Quotes

Never fire a laser at a mirror.

I have never stopped getting letters about it. People have been reading 'Ringworld', and commenting on the assumptions, overt and hidden, and the mathematics and the ecology and the philosophical implications, precisely as if it were a proposed engineering project and they were being paid to work.

Mother Nature doesn't care if you're having fun.

Niven's Law for Musicians: If the applause isn't louder than the music something's wrong. Play better or softer.

There is a technical term for someone who mistakes the opinions of the characters for the writer's: an idiot.

The point of my science fiction I suppose is that there are minds out there that work as well as yours, just not necessarily in the same way.

There ain't no justice.

Never throw shit at an armed man. Never stand next to someone who is throwing shit at an armed man.

An armed Society is a polite Society.

If you have nothing to say, do it in the most convoluted, drawn-out way possible.

Never be ashamed of anything that you write.