The Demolished Man
CRITIQUE | THE TEXT
First edition, 1953First publication
1952, serialized in Galaxy Science Fiction
First book publication
1953
Literature form
Novel
Genre
Science fiction
Writing language
English
Author's country
United States
Length
Approx. 91,000 words
Notable lines
Explosion! Concussion! The vault doors burst open. And deep inside, the money is racked ready for pillage, rapine, loot.
— First lines
The mind is the reality. You are what you think.
If you believe yourself a natural killer, avoid planning too carefully. Leave most to your instinct. Intellect may fail you, but the killer instinct is invincible.
"Be grateful that you only see the outward man. Be grateful that you never see the passions, the hatreds, the jealousies, the malice, the sicknesses.... Be grateful you rarely see the frightening truth in people."
"We’ve got honor in us, but it's our own code...not the make-believe rules some frightened little man wrote for the rest of the frightened little men. Every man's got his own honor and ethics, and so long as he sticks to 'em, who's anybody else to point the finger? You may not like his ethics, but you've no right to call him unethical."
This strange second in a life, that unusual event, those remarkable coincidences of environment, opportunity, and encounter...all of them have been reproduced over and over on the planet of a sun whose galaxy revolves once in two hundred million years and has revolved nine times already. There has been joy. There will be joy again.
— Last lines
CRITIQUE | THE TEXT
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