PETER F. HAMILTON

There will always be people treated badly, which I feel is basic human nature and difficult to eliminate.

The military do so love shiny new technology, there's always so many ways to abuse it.

The penalty for a long life is increasing resistance to change.

You cannot impose ideologies on people who do not embrace it wholeheartedly.

Once you've achieved everything, there is nothing left. You take out the core of being human: the striving.

Sometimes you have to do what’s wrong in order to do what’s right.

The whole point of science fiction is that you explore the effect of ideas on a society.

Space opera has always given authors a way to include a vast array of ideas and concepts. The opportunities it provides are limitless. Long may it reign.

I haven't yet written a book in a far-future utopia, where all bad things are eliminated, but it would be fun to do that one day and introduce some subversion.

I haven't yet written a book in a far-future utopia, where all bad things are eliminated, but it would be fun to do that one day and introduce some subversion.

We spend most of our lives in relationships or bringing up children which are a product of relationships.

Once you have extrapolated the effects a particular science will have on society - cheap clean energy, rejuvenation - the political impact is quite easy to predict. The two are twinned.

The whole point of science fiction is that you explore the effect of ideas on a society.

People are put off by the perception of science fiction, and it doesn't help if you've got references to quantum this and quantum that on the first page, and people think, 'This isn't for me,' and chuck it. I'm probably a pretty bad offender, given how far in the future some of my stuff is.

There will always be people treated badly, which I feel is basic human nature and difficult to eliminate.

If you've enjoyed 'Battlestar Galactica', you should love my stuff.

Space opera has always given authors a way to include a vast array of ideas and concepts. The opportunities it provides are limitless. Long may it reign.

You cannot impose ideologies on people who do not embrace it wholeheartedly.

How you humans survive so much experience is something I shall never understand. To do so much and react to it all in the way you do is as much a curse as a blessing. You never take time to digest and appreciate what happens to you.

You convinced yourselves we're just a bunch of regular lads who got a bad break in life. Anything else would have cracked your dream open and made you face reality. Illusion is easy. Illusion is the loser's way out. Your way.

Once you've achieved everything, there is nothing left. You take out the core of being human: the striving.

The balance is the penalty of being human: the danger of allowing yourself to feel. For this we walk a narrow path high above rocky ground. On one side we have the descent into animalism, on the other a godhead delusion. Both pulling at us, both tempting. But without these forces tugging at your psyche, stirring it into conflict, you can never love. They awaken us, you see, these warring sides, they arouse our passion.

Sometimes you have to do what’s wrong in order to do what’s right.

I believe that intelligence and rationality will always be primary no matter what shape sentient creatures take. To not think that would be to doubt the value of life itself.

How many twenty-second-century bureaucrats did it take to change a light panel? We'll have a sub-committee meeting and get back to you with an estimate.

You've no idea how wonderful toilet paper is until it's taken away from you by an unfeeling universe. I think it's the defining characteristic of human civilization, the ability to manufacture something decent to wipe your ass on.

The penalty for a long life is increasing resistance to change.

The military do so love shiny new technology, there's always so many ways to abuse it.