Data Scan: Quotes on the Cyberpunk Genre

"It seemed to me that midcentury mainstream American science fiction had often been triumphalist and militaristic, a sort of folk propaganda for American exceptionalism. I was tired of America-as-the-future, the world as a white monoculture, the protagonist as a good guy from the middle class or above. I wanted there to be more elbow room. I wanted to make room for antiheroes... I wanted to see dirt in the corners."

- William Gibson, "The Art of Fiction No. 211", The Paris Review

"Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time-rich and cash-poor."

- Cory Doctorow, Little Brother

"You will be required to do wrong no matter where you go. It is the basic condition of life, to be required to violate your own identity."

- Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

"...the street finds its own uses for things."

- William Gibson, "Burning Chrome", Burning Chrome

"Anything that can be done to a rat can be done to a human being. And we can do most anything to rats. This is a hard thing to think about, but it's the truth. It won't go away because we cover our eyes. THAT is cyberpunk."

- Bruce Sterling