Alastair Reynolds

"“You can hardly blame them.” “Assuming stupidity is an inherited trait, then no, I can’t.”"

"“How long have we been friends, Dan?” “I wouldn’t exactly call it friendship; more a kind of mutual parasitism.”"

"I was going to call it a mistake, but you could argue that there are no mistakes in war, only fortunate and less fortunate events."

"It seemed that she had not so much misjudged the woman as assigned her to completely the wrong species."

"“A splendidly inept thing,” Sylveste said, nodding despite himself. “What?” “The human capacity for grief. It just isn’t capable of providing an adequate emotional response once the dead exceed a few dozen in number. And it doesn’t just level off—it just gives up, resets itself to zero. Admit it. None of us feel a damn about these people.”"

"“You look older, son.” “Yes, well, some of us have to get on with the business of being alive in the entropic universe.”"

"“I don’t know.” That was typical Sajaki; like all the genuinely clever people Sylveste had met he knew better than to feign understanding where none existed."

"For whatever reason, I am now fully conscious. Perhaps all beta-levels are capable of this, or perhaps my sheer connectional complexity ensured that I exceeded some state of critical mass. I have no idea. All I know is that I think, and therefore I’m exceedingly angry."

"“But you seem so nonchalant about it all,” Teal said. Merlin pondered this for a few seconds. “Do you think being not nonchalant would make any difference? I don't know that it would. We’re here in the moment, aren’t we? And the moment will have its way with us, no matter how we feel about things.” “Fatalist.” “Cheerful realist. There’s a distinction.”"