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Top 20 John Varley Quotes (2025 Update)

John Varley Quote: “The English language was a delight to them, so illogical and fertile and well-suited to their natural desire to confuse, obfuscate, and generally side-step clear meaning whenever possible.”

1. “The English language was a delight to them, so illogical and fertile and well-suited to their natural desire to confuse, obfuscate, and generally side-step clear meaning whenever possible.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “Draw your own moral from this, Sparky. And remember at the center of the cult of personality called stardom there is just a big empty hole. Awards don’t matter. Acclaim doesn’t matter. Only your craft matters.”

2. “Draw your own moral from this, Sparky. And remember at the center of the cult of personality called stardom there is just a big empty hole. Awards don’t matter. Acclaim doesn’t matter. Only your craft matters.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “All in all, it was the goldarndest, Barnum-and-Baileyest, rib-stickinest, rough-and-tumblest infernal foofaraw of a media circus anybody had seen since grandpaw chased the possum down the road and lost his store teeth, and I was heartily sorry to have been a part of it.”

3. “All in all, it was the goldarndest, Barnum-and-Baileyest, rib-stickinest, rough-and-tumblest infernal foofaraw of a media circus anybody had seen since grandpaw chased the possum down the road and lost his store teeth, and I was heartily sorry to have been a part of it.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “We all love after-the-bomb stories. If we didn’t, why would there be so many of them? There’s something attractive about all those people being gone, about wandering in a depopulated world, scrounging cans of Campbell’s pork and beans, defending one’s family from marauders. But some secret part of us thinks it would be good to survive. All those other folks will die. That’s what after-the-bomb stories are all about.”

4. “We all love after-the-bomb stories. If we didn’t, why would there be so many of them? There’s something attractive about all those people being gone, about wandering in a depopulated world, scrounging cans of Campbell’s pork and beans, defending one’s family from marauders. But some secret part of us thinks it would be good to survive. All those other folks will die. That’s what after-the-bomb stories are all about.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “Will have been! A truly stratospheric verb.”

5. “Will have been! A truly stratospheric verb.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “How heavy is that day in the mountains when you built a campfire and saw a shooting star? What is the mass of yesterday? How fast is love?”

6. “How heavy is that day in the mountains when you built a campfire and saw a shooting star? What is the mass of yesterday? How fast is love?”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “I had thought Chicago was inevitable, like diarrhea.”

7. “I had thought Chicago was inevitable, like diarrhea.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “Such a lexicon of tactics.”

8. “Such a lexicon of tactics.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “There were millions of Earth men and women who bought the Earth cultures big lies, and they died just as unhappy as you are now. And I suggest to you that it’s a foolish thing.”

9. “There were millions of Earth men and women who bought the Earth cultures big lies, and they died just as unhappy as you are now. And I suggest to you that it’s a foolish thing.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “Bill’s tongue had started at Cirocco’s toes and was now exploring her left ear. She liked that. It had been a memorable journey.”

10. “Bill’s tongue had started at Cirocco’s toes and was now exploring her left ear. She liked that. It had been a memorable journey.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “She knew for a fact, for instance, that what the Polo sisters did behind the closed doors of their adjoining rooms was still illegal in Alabama.”

11. “She knew for a fact, for instance, that what the Polo sisters did behind the closed doors of their adjoining rooms was still illegal in Alabama.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “They eat the sewage that floats on the surface of the mass culture, digest it, and then get creative diarrhea – all at once. The turd look and smell exactly alike, and we call them this year’s fashions, hit shows, books, and movies.”

12. “They eat the sewage that floats on the surface of the mass culture, digest it, and then get creative diarrhea – all at once. The turd look and smell exactly alike, and we call them this year’s fashions, hit shows, books, and movies.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “It’s because I love you that I don’t want you to go.” “My God, Bill, I don’t want that kind of love. ‘I love you, so hold still while I tie you down.’ What hurts is that it’s you doing it. If you can’t have me as my own woman, able to make my own decisions and take care of myself, you can’t have me at all.”

13. “It’s because I love you that I don’t want you to go.” “My God, Bill, I don’t want that kind of love. ‘I love you, so hold still while I tie you down.’ What hurts is that it’s you doing it. If you can’t have me as my own woman, able to make my own decisions and take care of myself, you can’t have me at all.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “Humans have this need to name everything, no matter how little that thing may deserve it.”

14. “Humans have this need to name everything, no matter how little that thing may deserve it.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “Gas chamber, gallows. Electric chair, stake, firing squad. Hang by the neck till you’re dead, dead, dead, and may God recycle your soul.”

15. “Gas chamber, gallows. Electric chair, stake, firing squad. Hang by the neck till you’re dead, dead, dead, and may God recycle your soul.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “Looking around me, I saw that all my colleagues were busy at the same task. Eyes were rolled up, mouths hung open, here and there a finger twitched. It had to be either a day trip from the Catatonic Academy, or the modern press at work.”

16. “Looking around me, I saw that all my colleagues were busy at the same task. Eyes were rolled up, mouths hung open, here and there a finger twitched. It had to be either a day trip from the Catatonic Academy, or the modern press at work.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “He was an extraordinarily ugly person, Lilo thought, with the ugliness that only caricature can achieve. As repulsive as a twisted, stunted ghost from the past on Old Earth.”

17. “He was an extraordinarily ugly person, Lilo thought, with the ugliness that only caricature can achieve. As repulsive as a twisted, stunted ghost from the past on Old Earth.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “New York in the ’80s is not a bad place. If you can’t make there, you can’t make it anywhere.”

18. “New York in the ’80s is not a bad place. If you can’t make there, you can’t make it anywhere.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “Workers who complained or died were turned into zombies, so labor unrest was never a problem.”

19. “Workers who complained or died were turned into zombies, so labor unrest was never a problem.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “We both had to reject the concept of life after death, even if we weren’t brought up to believe in it, because all human cultures are steeped in the idea.”

20. “We both had to reject the concept of life after death, even if we weren’t brought up to believe in it, because all human cultures are steeped in the idea.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “Ain’t got no strawberries,” the bartender said. “Then go out and kill some!”

21. “Ain’t got no strawberries,” the bartender said. “Then go out and kill some!”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “How are you, Hildy? Having a good time? Getting laid?” “Just did, thank you.”

22. “How are you, Hildy? Having a good time? Getting laid?” “Just did, thank you.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “I never made any friends, even as a kid. Not the kind you can open your heart to.” “It’s not that hard.” “I hope not. Because I’m going to be a different person. I’m going to tell people about the real me. This is the first time I can do it, because it’s the first time I’ve really known myself. And I’m going to love. I’m going to care about people.”

23. “I never made any friends, even as a kid. Not the kind you can open your heart to.” “It’s not that hard.” “I hope not. Because I’m going to be a different person. I’m going to tell people about the real me. This is the first time I can do it, because it’s the first time I’ve really known myself. And I’m going to love. I’m going to care about people.”

— John Varley

John Varley Quote: “There is a certain concentrated, avid-for-blood look that appears on the faces of reporters on the trail of a very big story that you’d have to visit the big cat house at the zoo to see duplicated in its primal state. From the look on Brenda’s face, if a tiger was standing between her and this story right now, the cat would soon have a tall-journalist-sized hole in him.”

24. “There is a certain concentrated, avid-for-blood look that appears on the faces of reporters on the trail of a very big story that you’d have to visit the big cat house at the zoo to see duplicated in its primal state. From the look on Brenda’s face, if a tiger was standing between her and this story right now, the cat would soon have a tall-journalist-sized hole in him.”

— John Varley

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