John Jakes

"“The syndicated journalist?” “The syndicated muckraker would be more like it,” Dr. Walker said. “Mister Sensationalism. Specialist in the exposé. Long on headlines, short on facts.”"

"I think I’m as normal as the next guy. But I won’t go after what I want regardless of the price. Doing that nullifies the worth of whatever you’re after."

"Oh, a few temple priests have been predicting dire things in an effort to improve public morals, but no one takes them seriously."

"I was warned that you were an authoritarian personality, Dr. Lindstrum – not to say overbearing. The warnings were not exaggerated. With only modest encouragement, I could dislike you thoroughly."

"Sir, you are continually insulting. Is that because you are afraid of losing your authority? Is that why you give free rein to your vexatious personality, constantly assuming the shrill posture of a dictator?"

"“An astonishing story,” Bomfils said. “I regret to say that I do not believe it.”"

"Iron can destroy anything: families, fortunes, governments, whole countries. It's the most powerful stuff in the universe." "Oh?" Orry's skeptical glance fell down on the Plain below. "You really think it's more powerful than a big army?" "Without weapons - without this - there are no big armies."

"I got a clear impression that he'd cheerfully send off a regiment to be butchered if it served his purpose. He wouldn't think twice about it, either. He called soldiers "interchangeable parts.""

"He was just a lieutenant of the line, a small cog in an immense machine. Besides, all that really mattered to him was doing his job and surviving."

"They had taken no more than a dozen steps away from the cottages when a musket barrel came smashing through an unbroken window in one of the cottages ahead. The door flew open, three more muskets poked out. The muskets boomed, killing two of the surprised soldiers a yard to Orry's left."

"He saw it all summed up in the blind marching of that nameless unit. A vision of gaunt shapes, sharp shiny steel, dim lamps flaring in the rain. The war machine was rolling."

"Designed to carry heavy armament. Designed for war. A commerce raider. She would roam the earth and do inestimable damage to Yankee shipping."