human relations

"I didn't mean that, Star."
"I was not offended, my love. An insult is like a drink; it affects one only if accepted."
Robert Heinlein, Glory Road

A stranger is shot in the street, you hardly move to help. But if, you spent just ten minutes with the fellow and knew a little about him and his family, you might just jump in front of his killer and try to stop it. Really knowing is good. Not knowing, or refusing to know, is bad, or amoral, at least.
Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes

U hebt dat gevoel misschien ook wel eens ervaren, verlost te worden van een last waarvan u zich tot op dat ogenblik nog niet duidelijk bewust was geweest.
John Wyndham, Science Fiction Verhalen, p. 63

'Bah! Als je naar mij kijkt dan zie je de mens zoals hij werkelijk is. Ik heb me alleen nooit bezig gehouden met veinzerij, dat is alles.'
A.E. Van Vogt, Van Kat tot Ultramens

Girls aren't people. They are soft and pretty and cute and cuddly and warm, but they have no feelings. (...) They have all the power in the world and none of the worry. Men have to obey, men have to beg, men have to suffer, because they are built to suffer and to be sorry and to obey. All a girl has to do is to smile her pretty smile or to cross her pretty legs, and the man gives up everything he has ever wanted and fought for, just to be her slave.
Cordwainer Smith, The Instrumentality of Mankind

"It's no use," said Shaw. "You can't help people like her unless they want to be helped. That's the first law of mental health. You know it, I know it. If you get in her way, she'll trample you. Don't be a fool."
Ray Bradbury, The October Country

He knows they are exploiting him, dumping on him all the dreary, tedious jobs they don't feel like handling themselves. (. . .) But he exploits them too. He is rapidly making himself indispensable, as they slide into the habit of using him to do their thinking.
Robert Silverberg, The World Inside

'Jij bent anders, dat zie ik zo. Jij zou je nooit aan de meisjes van het ballet vergrijpen, of het op het bureau van je manager doen; of je grootmoeder van de trap gooien, om de verzekering op te strijken. Misschien ben je een sukkel, weet ik veel, of een idioot, maar toevallig hou ik van sukkels en idioten - jongens die geen tarantula's fokken of kikkers de poten uittrekken. Ik hou van rare schrijvers die ervan dromen naar Mars te vliegen om nooit meer terug te keren naar onze stompzinninge wereld van vandaag.'
Ray Bradbury, De Dood is een Eenzaam Avontuur

There are some questions that should never be asked.
Ray Bradbury, Machineries of Joy

Herb vindt het krankzinnig dat mensen niet bij elkaar kunnen zitten zonder woorden uit te kramen, . . .
Theodore Sturgeon, Venus plus x

Why try to change people, Felice ? It is not right. One has either to take people as they are, or leave them as they are. One cannot change them, one can merely disturb their balance.
Franz Kafka, Letters to Felice