"“You cheated!” “Hell yes, I did. I learned a long time ago, better you learn to fight smarter, not harder.” “If you had not had the pistol—” “Then I’d have used some other tool. Knife, stick, a chair, whatever. Fighting fair gets you killed unless the other guy also fights fair and you are better than him and lucky. First rule: Don’t do it."

"“One who searches for the definition ‘devious’ can find it listed under ‘human.’”"

"Civilization didn’t like surprises..."

"In the land of the unarmed, the man with a rock was king."

"“Everybody knows that.” “Assume for a moment that everybody is wrong.”"

"Nobody is a born killer. And nobody ever forgets the first time they get laid, nor the first time they spike somebody."

"There are a lot of promises in the recycle bins of history."

"If it ain’t broke, don’t break it."

"Truth is the first casualty in war, but communications is the second."

"It wasn’t a death wish. It was a see-how-close-you-can-get-and-live wish."

"Young soldiers had a lot of expectations and fantasies about how it would be and what they would do and feel. Invariably wrong, those expectations."

"Rich people seldom run amok; They hire somebody to do that for them."

"Well, said his little interior voice, a second is as good as an eon, if you succeed. Yeah, and as good as forever if you fail."

"Wall knew what made the man work; he had studied every scrap of information available on him, including his own brief meeting before it all fell apart. Khadaji was a hero; he wore the psychologically flawed psyche like a cape, he was a slave to fair play and he believed that the universe was an innately good place. Khadaji made it a point not to kill during his revolution, not with his own hands. He could have snuffed Wall like a flickstick when first they’d met. But he had not; he had given Wall a chance to consider the error of his ways. What a fool."

"Veate said, “You said ‘used to be.’ Not a mystic any more?” “No. I burned too many bridges. I saw too much grief to believe in a benevolent cosmos any longer. I caused much of that grief myself.”"

"“You should know that there is great personal danger involved, Emile.” Khadaji chuckled. “So, what else is new? You skate the edge, sometimes you get cut.”"

"“We live in an age where such things are inseparably entwined with our lives,” he said. “There have been more than a few other unnatural disasters around the galaxy of late, most of which are connected to major computer systems.”"

"“Thanks,” he said. She beamed at him. “Sure. What are friends for, if not to point out when you do stupid shit?”"

"But her first reaction was from fear. Her very best, most potent trick suddenly didn't work anymore. Her first thought probably was that something was wrong with you. But her second thought would have been that something was wrong with her. Had to be pretty scary."

"Causing the union trouble was easy enough, since unions were almost always paranoid by nature."

"The matadors didn't hold with killing, but the way Sleel figured it, when someone tried to take you out, they lost their breathing rights. He'd worry about his conscience later. At least he'd be alive to worry about it."

"When wheels turned, those on top sometimes found themselves buried in the mud after things rolled to a stop."

"He had put it all behind him, the danger and intrigue, and he had never regretted it. He had done a lifetime’s work in a decade and a half, and walked away without a backward look. He had done what he had been driven to do by a mystical battlefield revelation that he could not ignore, but he was long past that. It seemed sometimes when he thought about it as if it had all happened to another man, in another life, one he knew only slightly, if at all."

"All great truths are simple, and that was both great and true itself."

"He had not found God, but he had found something much more important. He had found himself."

"He did not have to have all the answers. Hell, he didn’t have to have any of them. All he could do was the best he could. Nothing else much mattered worth a damn."

"What had Von told him, so long ago? He might not be able to control what he felt or thought, but he could control what he did. That was the important thing, that was the crux of free will."

"The gnat had bitten the dinosaur. The revolution had begun!"

"Odd how such major changes in a man’s life could come about so quickly, based on such flimsy things as feelings."

"That, of course, was the problem with zen. Mountains were mountains, streams were streams, and forests were forests, except when they were not. And then were again. To someone who knew zen, on the proper intuitive level, it all made perfect sense. To someone who did not know zen, it made no sense at all."

"It would be foolish to deny something that worked simply because one did not know how it worked. One did not need an advanced degree in physics to push a button."

"“A priest.” Pen nodded. “A title. Our order concerns itself more with the redemption of man then the seeking of his Creator. Assuming there is such a thing.” “Doubts are good,” Vaughn said. “If a belief can’t stand questioning, it isn’t apt to be much.”"

"Perhaps the voice stilled. Perhaps not. Either way, he lost the sound of it in the surging wave that crested and carried him to new places with this new woman. For a few moments, at least, the sound went away, along with the darkness, the worry, the memories. He and Moon danced the oldest man and woman dance, yin and yang, and all else was less than a shadow. For a few moments."

"Eventually, you will learn for the right reasons; to begin with, it is only necessary that you learn at all."

"There were, in Ferret’s experience, two kinds of law: one law ruled the poor, an altogether different one more gently guided the rich."

"A man can only stay down so long before he rises or loses everything that he is."

"As it had always done, money talked, and what it said was, “Leave me alone and I’ll pay you well.”"

"“You’re a genius, you know that?” “I’ve always thought so, myself.”"

"“What’s wrong with me?” “Have you got a few hours for a basic list?”"

"Who you are comes from who you were. You can’t escape your past; it follows you like a shadow."

"Everybody’s got secrets, and some of the worst ones belong to those with the most power."

"Never hide from the consequences of your orders."

"Life is more important than glory."

"The end did justify the means sometimes, otherwise nothing would ever be accomplished."

"We press the enemy backward with memories, with the power of history, with scenes of sense and order."

"The message says that, unless it is stopped right now, it all begins again; the old hatreds, the ego rampant, the fists raised proclaiming that one or another god grants the right to yell instead of think. The message says that each time the world forgets how Evil exists, Evil gets a resurrection; and the word “honor,” extinguishing, turns to smoke. But there once lived men who knew that some things were worth dying for. There once were women who fought for their own, and fought for others as much as they were able. In a geriatric ward a body is no big advantage, anyway, and so this is how it shapes: we can’t form the future but we can show responsibility."

"Some remnant of battle must remain, something halting an advance. The ghost of a ghost may be more than a memory. It may be a piece of history that refuses to be rewritten."

"The whole business lay ringed with mystery, with improbabilities, but also with certainty of total destruction if we failed. There might be total destruction if we succeeded, but that was someone else’s problem. We could only set the standard, write our last will and testament through action, and hope someone could still read deeply enough to raise arms against the encroaching night."

"“Flags are symbols. Words are symbols. Steeples are symbols. Red lights in front of cathouses are symbols. The world don’t know it, but the world lives by symbols, some good, some as bad as flags.”"