“We are not a debating club,” Franklin said. “Our goal is to get at th — Jack McDevitt

"But, come to think of it, there was no need to wait. Time travelers don’t have to wait for anybody."

"Why is it that people want so desperately to shake hands with otherworldly beings? That people will even insist that they have seen visitors from Spica hovering above their backyards? In other times it was ghosts and fairies and goblins, and voices in the night. Is the company of our own species so dull that we need to invent the Other? On the other hand, maybe that explains it."

"“I suspect we would be wise,” he said without looking up, “to avoid declaring what God will or will not allow.”"

"Cities have a social utility, if only as places to get away from."

"It was housed in one of those garish ultramodern steel and glass abstract buildings, designed to demonstrate a kind of mathematical flow but which really only succeeded in marring the landscape."

"Never confuse perfection with production. People who don’t make mistakes aren’t doing anything."