Lois McMaster Bujold

"Organization seemed to be the key. To get huge masses of properly matched men and material to the right place at the right time in the right order with the swiftness required to even grasp survival—to wrestle an infinitely complex and confusing reality into the abstract shape of victory—organization, it seemed, might even outrank courage as a soldierly virtue."

"Some saw stars, it seemed, and some saw the spaces between them."

"A mercenary who can’t honor his contract when it’s rough as well as smooth is a thug, not a soldier."

"In the long run more mercenaries have had their asses shot off by their contractors than by their enemies."

"Heroes. They sprang up around him like weeds. A carrier, he was seemingly unable to catch the disease he spread."

"“Ivan, one of these days somebody is going to pull out a weapon and plug you, and you’re going to die in bewilderment, crying, ‘What did I say? What did I say?’” “What did I say?” asked Ivan indignantly."

"He should be keeping reality and fantasy separate in his own mind, at least, even while mixing them as much as possible in others’."

"How can I give you up? You’re the mountains and the lake, the memories—you have them all. When you’re with me, I’m at home, wherever I am."

"Acting or reacting, we carry him in us. You can’t walk away from him any more than I can. Whether you travel toward or away, he’ll be the compass. He’ll be the glass, full of subtle colors and astigmatisms, through which all new things will be viewed. I too have a father who haunts me, and I know."

"That idea only makes sense if you don’t think too hard about it."

"Not only was Ivan an idiot, but he generated a telepathic damping field that turned people nearby into idiots too."

"There was no way he could anticipate every contingency. When the time came to leap in faith, whether you had your eyes open or closed or screamed all the way down or not made no practical difference."

"You know, if you’re trying to take a roomful of people by surprise, it’s a lot easier to hit your targets if you don’t yell going through the door."

"Hunting hawks do not belong in cages, no matter how much a man covets their grace, no matter how golden the bars. They are far more beautiful soaring free. Heartbreakingly beautiful."

"The trick of handling horses isn’t to be faster than the horse, or stronger than the horse. That pits your weakness against his strengths. The trick is to be smarter than the horse. That pits your strength against his weakness, eh?"

"Yeah, so I’m short. But wait’ll you see me dance."

"Aren’t family squabbles jolly fun? Bleeding ulcers run in my family, we give them to each other."

"The fundamental principle was clear: the spirit was to be preferred over the letter, truth over technicalities. Precedent was held subordinate to the judgment of the man on the spot. Alas, the man on the spot was himself. There was no refuge for him in automated rules, no hiding behind the law says as if the law were some living overlord with a real Voice. The only voice here was his own."

"The old ones are fighting it. They call it off planet corruption, but it’s really the future they fear."

"Ordinary people need extraordinary examples."

"I know you have courage, and I know you have will. The rest is just picking yourself up and ramming into the wall again and again until it falls down."

"How small those mountains looked from space!"

"Peace to you, small lady, he thought to Raina. You’ve won a twisted poor modern knight, to wear your favor on his sleeve. But it’s a twisted poor world we were both born into, that rejects us without mercy and ejects us without consultation. But at least I won’t just tilt at windmills for you. I’ll send in sappers to mine the twirling suckers, and blast them into the sky… He knew who he served now. And why he could not quit. And why he must not fail."

"We don’t just march on the future, we charge it."

"Pain hurts, sir. I don’t court it."

"He’s not like anything, Ahn. He’s the original."

"When a normal ensign looked at his commander, he ought to see a godlike being, not a, a...future subordinate. New ensigns were supposed to be a subhuman species anyway."

"If we shouldn’t do it, we shouldn’t be able to do it."

"Those who do not know their history, his thought careened, are doomed to keep stepping in it. Alas, so were those who did, it seemed."

"A weapon is a device for making your enemy change his mind."

"The facts appear to be mutating every forty minutes. like bacteria."

"Your moral scruples may be admirable, Miles, but I’m not sure I can afford them."

"“Other than that, how was Kiril Island, Ensign Vorkosigan?” inquired the Count. “You didn’t vid home much, your mother noticed.” “I was busy. Lessee. The climate was ferocious, the terrain was lethal, a third of the population including my immediate superior was dead drunk most of the time. The average IQ equalled the mean temperature in degrees cee, there wasn’t a woman for five hundred kilometers in any direction, and the base commander was a homicidal psychotic. Other than that, it was lovely.”"

"“This isn’t a good war game, Dad says,” commented Miles. “Not enough random factors and uncontrolled surprises to simulate reality.”"

"Mercenaries thrive on other people’s chaos."

"The job was interesting for a week, while he was learning it, mind-numbing after that."

"Geography is the mother of strategy."

"Your “accidents,” I once noticed, have ways of entangling your enemies that are the green envy of mature and careful strategists. Far too consistent for chance, I concluded it had to be unconscious will."

"Yes, well…actual combat…is a lot stupider than I’d imagined. If two groups can cooperate to the incredible extent it takes to meet in battle, why not put in a tenth that effort to talk?"

"War is not its own end, except in some catastrophic slide into absolute damnation. It’s peace that’s wanted. Some better peace than the one you started with."

"There is no moral difference between ordering an execution, and carrying it out."

"“The key of strategy, little Vor,” she explained kindly, “is not to choose a path to victory, but to choose so that all paths lead to a victory.”"

"I may be small, but I screw up big because I’m standing on the shoulders of GIANTS."

"“Face like an angel, mind like a rabid mongoose?” Oser’s lips twitched very slightly. “You’ve met her.”"

"“Is she pretty?” “Yeah, if you happen to like blond power-mad homicidal maniacs, I suppose she could be quite overwhelming.”"

"I don’t think I’m destined to die today. I must be being saved for day after tomorrow."

"“Think of the glory. Think of your reputation. Think how great it’ll look on your next resume.” “On my cenotaph, you mean. Nobody will be able to collect enough of my scattered atoms to bury. You’re going to cover my funeral expenses, son?” “Splendidly. Banners, dancing girls, and enough beer to float your coffin to Valhalla.” Tung sighed. “Make it plum wine to float the boat, eh? Drink the beer.”"

"It could be worse was always an unassailable assertion."

"“Damn,” said Elena in a hushed voice. “If I didn’t know you, I’d think you were Mad Yuri’s understudy. The look on your face…am I reading too much into all that innuendo, or did you in fact just connive to assassinate Gregor in one breath, offer to cuckold him in the next, accuse your father of homosexuality, suggest a patricidal plot against him, and league yourself with Cavilo—what are you going to do for an encore?” “Depends on the straight lines. I can hardly wait to find out,” Miles panted. “Was I convincing?” “You were scary.” “Good.”"

"Rule 1: Only overrule the tactical computer if you know something it doesn’t. Rule 2: The tac comp always knows more than you do."