Karel Capek

Man will never be enslaved by machinery if the man tending the machine be paid enough.

Robots do not hold on to life. They can’t. They have nothing to hold on with – no soul, no instinct. Grass has more will to live than they do.

People should be a little loony, Helena. That’s the best thing about them.

Much melancholy has devolved upon mankind, and it is detestable to me that might will triumph in the end.

Robots of the world, you are ordered to exterminate the human race. Do not spare the men. Do not spare the women. Preserve only the factories, railroads, machines, mines, and raw materials. Destroy everything else. Then return to work. Work must not cease.

It was a great thing to be a human being. It was something tremendous. Suddenly I’m conscious of a million sensations buzzing in me like bees in a hive. Gentlemen, it was a great thing.

Relativism is neither a method of fighting, nor a method of creating, for both of these are uncompromising and at times even ruthless; rather, it is a method of cognition.

Wherever on this planet ideals of personal freedom and dignity apply, there you will find the cultural inheritance of England.

There came into the world an unlimited abundance of everything people need. But people need everything except unlimited abundance.

Any acceleration constitutes progress, Miss Glory. Nature had no understanding of the modern rate of work. From a technical standpoint the whole of childhood is pure nonsense. Simply wasted time. An untenable waste of time.

If dogs could talk, perhaps we would find it as hard to get along with them as we do with people.

I’ve found a place that would amaze you. People used to live there, but now it’s all overgrown and no one goes there. Absolutely no one – only me… Just a little house and a garden. And two dogs.

Art must not serve might.

You still stand watch, O human star, burning without a flicker, perfect flame, bright and resourceful spirit. Each of your rays a great idea – O torch which passes from hand to hand, from age to age, world without end.

One never knows whether people have principles on principle or whether for their own personal satisfaction.

I certainly don’t know if you could claim that every theft is wrong, but I’ll prove to you that every theft is forbidden, by simply locking you up.

Relativism is not indifference; on the contrary, passionate indifference is necessary in order for you not to hear the voices that oppose your absolute decrees.

If one must fight or create, it is necessary that this be preceded by the broadest possible knowledge.

You can have a revolution wherever you like, except in a government office; even were the world to come to an end, you’d have to destroy the universe first and then government offices.

Nothing is stranger to man than his own image.

Be these people either Conservatives or Socialists, Yellows or Reds, the most important thing is – and that is the point I want to stress – that all of them are right in the plain and moral sense of the word.

Socialism is good when it comes to wages, but it tells me nothing when it comes to other questions in life that are more private and painful, for which I must seek answers elsewhere.

Cognition is not fighting, but once someone knows a lot, he will have much to fight for, so much that he will be called a relativist because of it.

Great God of the Ants, thou hast granted victory to thy servants. I appoint thee honorary Colonel.

My dear Miss Glory, Robots are not people. They are mechanically more perfect than we are, they have an astounding intellectual capacity, but they have no soul.