his energy and is content to wait.
John Scalzi
32.
Guns don’t kill people. The aliens behind the triggers do.
John Scalzi
33.
Being poor is people wondering why you didn't leave.
John Scalzi
34.
Fear is a scavenger who feeds on the future; on what may be and what is possible, extending down the line of our lives.
John Scalzi
35.
Here's a quick rule of thumb: Don't annoy science fiction writers. These are people who destroy entire planets before lunch. Think of what they'll do to you.
John Scalzi
36.
I will not let my sales figures dictate what I say on the blog, because the blog is what I want to say.
John Scalzi
37.
When it came time to make the audiobook, Audible did an ingenious thing: they asked both Wil Wheaton and Amber Benson to record entire versions of the book. As the author, I'm impressed with Audible's commitment to my narrative -- and I'm geeking out that both Wil and Amber are reading my book. This is fantastic.
John Scalzi
38.
I both love and am terrified by Greg Van Eekhout's vision of Los Angeles. I already want to go back.
John Scalzi
39.
When you lose someone you love, you die too, and you wait around for your body to catch up.
John Scalzi
40.
GamerGate is about harassing, threatening and silencing women. Started that way, has been that way all along. Dont pretend otherwise.
John Scalzi
41.
Ultimately the first, best step in getting your work noticed is to write good work. If people don't engage in your writing, no amount of serialization or free downloads is going to matter. You have to write something worth reading, and often it takes time to get at that level.
John Scalzi
42.
I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife's grave. Then I joined the army.
John Scalzi
43.
In other words, crew deaths are a feature, not a bug," Cassaway said, dryly.
John Scalzi
44.
I grew up in southern California in the 80s. Yes, I am a walking cliche.
John Scalzi
45.
I'm not insane, sir. I have a finely calibrated sense of acceptable risk.
John Scalzi
46.
Never anger a sci-fi writer. These people destroy entire planets over lunch. Imagine what they'll do to you.
John Scalzi
47.
If the universe is bigger and stranger than I can imagine, it's best to meet it with an empty bladder.
John Scalzi
48.
Do what you need to do and enjoy life as it happens.
John Scalzi
49.
As a reader, I have a very short attention span and a low tolerance for boredom, and I find that comes in handy with my writing. If I get bored writing something, I pity the people who will then try to read it.
John Scalzi
50.
If your flirting strategy is indistinguishable from harassment, it's not everyone else that's the problem.
John Scalzi
