"“The probabilities would now seem to lean that way,” agreed Millisor. “I doubt everything, you see.” Ethan thought this over. “Encountering the truth must be horribly confusing for you, then.” Millisor’s lips twitched dryly. “Fortunately, it happens very seldom.”"

"Ethan had never found himself clinging to a cusp of human history. The trouble with the position, he found, was that in whatever direction you looked there fell away a glassy, uncontrollable slide down to a strange future you would then have to live in. He had never wanted to pray more, nor been less sure that it would do any good."

"A fool is twice a fool who tries to conceal it."

"Innocence might be bliss, but ignorance was demonstrably hell."

"Life with women did not just induce strange behavior, it appeared; it induced very strange behavior."

"Quinn ignored the admonition with a verve bordering, Ethan thought, on the anti-social."

"As long as I’m going to commit a crime, let it be a perfect one."

"There are always survivors at a massacre. Among the victors, if nowhere else."

"Some places have religion. Here we have safety drills."

"The rest of the universe was disappointing at first glance."

"Women. Uterine replicators with legs, as it were."

"“Good luck,” snorted Ivan. “Luck is something you make for yourself, if you want it.”"

"“Do you know what this is, Lord Vorkosigan?” Giaja asked. Miles eyed the medallion of the Order of Merit on its colored ribbon, glittering on a bed of velvet. “Yes, sir. It is a lead weight, suitable for sinking small enemies. Are you going to sew me into a silk sack with it, before you throw me overboard?”"

"“How did your mother cope, Lord Vorkosigan?” “You mean, being an egalitarian Betan and all? No problem. She says egalitarians adjust to aristocracies just fine, as long as they get to be the aristocrats.”"

"“The best strategies run on rails like that.” Miles pointed out. “Live or die, you make your goal.”"

"Vorreedi, Miles reminded himself, was Intelligence, not Counter-intelligence; curiosity, not paranoia, was his driving force."

"Behavior that is rewarded is repeated. And the reverse."

"You can’t give power away and keep it simultaneously. Except posthumously."

"Lord X was a tyrant, not a revolutionary. He wanted to take over the system, not change it."

"In my experience, milady, we can never get back to exactly where we started, no matter how hard we try."

"Rian seemed less and less like a damsel in distress all the time. In fact, he was beginning to wonder if he was trying to rescue the dragon."

"Vorreedi stated dangerously, “I am not a mushroom, Lieutenant Vorkosigan.” To be kept in the dark and fed on horseshit, right. Miles sighed inwardly."

"“So use your initiative!” “I don’t have initiative. I follow orders, thank you. It’s much safer.” “Fine, I order you to use your initiative.”"

"“Connection? What possible connection?” “We are the connection, Ivan. A couple of Barrayaran backcountry boys come to the big city, and ripe for the plucking. Somebody is using us. And I think somebody... has just made a major mistake in his choice of tools.” Or fools."

"“I made up a lot of instant barbarian folklore—I told ’em a Vor prides himself on self-control, that it’s not considered polite on Barrayar for a man to, you know, before his lady has. Three times. It was considered insulting to her. I stroked, I rubbed, I scratched, I recited poetry, I nuzzled and nibbled and—cripes, my fingers are cramped.” His speech was a bit slurred, too, Miles noticed. “I thought they’d never fall asleep.” Ivan paused; a slow smirk displaced the snarl on his face. “But they were smiling, when they finally did.”"

"“Ah, yes. I recall from your file that you are some sort of theist.” said the Emperor. “I am an atheist, myself. A simple faith, but a great comfort to me, in these last days.” “Yes, I have often felt the pull of it myself.”"

"Why shouldn’t a madman dream of being sane?"

"“Women shouldn’t be in combat,” said Vorkosigan, grimly glum. “Neither should men, in my opinion.”"

"“So this word of honor business—you believe he never breaks it?” “Well…” “He does, then.” “I have seen him do so. But the cost was huge.” “He breaks it for a price, then.” “Not for a price. At a cost.” “I fail to see the distinction.” “A price is something you get. A cost is something you lose.”"

"“Well, I don’t hate him. I can’t say I worship him, either.” She paused a long time, and looked up to meet her mother’s eyes squarely. “But when he’s cut, I bleed.”"

"I’m sorry. I can love you. I can grieve for you, or with you. I can share your pain. But I cannot judge you."

"The really unforgivable acts are committed by calm men in beautiful green silk rooms, who deal death wholesale, by the shipload, without lust, or anger, or desire, or any redeeming emotion to excuse them but cold fear of some pretended future. But the crimes they hope to prevent in that future are imaginary. The ones they commit in the present—they are real."

"“Suffering bastard.” “I thought you saw meaning in that sort of thing,” said Vorkosigan. “In the abstract. Most days it’s just stumbling around in the dark with the rest of creation, smashing into things and wondering why it hurts.”"

"But exile, for no other motive than ease—that would be to give up all hope of honor. The last defeat, with no seed of future victory in it."

"“Things going well for your side, are they?” she asked, oppressed. “We’re becoming nicely overextended. Some people regard that as progress.”"

"East is west, up is down, and being falsely arrested for getting your C.O.’s throat cut is a simplification. I must be on Barrayar."

"He said that permitting private judgments to turn my duty in the smallest matter would be just like getting a little bit pregnant—that the consequences would very soon get beyond me."

"This war nonsense was a great psychological education. That chronometer had to be wrong. Surely it had been a year, and not an hour…"

"No fear trembled his voice. Well, she reflected, perhaps he was not old enough yet to have really come to believe in death after life."

"So in the physics of the heart, distance is relative; it’s time that’s absolute."

"I’m sure we’d all rather be clever than brave."

"Do you know, I think you’d like politics at least on Barrayar. Maybe because it’s so similar to what we call war, elsewhere."

"It’s a moribund body anyway, afflicted with the narrowest conservatism and stuffed with old relics only concerned with protecting their privileges. I’m not sure anything can be done with the Counts in the long run. Perhaps they should finally be allowed to dodder over the brink of extinction."

"“Anybody ever tell you you’re a lunatic?” “Not in this context.”"

"I have an aversion to closed doors anyway. You never know what’s on the other side."

"Vorkalloner seemed suddenly less amusing. “Why are you all so anxious to put us in a bottle, anyway?” “Why, orders,” said Vorkalloner simply, like an ancient fundamentalist who answers every question with the tautology, “Because God made it that way.” Then a little agnostic doubt began to creep over his face. “Actually, I thought we might have been sent out here on guard duty as some kind of punishment,” he joked. The remark caught Vorkosigan’s humor. “For your sins? Your cosmology is too egocentric, Aristede”"

"Captains may come and captains may go, but the administration goes on forever."

"They stared at her curiously and she caught snatches of conversation in two or three languages. It wasn’t hard to guess their content, and she smiled a bit grimly. Youth, it appeared, was full of illusions as to how much sexual energy two people might have to spare while hiking forty or so kilometers a day, concussed, stunned, diseased, on poor food and little sleep, alternating caring for a wounded man with avoiding becoming dinner for every carnivore within range—and with a coup to plan for at the end."

"“We were told the Betans killed you, sir,” he said suspiciously. “Yes, it’s a rumor I’ve had difficulty living down,” said Vorkosigan. “You can see it’s not true.” “Your funeral was splendid,” said Koudelka. “You should have been there.” “Next time, perhaps,” Vorkosigan grinned. “Oh. You know I didn’t mean it that way, sir. Lieutenant Radnov made the best speech.” “I’m sure. He’d probably been working on it for months.”"

"I had a teacher who used to reflect back my questions that way. I thought it was the Socratic method, and it impressed me immensely, until I found out he used it whenever he didn’t know the answer."