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Book: Ubik
Quotes of Book: Ubik

Philip K. Dick _ Ubik
Simple Shepherd Mortuary
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Philip K. Dick _ Ubik
Emptiness. He saw no one, only a large chamber with pewlike rows of seats and, at the far end, a casket surrounded by flowers. Off in a small sideroom an old-fashioned reed pump organ and a few wooden folding chairs. The mortuary smelled of dust and flowers, a sweet, stale mixture that repelled him. Think of all the Iowans, the thought, who've embraced eternity in this listless room.
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Philip K. Dick _ Ubik
Pat said, "I'm living with Joe. I'm his mistress. Under our arrangement I pay his bills. I paid his front door, this morning, to let him out. Without me he'd still be in his conapt.
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Philip K. Dick _ Ubik
strictly speaking, the ability to travel through time . . . for instance, she can't go into the future. In a certain sense, she can't go into the past either; what she does, as near as I can comprehend it, is start a counter-process that uncovers the prior stages inherent in configurations of matter. But
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Philip K. Dick _ Ubik
Il passato è latente, è sommerso, ma è ancora lì, in grado di riaffiorare in superficie una volta che lo stampo più tardo sia malauguratamente - e contro l'esperienza ordinaria - scomparso. L'uomo contiene - non il ragazzo - ma gli uomini precedenti, pensò. La storia è cominciata molto tempo fa. I resti disidratati di Wendy. La progressione di forme che si verifica normalmente... quella progressione era cessata. E l'ultima forma si era consumata, senza nulla che la sostituisse; nessuna nuova forma, nessuno stadio successivo di ciò che ci appare come un processo di crescita, aveva preso il suo posto. Dev'essere questo che si prova nella vecchiaia; da questa assenza vengono degenerazione e senilità. Solo che in questo caso è accaduto tutto in una volta, nell'arco di poche ore.
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Philip K. Dick _ Ubik
Near her he became aware of the physical mechanisms which kept him alive; within him machinery, pipes and valves and gas-compressors and fan belts had to chug away at a losing task, a labor ultimately doomed.
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Philip K. Dick _ Ubik
You know that recent Supreme Court ruling where a husband can legally murder his wife if he can prove she wouldn't under any circumstances give him a divorce?
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Philip K. Dick _ Ubik
Instant Ubik has all the fresh flavor of just-brewed drip coffee. Your husband will say, Christ, Sally, I used to think your coffee was only so-so. But now, wow! Safe when taken as directed.
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Philip K. Dick _ Ubik
Wake up to a hearty, lip-smacking bowlful of nutritious, nourishing Ubik toasted flakes, the adult cereal that's more crunchy, more tasty, more ummmish. Ubik breakfast cereal, the whole-bowl taste treat!
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Philip K. Dick _ Ubik
But the longing within him had grown even greater, the overpowering need to be alone. Locked in an empty room, entirely unwitnessed, silent and supine. Stretched out, not needing to speak, not needing to move. Not required to cope with anyone or any problem. And no one will even know where I am, he told himself. That seemed, unaccountably, very important; he wanted to be unknown and invisible, to live unseen.
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Philip K. Dick _ Ubik
He could see the tall, peeling yellow building at the periphery of his range of vision. But something about it struck him as strange. A shimmer, an unsteadiness, as if the building faded forward into stability and then retreated into insubstantial uncertainty. An oscillation, each phase lasting a few seconds and then blurring off into its opposite, a fairly regular variability as if an organic pulsation underlay the structure. As if, he thought, it's alive.
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Philip K. Dick _ Ubik
The door refused to open. It said, "Five cents, please." He searched his pockets. No more coins; nothing. "I'll pay you tomorrow," he told the door. Again he tried the knob. Again it remained locked tight. "What I pay you," he informed it, "is in the nature of a gratuity; I don't have to pay you.""I think otherwise," the door said. "Look in the purchase contract you signed when you bought this conapt."In his desk drawer he found the contract; since signing it he had found it necessary to refer to the document many times. Sure enough; payment to his door for opening and shutting constituted a mandatory fee. Not a tip."You discover I'm right," the door said. It sounded smug.From the drawer beside the sink Joe Chip got a stainless steel knife; with it he began systematically to unscrew the bolt assembly of his apt's money-gulping door."I'll sue you," the door said as the first screw fell out.Joe Chip said, "I've never been sued by a door. But I guess I can live through it.
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