"Yani seemed a time-traveler who had found out the hard way that he did not like his destination any better than his point of departure, failed to notice the one common factor was himself, and now could not go back."

"History does not so much repeat as echo, I suppose."

"By far the most dangerous animal on the planet was an invasive species of ape."

"Maybe only love gave you more than what you’d dealt for."

"It’s been a long time since I wagered so much on a single throw. Though if I’m to revisit the desperation of my youth, I want the body back, too."

"“You know what I like best about you, Ivan Xav?” she asked, newly shy in her illumination. He turned his chin into her hair in an inquiring sort of way. “My shiny groundcar? My Vorish insouciance? My astounding sexual prowess? My…my mother? Dear God, you’re not taking me for the sake of getting my um-stepfather?” “Well, I do like them both very much, but no. What I like best about you, Ivan Xav, is that you’re nice. And you make me laugh.” She smiled now, into his shoulder. “That…doesn’t seem like much.” He sounded a bit taken aback. “Yes,” she sighed, “but consider the context.”"

"It was not a very original period of my life. I won’t say I fell in with bad company—I more hunted them down."

"Just because I have forgotten so many old enemies does not mean they have forgotten me."

"As the week wore on, Ivan contemplated the merits of inertia as a problem-solving technique with growing favor."

"There are two possible ways to solving a dilemma, in justice or elsewhere; begin with the facts, and follow out their logic where it leads one, or begin with the desired outcome, and reason backward to the necessary steps to achieve it."

"“Not treason,” haut Pel objected faintly. “As such.” “Unsanctioned unilateral redesign, then.”"

"There’s nothing like the threat of imminent death to force one to delegate."

"He stared at the two bundles more than filling his lap in a kind of cosmic amazement. “We did it,” he muttered to Ekaterin, now perching on the chair arm. “Why didn’t anybody stop us? Why aren’t there more regulations about this sort of thing? What fool in their right mind would put me in charge of a baby? Two babies?”"

"Puzzles. I hate puzzles. Ivan liked flowcharts—nice and clear and you could always tell just where you were and what you should do next, everything laid out neatly. No ambiguities. No traps. Why couldn’t life be more like flowcharts?"

"So far from a trudge, she seemed to find the task tolerably amusing. “Oh, languages aren’t work,” she explained cheerily. “They’re a game. Now, economics, that’s boring.”"

"And in her way, I suppose, she loved us, and naturally wanted us to have this great thing she'd found, too. Except... I wasn't her. It was like... if she could just fix me into being her, then she could shower me with the gifts she so valued."

"“What’s a call girl?” asked Tej, her brows crimping in puzzlement. “Uh…” Ivan sought a translation. “Like a Betan licensed practical sexuality therapist, only without the licensed and the therapy parts.”"

"“Is that going to be a problem?” said Ivan. “Definitely. I just don’t know what kind, yet. Or whose.”"

"The admiral did not invite Ivan to sit, so Ivan took up a prudent sort-of parade rest and waited. Someone would tell him what was going on shortly; they always did, however little he wanted to know."

"The limits of trust depend much on whether you mean to do business more than once."

"Let’s be sensible and wish for both of us there, while we’re wishing. I mean, it’s not like wishes are rationed."

"A three-planet empire delivered upset snakes by the basket-load to this man’s office, every damned morning. Yeah—for all the talk of men coveting the emperor’s throne, Ivan had never yet heard anyone speak of coveting his desk."

"“What do you see in that Barrayaran boy, anyway?” the Baronne asked querulously, dodging back despite Tej’s best efforts. “He just doesn’t seem very ambitious.” “Mm,” said Tej. One woman’s defect is another woman’s delight? “I suppose…it’s all the things he sees in me.” That you don’t."

"Everything in the district competes for resources. The best solution is to make more resources."

"“I didn’t know he had days off,” said Enrique, sounding vaguely puzzled. Naturally enough; Enrique didn’t exactly take breaks either, or at least not scheduled ones, his time being divided into days with too many things to do, and days with far too many things to do—much like her own, Ekaterin reflected ruefully."

"“’S funny. Piotr, toward the end of his life, looked at our district and only saw how much better it was. All the backbreaking, heartbreaking work he did cleaning up the messes after the war is taken for granted now, or mostly just forgotten. Instead, we look around and only see how much better it could be. And neither of us is wrong, exactly.”"

"Is it still a victory if you don’t get the credit?"

"Don’t underestimate the viciousness of academics when funding is at stake."

"Sociopath therapy was invented for people like him. No, no. The last person he wants for a character witness is someone who weeks him."

"I’m not responsible for my weird ancestors. Quite the reverse. Exactly the inverse."

"It just happens to be very important to me to win with the hand I was dealt."

"“You have the instincts of a gentleman, Ivan,” said Miles, absorbed in breaking into the coded files. “How did you ever get into security?"

"Some people would rather drown our domes in blood than learn anything from history. Or learn anything at all."

"He seems to have this strange difficulty grasping that I actually mean what I say."

"The will to be stupid is a very powerful force—"

"So. This one has never struck a man for real before. Nor killed either, I wager. Oh, little virgin, are you ever in for a bloody deflowering."

"“Power is safety.” “Let me give you a hint,” said Miles. “There is no safety. Only varying states of risk. And failure.”"

"You are what you do. Choose again, and change."

"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.”"

"The dead cannot cry out for justice; it is a duty of the living to do so for them."