David Brin Quotes

Little children are still the symbol of the eternal marriage between love and duty.

It's true; once you are a father, there's no turning back. Your heart strings as well as your purse strings are never again the same.

The sweetest thing I could say about my mother and father is that if I had the choice, I would have picked them. But I don't have any belief in biology or DNA as compelling conduct. The idea that we owe people something because we're related to them is bizarre. But the idea that we owe something because of their conduct towards us is legitimate.

I don't feel my son should pay the price for what I do.

Responsibility's like a string we can only see the middle of. Both ends are out of sight.

Up to a certain point it is good for us to know that there are people in the world who will give us love and unquestioned loyalty to the limit of their ability. I doubt, however, if it is good for us to feel assured of this without the accompanying obligation of having to justify this devotion by our behavior.

I don't want to let any of my family down.

I owe my family first, but I also have others around me that I have to perform for.

I will be there for my kids.

I cannot just do things without thinking. I have a wife and daughter to think of at all times now.

I still feel a heavy responsibility for the people of Missouri because of the respect they have for me but also the things they've done for me.

You'll move from big brother to the adult world faster by cooking food for your younger siblings while your peers are playing video games.

I don't owe nobody nothing.

No one will be hurt if I don't come to conventions.

Nothing in life gets dropped without someone else having to pick it up.

Once you've given advice to someone, you're obligated.

You can turn your back but you can never really walk away.

The bigger the contract, the bigger the responsibility.

Some people don't understand the promises they're making when they make them," I said. "Right, of course. But you keep the promise anyway. That's what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway.

It's special, grandparents and grandchldren. So much simpler. Is it always so, I wonder? I think perhaps it is. While one's child takes a part of one's heart to use and misuse as they please, a grandchild is different. Gone are the bonds of guilt and responsibility that burden the maternal relationship. The way to love is free.

Promises are dangerous things to ask or to give.

Earnestly I must exert myself in order to return as much as I have received.

We are all, I suppose, beholden to our parents - the question is, how much?

Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code.

Who would you die for? Who would you wake up at five forty-five in the morning for even though you don't even know why he needs you?