"Taj Lamor, remember what I tell you. If you win this awful war--you lose. As will our race. Only if you lose will you win." -- Tordos Gar

"For defense we'll have to depend on armor as heavy as we can make and still remain within the bounds of practical construction. I don't believe we'll be able to build up enough mass to insulate against their negative catalysis ray. We'll have to depend on mobility and offense." -- Richard Arcot

"...we'll have a bigger store of knowledge before this war is over--if we have anything at all. It's possible that man may lose knowledge, life, his planets and sun--but there's still plenty of hope. We're not finished yet." -- Richard Arcot

"The invaders may be behind one of those big engines, quite unaware of us. If they're there, and they see us, they'll be ready to fight. Now remember, those weapons you have will tear loose anything they hit, so take it easy. But look out for the crew, and get them if they try to get you!" -- Richard Arcot

"...I wonder if there might not be some of the crew alive in there? If there are, it seems to me that they'll let us know shortly that they're around...they would doubtless have some sort of guns." -- Wade

"You cannot see--you cannot see. You would start that struggle all over again!" -- Tordos Gar

"That's their surprise! They're ready far ahead of the time we expected! If all that armada gets in the air, we're done!" -- Richard Arcot

"It'll be a beam of power that will cause all molecules in its path to move at right angles to it...That means that no matter how big the thing is, we can tear it to pieces..." -- Richard Arcot

"I think I can understand the secret of all that power, and it's not so different from the Solarite. It, too, draws its power from the sun, though in a different way, and it stores it within itself... In that huge coil and cylinder we found there we saw the main power storage tank. That was full of gaseous light-energy..." -- Richard Arcot

"Dad, these Kaxorians have planes capable of far more than a thousand miles an hour in the air. You must start at once on a fleet of molecular motion planes... I'll try to develop some new weapons here. If either of us makes any progress along new lines--we'll report to the other." -- Richard Arcot

"That you should come here at this particular time is almost beyond belief--a practically impossible coincidence--but perhaps there is more than coincidence behind it?" -- Tonlos

"We may be able to find friends here more quickly if we aid one side or the other in the very lively battle going on there. Before we go any further, what's our decision?" - Richard Arcot

"We're getting near a planet. This is the third meteor we've met since we were more than a million miles from Earth." -- Richard Arcot

"I love to come out here and look at those cold, pinpoint lights; they seem to draw me--the lure of other worlds. I've always had a sense of unfulfilled longing--the desire to go out there--and it's always been so hopeless. Now--I'll be out there by next spring!" -- Richard Arcot

"I'm Wade--help if you can. Am in an orbit and can't get out. Fuel reserve gage stuck, and used all my rockets. No more power. I am running out of compressed air and the generator is going--will take animation suspending gas--will you be able to reach me before entering night?" --The Pirate

"I never began to let out the power of this thing! What a ship! When these are made commercially, we'll have to use about one horsepower generators in them, or people will kill themselves trying to see how fast they can go." -- Richard Arcot

"Dad seems to think the machine has possibilities! I believe it will antiquate all types of airplanes, prop or jet. It's a direct utilization of the energy that the sun is kindly supplying... We may as well tap that vast ocean of power." -- Richard Arcot

"The other day several men came in to charter a plane to San Francisco. It seems they wanted to hire the ship so they could be robbed!" -- Robert Morey

"Piracy! Pirates in the air! In 2126 we have pirates attacking our air lines." -- Field Manager of the San Francisco terminus of The Transcontinental Airways Company

Reader Scott D. Farquhar shares John W. Campbell's own Introduction to The Black Star Passes.