Steampunk Quotes

Junk?" Lina repeated, incredulous. Oh, she wasn't about to let that pass. ~ Jaleigh Johnson

«"I meant, tell me all about this steampunk thing!" Gavin broke in. "How does that concept work out for you people, here in Brazil?"
"You don't know about steampunk?" shouted Xavier, dubiously.
"Well, I don't read many novels! Because I'm kinda fully-booked already! But, obviously, you're a science fiction writer at a Futurist conference! And I can see that you're all dressed up like some fancy guy from the past, from the 19th century! So what gives with that? What is all that about?"» ~ Bruce Sterling

Perhaps if he stumbled onto a bath and a tailor he could even be considered handsome. ~ Katherine McIntyre

Forget what Queen Manevola wants" said a voice above her sounding deep and grotesque. "I won't be wasting this one when her blood smells so good!"

"Jacobse! Wait!"

Suddenly, loud and obliterating gunshots encircled the room and shattered the windows. The vampires hissed.

"Vampires. Your rebellion against the Time Queen, her highness Justina Reina, will not go unpunished."

A cacophony of firing followed. ~ Bellatuscana

In the void, there is no distinction of east and west."
Gwen blinked slightly at that. "I know all of those words, and yet when strung together like that I have no idea what they mean. ~ Jim Butcher

I do the same with my books ... Nothing like a good argument in the margins with someone who's already said all they have to say on the subject. ~ Betsy Cornwell

But there was nothing. No village or town as far as her eyes could strain. Nowhere for her saviours to come from and take her to; just fields and trees and the weeping arc of the river Greave all the way to the horizon. Just like in the books, Greaveburn was all there was; building and building until streets were foundations, roofs were floors, constantly climbing away from itself. now that Abrasia saw it, her dream of escape crumbled completely like an ancient map in her fingers. The horizon was the world's edge and there was nothing beyond it but mist and falling.

Greaveburn stood alone on this little circle of earth, the river running around and into itself like a snake eating its tail. And Abrasia was doomed to watch the sun and stars trade places for all eternity. ~ Craig Hallam

He held out the pendant in the palm of his hand.
"Happy birthday, Copper," he whispered. ~ Sharon Lynn Fisher

All right boys, let's sail away! Show those bastards how airship pirates fly a ship! ~ Katherine McIntyre

You've got to have a deep yearning for the answer if you ever want to truly learn something really well. If something has no value, it's simply not appreciated. ~ Maxwell Grantly

As for genre, my adult books are usually filed under science fiction / fantasy, although some stores put them into romance, and few have stuck them into horror. I consider all my books a mix of steampunk and urban fantasy. ~ Gail Carriger

You can't hurt him. He's an endangered species!"
"Vampires are not endangered." Van's tone made it clear that it was his life's work to rectify this regrettable situation.
"No, not that," Zack said dismissively. "He's a Victorian!"
"Brainwashed," Van muttered.
"Crazy," Sarah proclaimed.
"Steampunk," I corrected with a sigh. ~ Helen Keeble

Gavin tried not to stare at the lobster. He decided not to inquire further. Whatever Jack's reasoning, best to accept that crustaceans were necessary to his view of the world. ~ Gail Carriger

I like certain subgenres within science fiction and fantasy, and one of those is urban fantasy, and another is steampunk. ~ Gail Carriger

Age, like wealth is but a mental abstraction, my boy"~ Herr Doktor Pavel ~ K.W. Jeter

You'll have to do better than that chaps, if you want to kill me! ~ A.F. Stewart

we are two like-minded creatures too well-matched, both equal halves of a whole not altogether wholesome ~ Beatriz Fitzgerald Fernandez

Clockwork Vendetta is not steampunk; it is steamfun. I can't take myself so seriously as to write something truly punk in the true sense of the word. ~ Gabbo De La Parra

Music can make you feel things that aren't yours - sadness, or love, or joy. A good song has a magic to it. It pulls you in and the feelings in the music take over and you become the music, you become the song. ~ Michelle Frost

Did Jonathan not realize that sometimes a girl didn't want to be honorable? That sometimes young women had the same desires and needs as young men? ~ Courtney Brandt

When Steampunk meets adventure and adventure meets comedy and comedy meets ingenuity and ingenuity meets charm and charm meets wonder and wonder meets pleasure the result is a Triumph. Dr Grordbort is the future. And the past. Which makes an ideal present. ~ Stephen Fry

Struggling to control his wayward breathing, Lukan stopped at her side. "A panther. Do you purr as well as claw?"
"Only time will tell." Lynx turned to face him. ~ Gwynn White

These violators responded only as cowards could. They ran. ~ Cynthia D. Witherspoon

She is mad, and I am sane. To speak to her, even the first word, would be an acknowledgement and an acceptance of her madness, and from there I would have no choice but to follow her down the hole until both of us would be here alone in this ship among the clouds, endlessly circling the earth, our needs carefully ministered to by mechanical men, howling ourselves hoarse and counting off the ticks of the clock before the moon falls out of the sky. ~ Dexter Palmer

Raindrops misted the Ridderzal's immense rosette window. Water dripped from the architectural tracery that turned the window into a stained glass cog. It streaked the colored panes of oculi and quatrefoils depicting the empire's arms: a rosy cross surrounded by the arms of the great families all girded by the teeth of the universal cog. ~ Ian Tregillis

And then there was an explosion. ~ Adrienne Kress

Seriously man, what are you waiting for? Get in there - or I will. - Marek Montvene ~ J.C. Morrows

We are bodies which think, and we're at home with steampunk because it is an ethos of design and creativity which acknowledges the humanly physical: that which we can understand with our fingers. ~ Nick Harkaway

What I wouldn't give for a little old smuggling job. ~ Katherine McIntyre

This is the time of myths, Orphan. They are the cables that run under the floors and power the world, the conduits of unseen currents, the steam that powers the great engines of the earth. ~ Lavie Tidhar

It was the dog Abel, who - as animals have been reported to do - had made his way over all England's hills and rivers, to return to that home where he was first kindly treated. The warm fire, by which he sleeps even now, and the fattening dish will be his rewards to the end of his days. ~ K.W. Jeter

What do you mean, my life is at risk?" I questioned. "From one of the other professors?"
"Oh, it goes much deeper than that, Freddy," he said with a half crazed, wide eyed smile. Leaning in, he whispered, "I stole something. ~ S.C. Barrus

They were all machines, he thought, just like La Mettrie had said in L'Homme Machine all those years ago. So he, Orphan, was a machine of flesh and blood, and Lucy, now, was made of something else, more complex perhaps- but they were the same and ...
They were in love.
Sometimes that was enough. ~ Lavie Tidhar

Are we immortal?" he paused in his exploration of her skin.

Mischief shone in her eyes. "Want me to shoot you and find out? ~ A.W. Exley

Simon's baby," he said, rocking on his heels. "Simon's baby girl. But you are too many, much too many to be Simon's baby girl. How many are you?"

"Seventeen," I whispered. He was still uncomfortably close.

"Lane!" he shouted. I jumped. "Do I have a niece of seventeen?"

"Yes," came Lane's voice from the door.

The old man relaxed. "Then that is as it should be. Lane always knows when things are as they should be. Where is your father, little niece? ~ Sharon Cameron

Hail a cab, please, Floote. I am going out."
"Are you certain that is wise, Miss? "
"To be wise, one might never leave one's room at all ~ Gail Carriger

Because of the foulness of her mother's emotional river, a current which ran swift, changing its path without warning ... ~ Tamara Rose Blodgett

Some people loathe the act of killing a person at first, but as they continue to do it, it can feel like a game. They can begin to feel superior, like the winner of the game. But, if the reaper has to save a life for every life they take, it keeps them humble. It's a matter of subservience so the reaper doesn't begin to think of himself stronger than he is. ~ Pauline Creeden

Just a cat! Just a cat! I am the stealer of breaths, the walker of shadows, the keeper of nine lives." - the Magnificent Lady Grayson of the Silky White Underbelly, or Just Grayson for Short ~ Richard Due

It seems to me that Halloween is the perfect time to get all over steampunk. ~ Gail Carriger

The idea of marrying Lukan made her skin crawl. He was a Chenayan. She, a Norin. He was her conqueror. She, his conquered. He had been born and raised to lord over her. She had been born and raised to hate him. They might as well have been different species. ~ Gwynn White

She gathered herself up- rather like collecting her skirts before mountibg a carriage ~ Gail Dayton

Goons were the lowest sort of homunculi, only superior to zombies. ~ Lita Burke

We do not need you. Do not come unless I call you." Ricard crawled out of bed and shut the door as the steam men moved down the hall. "Dumb things." Ricard - As Timeless As Stone ~ Maeve Alpin

Do not stare directly into his eyes!" she warned, in an accent I couldn't place.
"Why not?" I said, but she was already too late. I was staring directly into his eyes too.
"Because they are dreamy, and endless, and magical. And then when you learn what a terrible boy he is, your heart will turn into a black husk of doom."
I blinked off the spell of the boy's eyes.
"Wait, what?" - Nimet Simit and Willa Snap, conversing on the power of Ravenlock Sward's eyes. ~ Richard Due

Never mess with the Fez." - Heather Peaceout, Black Fez, Second Order ~ Richard Due

So, did you hold back during that test?"
"Maybe a little," Sophronia admitted.
Soap grinned. "That's my girl."
Sophronia glared at him. He was getting familiar.
"You are, miss." He continued to grin.
"I'm my own girl, thank you very much. ~ Gail Carriger

For every reader and writer of steampunk fiction, there are probably hundreds or thousands of other activists who gleefully embrace some non-written manifestation of the steampunk ethos. ~ Paul Di Filippo

Steampunk is...a joyous fantasy of the past, allowing us to revel in a nostalgia for what never was. It is a literary playground for adventure, spectacle, drama, escapism and exploration. But most of all it is fun! ~ George Mann

Theo heaved a sigh, not bothering to hide her irritation. "You get the satisfaction of being a decent man for once."

Silas snorted. "That's not a barter in the slightest. Offer me something worthwhile. ~ Katherine McIntyre

Within the sphere of steampunk, there seems to be a rapidly growing subsphere of gadgetless 'neo-Victorian' novels, most of which attempt to recapture the romance of the era without all the sociopolitical ugliness. ~ N.K. Jemisin

Whatever it is, pretty boy, we know you're right in the middle of it. ~ Bill Lindsay

There are creatures in this world, small things and pretty things, which burn within them a fire for survival. ~ S.C. Barrus

Soon our culture's oldest dreams will be made real. Even the thought of sending a kind of flying craft to the moon is no longer nothing more than a child's fantasy. At this moment in the cities below us, the first mechanical men are being constructed that will have the capability to pilot the ship on its maiden voyage. But no one has asked if this dream we've had for so long will lose its value once it's realized. What will happen when those mechanical men step out of their ship and onto the surface of this moon, which has served humanity for thousands of years as our principal icon of love and madness? When they touch their hands to the ground and perform their relentless analyses and find no measurable miracles, but a dead gray world of rocks and dust? When they discover that it was the strength of millions of boyhood daydreams that kept the moon aloft, and that without them that murdered world will fall, spiraling slowly down and crashing into the open sea? ~ Dexter Palmer

What makes us the strongest tribe on the continent is the fact that a group that opposes these values
a group that would have mankind remain in the new dark ages
is permitted to grow, permitted to exist ... and, after it becomes a violent terrorist organization, is allowed to live on it own lands, taken out of the lands of those it has attacked and continues to attack!" He had to stop speaking then
the applause was louder than even his amplified voice. "They expect that fear will drive us to become like them ... closed-minded, blind, angry. Our society will remain open and free so long as I am standing upright," he continued, once the applause died down. ~ Lia Habel

My reign has been anything but traditional. Let's not start now, shall we? ~ Courtney Brandt

Don't think that we know everything there is to know. There are secrets to be found and unknown facts to be discovered. Who knows what delights there are to be discovered beyond our current knowledge. ~ Maxwell Grantly

Steampunk is nothing more than what happens when Goths discover brown. ~ Charles Stross

After four marriages, and four deaths, she had everything in life a woman might desire: titled position, swollen coffers, the freedom to travel, and a world that accepted her because it was afraid of her. ~ Gail Carriger

A dagger is the noble weapon of Brutus. Everyone understands that tyrants fall to daggers. A bomb is a sordid modern device with many complex working parts. Only engineers understand bombs ~ Bruce Sterling

Dust is not a constant. There's not a fixed quantity that has always been the same. Conscious beings make Dust - they renew it all the time, by thinking and feeling and reflecting, by gaining wisdom and passing it on. And if you help everyone else in your worlds to do that, by helping them to learn and understand about themselves and each other and the way everything works, and by showing them how to be kind instead of cruel, and patient instead of hasty, and cheerful instead of surly, and above all how to keep their minds open and free and curious ... Then they will renew enough to replace what is lost through one window. So there could be one left open. ~ Philip Pullman

Living on steam isn't easy. ~ Jessica Fortunato

We're fragile things, Harb. It doesn't look like it but we are. We're here one minute, and just like that, we're gone. The Peacemakers (The Nemesis Engines) ~ Olivier A. Blanchard

Never before had he seen a woman so angry - or so seductive. It rendered him speechless. He couldn't fight the compulsion to kiss her.
She punched him on the chin, snapping his head back. ~ Gwynn White

A priest, who came from a land far away and wed priestess Seshat, used powerful magic for Pharaoh Tutimaeus. With his invention of a horseless chariot and magic men who blew steam, the Egyptians defeated the Hyksos warriors." He felt his mouth quirk and a deep chuckle rolled from his belly. "Well, an Egyptian priest is a quite a step up from assistant to the conservator of the Louvre." - As Timeless As Stone ~ Maeve Alpin

When John-Joseph Heller's fights became too much of a sure thing, story has it he moved on to more risky fights with grown men and even starved dogs. Though he was scarred often, he was never beaten. But as he brought each opponent to his knees, John-Joseph Heller was also growing up and his vision began to extend further than the ring. ~ S.C. Barrus

Pearl spent the passing days buried so deep in the musty, dusty sorcery tomes that sometimes when she emerged, she spoke in archaic english. "Hast thou a light?" she'd asked him this afternoon when her study room had grown dark with gathering clouds. ~ Gail Dayton

Many great things have been accomplished by the careful combination of keen minds and ardent spirits. ~ G.D. Falksen

Death is as light as a feather, duty heavier than a spire. ~ Jim Butcher

When you read my stories, I want you to see the world through my eyes; as if I based my work on you. Come away with me, and I'll show you a world that you've never seen before or ever want to leave. ~ Nila N. Brown

Through the haze, bulbous shapes drifted to and fro about the town. Silka guessed they were the dirigibles of which her father had sometimes spoken
great elongated bags of gas ribbed and hung with gondolas, powered by grinding engines, gouting steam, and sparks as they cruised like airborne pigs, filled with passengers and cargoes. ~ Allan Frewin Jones

You have a way of turning the established order on its head." Instantly regretting that, he forced his face to relax; Lynx must not see anger in his eyes. ~ Gwynn White

I have a heart-shaped hole. Like an empty bird's next, it rests among marigold-hued ruffles above the topmost hook of my corset.
The hole was not left by something removed, but for something anticipated. ~ Sharon Lynn Fisher

And who exactly are you supposed to be, the Queen of England? ~ Courtney Brandt

Rigg shrugged. "I know it makes you feel better, but I think it's arrogant to believe in anything anyway."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah," Rigg said, frowning at the clouds. "No one can really know what's out there. People are too small in the grand scheme of things. Saying we know and understand the gods is like a bug saying they know and understand our airships. They don't and they can't."

Hari smiled. "Fair enough. ~ Ash Gray

Cursed the crown that brought such grief to me ~ J. Leigh Bralick

You better not be dead. This team is already overflowing with ankle spankers. I was looking forward to having more women around."
Yara's eyelids fluttered open. She blinked a few times, focused on him, and frowned.
"Ankle spanker? The only thing you've got that'll reach that far is your ego. ~ Lindsay Buroker

Clocks are the enemies of time ... they are the gaolers of day and the turnkeys of night.
Tom Thumb ~ Lavie Tidhar

You didn't have to come."
"Of course I did. What kind of a friend and mentor would I be if I went drinking without you? ~ Clay Griffith

I'm always homesick for the journey," I had once written in ink speckled script, adding almost as an afterthought, " ... no matter what it may hold. ~ S.C. Barrus

Don't ever be deceived by the size or the lack of size of an object. Sometimes the smallest can be the mightiest of them all. ~ Maxwell Grantly

Follow those rats! They may lead us back to Muggins! ~ A.F. Stewart

In my opinion, what 'The Evil Dead' is to horror, 'Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters' is to action-fantasy, with these horror elements and a steampunk-y twist. ~ Derek Mears

You put up this steel armor around yourself in the form of hostility and disinterest - whichever works to shield you best at the moment, but that's not who you are. ~ Pauline Creeden

A clockwork heart can't replace the real thing. ~ Dru Pagliassotti

Torque was the greatest thing in the world, as far as Lina was concerned. ~ Jaleigh Johnson

And now we both blushed, because things like changing one's garments should not be discussed among a Queen and one of her subjects. ~ Courtney Brandt

A collection of chairs seems to show someone that is used to resting while others get the work done. I have no use for finely crafted furniture. ~ Kat Daughtry

Be happy. Be free. You have a universe inside you. ~ Sophia Elaine Hanson

A steampunk nation
Baby pollution rises up then the loving comes arraigning 'cause
Our art's official and only partially artificial
And our heart's in the middle of sharp hardened shards of metal but
There's not where it settles
Because it's beating to the steaming of God's hottest pot or kettle
And now we face it, this creation we made to
To save our craving for a synthetic rebelnation it's
Our safeway they make into a pathetic revelation
In our steampunk nation
Our steampunk nation ~ Criss Jami

The odd was the ordinary at Alistair Grim's. The people who lived there were odd. The things they did there were odd. Even the there itself there was odd. ~ Gregory Funaro

Greg Broadmore's fertile and twisted imagination has conjoined multiple genres, memories, and a sharp sense of pulp, colonialist nostalgia/parody in this lavish, fully realized, imaginative tour-de-force. It's Jules Verne meets Fritz Lang meets Tintin.
It's beyond Steampunk. It's clearly an insatiable passion for the talismans of a bygone civilization and it's slavish addiction to the early industrial age in all it's filigreed, ignorant glory. Greg has raised the bar. ~ Adam Savage

You'd be surprised what an eleven-year-old can get away with." - Tuppence ~ Richard Due

Technically and logically speaking, actual Victorian science fiction writers cannot be dubbed 'steampunks.' Although they utilized many of the same tropes and touchstones employed later by twenty-first-century writers of steampunk, in their contemporary hands these devices represented state-of-the-art speculation. ~ Paul Di Filippo

Those angels you've painted in your mind wouldn't last for a moment on the streets of London, Mother," Ellie called out to her. "We're the devils who stepped in to replace them. ~ Katherine McIntyre

Breathe, Newberry. If you faint in the Blacksmith's laboratory, only the stars above know what might be grafted to your body when you wake up. ~ Meljean Brook

He could sit in the dust and dark of the carriage house and rot for the rest of his life. Clearly that's what he wished to do. It was not my place to get in the way of so profound a destiny. ~ Kristin Bailey

Whatever you do, don't make it worse by trying to come up with some flimsy excuse for why you were in the ventilation shaft, Lina told herself. ~ Jaleigh Johnson

Steampunk has been hovering around for a long while, and it's never really caught on in a big way. ~ Chris Wooding

What if all those strange and unexplainable bends in history were the result of supernatural interference? At which point I asked myself, what's the weirdest most eccentric historical phenomenon of them all? Answer:the Great British Empire. Clearly, one tiny little island could only conquer half the known world with supernatural aid. Those absurd Victorian manners and ridiculous fashions were obviously dictated by vampires. And, without a doubt, the British army regimental system functions on werewolf pack dynamics. ~ Gail Carriger