Richard Wilson

Richard Wilson (23 September 1920 – 29 March 1987) was an American science fiction writer.

Quotes

The Girls from Planet 5 (1955)

All page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Lancer Books (catalogue number 73-550) in 1967

• “Thank you,” she said icily. “I accept your good wishes and your resignation. And you can go to hell, Dave Hull.”
  Dave went to Texas.
  • Chapter 1 (p. 10)

• I’d better get back to work. It’s like butting my head against a stone wall, but somebody’s got to keep butting, if only for the sake of other people’s morale.
  • Chapter 19 (p. 190)

• You’re as nutty as a peck of pecans, ma’am.
  • Chapter 21 (pp. 204-205)

30-Day Wonder (1960)

All page numbers from the mass market paperback first edition published by Ballantine Books (catalogue number 434K)

• We’ll jump off that bridge when we come to it.
  • Chapter 2 (p. 19)

• I folded the paper and wriggled around in the seat. Buses are like candy bars, I thought. The price goes up and the size goes down. Each new bus seem to have less leg room and a lower headrest that its predecessor, so that you had to be a contortionist to take a nap.
  • Chapter 7 (p. 48)

• “‘Morning, Sam,” the coffee boy said. “How about some coffee?”
  “‘Morning, Herb,” I said. “That’s the first intelligent remark I’ve heard in some time.”
  • Chapter 7 (p. 49)

• “I’m good for about thirty bucks,” I said. “Then I’ll have to get a refill from petty cash.”
  “There’s nothing petty about cash,” Stew said.
  • Chapter 7 (p. 51)

• “What do you think of it, old man?”
  I thought very little of it but I pretended to turn it over in my mind. “It’s got class,” I said finally. To myself I thought, with a capital K.
  • Chapter 14 (p. 79)

• “I’ve made my choice, Sam,” she had written. “I had to choose between what I wanted and what I could get. There are times when the ideal is just too unattainable and when the second best becomes, in the long run, the best. Maybe this also has a universal application. I hope so.”
  • Chapter 29 (p. 153)