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L. Sprague de Camp Quotes (1907-2000)
Philosopher, Author, Writer
About L. Sprague de Camp
L. Sprague de Camp (November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000) was an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and works of non-fiction, including biographies of other fantasy authors. He was a major figure in science fiction in the 1930s and 1940s.
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“A grudge makes a starveling diet.”
“Folly is mortals’ self-selected misfortune.”
“One man’s wickedness becomes all men’s curse.”
“Alas, with what fortitude do we bear others’ misfortunes!”
“There is nothing so dangerous as an ignorant and frightened man.”
“Some are true gentlemen everywhere; the problem is to pick them out of the mass.”
“Verily, the great man finds gold and rubies more easily come by than true friendship.”
“The knowledge of how to slay each other more swiftly is no true advance in civilization.”
“There’s more magic in a well-aimed three-talent ball than in all the wizards of Egypt.”
“As all young men must, I was learning the painful lesson that there is no substitute for experience.”
“There was no harder-boiled materialist than I; I rejected Marxism as too mystical and not materialistic enough.”
“That man has convinced me that he is a veritable philosopher. No ordinary man could be so awkward and absent-minded.”
““Cold comfort,” said Bloch. “Like most oracular verse, full of vague ominous intimations of nothing in particular.””
L. Sprague de Camp Quotes by Topic
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L. Sprague de Camp on Ignorance
“There is nothing so dangerous as an ignorant and frightened man.”
L. Sprague de Camp on Supernatural
“All supernaturalism is simply a scheme to enable a class of magicians called priests to live without working.”
What L. Sprague de Camp Said About Others
Discover personal opinions L. Sprague de Camp shared regarding contemporaries.
L. Sprague de Camp on Robert E. Howard 2 quotes
“... all these criticisms fade like morning mist before Howard’s headlong rush of action, his rainbow-tinted prose, the intensity with which he wrote his own feelings into his stories, and, above all, his Hyborian world – that splendid creation – which ranks with Burroughs' Barsoom and Tolkien's Middle Earth as a major fictional achievement."”
L. Sprague de Camp on Clark Ashton Smith
“Nobody since Poe has so loved a well-rotted corpse.”
Quotes About L. Sprague de Camp
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In Re Sprague, on L. Sprague de Camp
“In Viagens Interplanetarias, Sprague’s interstellar travel takes place in Earth's backyard, so to speak; among stars, that is, within a reasonable number of light-years from the sun. Further, his concept of interstellar travel has queer effects on the subjective passage of time. This makes the stories harder to write. I once asked him why he did this and he explained that since travel faster than the speed of light was impossible, it would take far too long to reach the really distant stars. I pointed out that if he used “hyper-space” as most writers did, that wouldn’t matter. (Hyperspace is a mythical term among s.f. writers and can be used in a vague and foggy way to excuse any speeds up to infinity.) Sprague said he didn't believe in hyperspace. I said neither did I but I used it. He just put his pipe in his mouth and shook his head. "If I don’t believe a thing is possible," he said, "I don't use it."”
About L. Sprague de Camp
L. Sprague de Camp (November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000) was an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and works of non-fiction, including biographies of other fantasy authors. He was a major figure in science fiction in the 1930s and 1940s.