All Quotes

"The man who assumes everything is a lie is at least as mistaken as the one who assumes everything is true. If no guarantee can suit you, perhaps the flaw is not in the guarantee, but in you."

"They are the most insidious propagandists ever to cloak self-serving greed with pseudo-patriotism."

"Miles clutched Quinn’s elbow. “Don’t panic.” “I’m not panicking,” Quinn observed, “I’m watching you panic. It’s more entertaining.”"

"“No, no, never send interim reports,” said Miles. “Only final ones. Interim reports tend to elicit orders. Which you must then either obey, or spend valuable time and energy evading, which you could be using to solve the problem.”"

"Permanent justice is well worth a temporary offended protest, I can assure you, Lieutenant."

"“Do you see assassination as an option, sir?” “A compelling one.”"

"They’re my officers, dammit, not my harem, Miles’s thought snarled silently. But no Barrayaran officer of Destang’s age would see it that way. Some attitudes couldn’t be changed; they just had to be outlived."

"And what goes on in the head of a walking dead man? Miles wondered. What personal failure could he possibly fear more than death itself?"

"And so men organized themselves for the sake of their technology as they never had for their principles. The sea’s politics were unarguable."

"“Security, Lieutenant,” Miles said blandly. “I can’t discuss it even with you.” “Security,” she sniffed, “doesn’t hide as much from Accounting as they think they do.”"

"It’s so damned useless! The dead hand of the past goes on jerking the strings by galvanic reflex, and we poor puppets dance—nothing is served, not us, not him, not Komarr…"

"“The revolt,” breathed Galen almost to himself, “must not die.” “Even if everybody in it dies? ‘It didn’t work, so let’s do it some more’? In my line of work, they call that military stupidity. I don’t know what they call it in civilian life.”"

"“Some stand-offs,” said Galen, “are more equal than others.”"

"“You must learn to kill if you expect to survive.” “No you don’t," Miles put in. "Most people go through their whole lives without killing anybody. False argument.”"

"He felt like a man trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle of live pieces, that moved and changed shape at random intervals with tiny malicious giggles."

"Men met energy wave with predictable results."

"Miles had heard weird tales of strange relationships between people and their clones. But then, anyone who deliberately went out and had a clone made must be kinky to start with. Far more interesting to have a child, preferably with a woman who was smarter, faster, and better-looking than oneself; then there was at least a chance for a bit of evolution in the clan."

"Still, what d’you expect of the descendants of a colony that started as a hijacker base? Naturally they developed into an aristocracy."

"“At least this should be simpler than our late vacation on Earth,” he said hopefully. “A purely military operation, no relatives, no politics, no high finance. Straight-up good guys and bad guys.” “Great,” said Quinn. “Which are we?” Miles was still thinking about the answer to that one when the fleet broke orbit."

"“I really like this married-couple cover, for travel,” he remarked. “It suits me.” He took a slightly deeper breath. “So we’ve had the honeymoon, why don’t we have the wedding to go with it?”"

"Be careful who you pretend to be. You might become it."

"The medic glance up only to say, “Be sure you get the carotid and not the jugular.” “I’m trying. They’re not color-coded.”"

"Realize this, though. Half my genes run through your body, and my selfish genome is heavily evolutionarily pre-programmed to look out for its copies. The other half is copied from the man I admire most in all the worlds and time, so my interest is doubly riveted. The artistic combination of the two, shall we say, arrests my attention."

"I grant you he’s a genius, but don’t you dare try to tell me he’s sane."

"Don’t attempt to camouflage your real blame by taking more than your share."

"“You’re scaring him, dear’” the Countess remarked. “On that topic, paranoia is the key to good health,” said the count ruefully."

"“It’s important that someone celebrate our existence,” she objected amiably. “People are the only mirror we have to see ourselves in. The domain of all meaning. All virtue, all evil, are contained only in people. There is none in the universe at large. Solitary confinement is a punishment in every human culture.”"

"Lady Peace is the first hostage taken when economic discomfort rises."

"I don’t confuse greatness with perfection. To be great anyhow is…the higher achievement."

"“I swear,” Mark whispered, “excess suspicion makes us bigger fools than excess trust does.”"

"I do think, half of what we call madness is just some poor slob dealing with pain by a strategy that annoys the people around him."

"If anyone was sane here, he swore it was by accident."

"I don’t know what passion he inspires in you—were you lovers? You’d be amazed how many people have clones made for that purpose."

"His taste for heavily-armed girlfriends did have potential drawbacks."

"Never give aversion therapy to a masochist. The results are unpredictable."

"You can tell you’re alive when somebody touches you back."

"He had looked forward to making posthumous reports to Illyan. Now he wondered if he was going to live long enough."

"They hesitated. Ah, the downside of perfect obedience: crippled initiative."

"It wasn’t, he swore, that he picked up so many women. Compared to Ivan, he was practically celibate. It was just that he never put any down. The accumulation could become downright embarrassing, over a long enough time-span."

"Sometimes, insanity is not a tragedy. Sometimes, it’s a strategy for survival. Sometimes...it’s a triumph."

"Lilly had promised him that her stimulants would buy him six hours of coherence, after which the metabolic bill would be delivered by hulking bio-thugs with spiked clubs, virtual repo-men for his neurotransmitter debt."

"Their good fortune, Mark decided, was divided exactly fifty-fifty; Miles got the good luck, and he got the rest."

"Yet being beaten by your student was the ultimate victory, for a teacher."

"I don’t regret knowing myself, ma’am. I don’t even regret…being myself."

"Mother Nature gives a sense of romance to young people, in place of prudence, to advance the species. It’s a trick—that makes us grow."

"I wouldn’t be lying. I’d just be editing my report for length."

"It wasn’t fair, for people to go and change on him, while his back was turned being dead. To change without giving notice, or even asking permission."

"You can’t just…ignore them out of existence though apparently that’s exactly what you’ve been attempting."

"Well, if you couldn’t be good, at least you could be discreet."

"She’d have no objection to the principle of the thing, but she didn’t exactly approve of the military. She didn’t exactly disapprove, either; she just made it plain that she thought there were better things for intelligent human beings to do with their lives."