The most decisive actions of life are most often unconsidered actions.
Be careful what you wish for. There's always a catch.
Actions can have unintended adverse consequences.
It is possible that a scientific discovery will be made that humans will later regret because it has awful consequences. The problem is, we probably would not know in advance and, once the discovery is made, it cannot be undiscovered.
The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do.
In history, good intentions do not always make good consequences
I was sure I'd set the world on fire, and it was hard for a young feller like me to realize the truth - that I hadn't set the world on fire, and I was totally unprepared to handle the consequences if 'The Big Trail' had been a success and launched me as a star.
One generation's reform becomes the next generation's problem.
I had arrived years ago in Paris and just wanted to be famous, fast. When you're pretentious like that, and you think you've planned everything perfectly, it's then that everything goes in the opposite way.
I don't know if this is a stumbling block, but I had a real setback when I won a Nebula Award for the first story I ever had nominated for a Nebula in 1982. And you might think that was a good thing - and it was a wonderful thing, I don't regret it a bit. But I was sort of discombobulated by it.
A problem solved is a problem caused.
Thought I to myself, we shall never come off scot-free.
Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.
Almost every achievement contains within its success the seeds of a future problem.
Some things are so unexpected that no one is prepared for them.
The very reasons sometimes that you make a film are the reasons for its failure.
All the calamities that followed the invasion [of Iraq] were not only foreseeable, they were foreseen.
My failures had a lot to do with my fame. I created Evel Knievel, and then he sort of got away from me.
First of all, I never set out to be a whistleblower. Secondly, I never expected that my story would be interesting to anybody. Third of all, you know, I was actually terrified of being named, of being identified.
I thought the more famous I became, the more friendships I would have, but the opposite was true.
Sequels are very rarely a good idea, and in any case, the success of the book changed my relationship with the club in some ways.
With every project, there are things that surprise you with the meaning they take on as you start to use them.
The way to screw up somebody's life is to give them what they want.
Recently I made the mistake of opening a bundle of reviews that someone had sent me of a production from years and years ago, and someone had written a really lovely review except that it made a remark about the way I spoke: 'A lot of people find her voice terribly irritating.' Do they? I had no idea.
Obviously there will be a backlash. If you believe the hype you have to believe a backlash too. Any criticism we get, is always stuff we've already criticised ourselves.
