Steve Perry (author)

"Just because somebody or something doesn’t look at the world the way you do doesn’t mean it’s stupid. It’s just different—"

"The psychology of the religious experience has been well-researched and taped. There are many paths up the mountain—sensory deprivation or sensory overload—emotional response to stimuli or the lack thereof is common. Drugs, of course, from psychoactives to the more mundane depressants. Electropophy can bring it about, as can organic brain damage, lack or excess of oxygen, even sex can trigger it. And what it is, according to the science of man and mue, is a subjective mental state, somewhere to the left of hypnosis. A trick the mind plays on itself. A delusion, void of reality."

"We of the Shroud tend to believe in teaching those things we know we can teach, and in affairs of the heart—or gonads—there are no real experts. Love, like zen, cannot be learned, only felt."

"Older doesn’t necessarily mean wiser, Emile, but it does mean older. More...experienced. More adept at dealing with the galaxy, at...taking care of oneself."

"Khadaji only nodded. It didn’t matter to him if he passed the test or not. He wasn’t here to get a degree; he was here to learn."

"“People, this is your weapon, not your gun.” He waved the Parker in the air. “This is for work.” He dropped one hand to touch himself on the crotch. “This is for fun. Don’t mistake one for the other. Those of you not male or electively equipped as such might remember that easier.”"

"The beast has long since stopped serving to become the master. The Confed did what governments were famed for: it made more government. To oppose it was treason, and worth death. Even a monster has fear."

"He thought about the killing he’d seen, about his final participation in the slaughter on Maro. It still made him want to vomit, the thought of all those people ceasing to exist. Many religions had it that there was another life, another existence following the one known, but Khadaji held no faith in that idea. Maybe so, maybe not. It would be nice, but until it was proven, a person should make the best of his or her time on the physical plane."

"Any type of violence initiated by one intelligent being against another was wrong. Killing violence was worse than any other kind. How could it be condoned? In his brief moment of cosmic bliss, Khadaji had seen the value of intelligent life. Man and his self-created mues were alone in the galaxy as evolved intelligence. Certainly, there were artificials—computers and genetically altered animals—but no aliens had been discovered above the level of an unaltered dog. It was a big galaxy, plenty of room for every human or neo-human, it wasn’t necessary to kill any of them!"

"Could he use the same excuse as the Confed—the end justified the means? Sometimes it did, of course, but could one ethically justify using the same methods as a deplored enemy, in order to get it to stop?"

"What other paths were there? His studies had shown him that revolution and evolution were the only ways that societies ever truly changed. Revolution and evolution, built of a mix of education and violence and politics and compromise and self-interest and self-preservation. Certainly, history showed that rigid societies, like ancient dinosaurs, always died. The Confed was the biggest dinosaur ever, and while it was already dying and had been doing so for a long time, it would take many years before it finally fell. Any empire which had to hold its citizens in check with military force was far down the road to destruction. Which brought up another thought: what would replace the dead beast when it began to rot? What parasite would emerge from the corpse to try and breed itself into superiority?"

"Of course, laws weren’t always just. Some rules outlawed a thing because it was intrinsically bad: child molestation, say. Other rules made harmless activities crimes only because someone wished them to be so. Take cohabitation on a religious holiday. On some worlds, it was legal on one day, illegal the next, and on the third, okay once again. Khadaji could see no moral dilemma there."

"Honor was in surviving, not fair play."

"A woman did what a woman had to, the best way she knew how. To do more was impossible, to do less, unthinkable."

"He was a frustrated romantic, a thing often mistaken for skepticism."

"“I mean, look, I just broke into your private files. If I were you, I’d be more than a little upset.” Pen crinkled. “I’m not. It shows initiative.”"

"She didn’t have to play Pen’s game, she didn’t want to. The problem, as always with Pen, lay in figuring out what his game was."

"“Confounders aren’t allowed in holding cells, Envoy—” “And if snakes had legs, they’d be lizards,” Massey said. “Let’s not discuss things that don’t apply to our situation, Lojtnant.”"

"The end, in this case, would justify the means. It did that, sometimes. But somewhere along the way he had lost his godlike surety; he had had to think instead of feel, and the monkey brain was never as quiet as the zen mind."

"The mark of a civilized man was to know when to leave the party."

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

"Life is more important than glory."

"Never hide from the consequences of your orders."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"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."

"“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.”"

"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."

"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."

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

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

"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."

"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."

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

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

"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."

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

"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."

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

"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."

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

"“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.”"

"“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.”"

"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.”"