"The loonies who sought a glorious death in battle found it very early on. This rapidly cleared the chain of command of the accumulated fools. The survivors were those who learned to fight dirty, and live, and fight another day, and win, and win, and win, and for whom nothing, not comfort, or security, not family or friends or their immortal souls, was more important than winning. Dead men are losers by definition. Survival and victory. They weren’t supermen, or immune to pain. They sweated in confusion and darkness. (And)…they won."

"I hate an enemy who doesn’t make mistakes."

"“You don’t have any inhibitions at all, do you?” “Not in combat.”"

"“I have a particular aversion to stalemates. I prefer winning wars to prolonging them.” She sighed, momentarily drained, tired, old. “I’ve been at war a long time, y’know? After a while even losing a war can start to look preferable to prolonging it.”"

"There is a subtle difference between being a prisoner and being a slave. I don’t mistake either for being free. Neither do you."

"Men may move mountains, but ideas move men."

"“Power is better than revenge,” suggested Miles, not flinching before her snake-cold, set face, her hot coal eyes. “Power is a live thing, by which you reach out to grasp the future. Revenge is a dead thing, reaching out from the past to grasp you.”"

"Biology is Destiny."

"I can’t quit, once I’ve started. I’ve been told I’m pathologically persistent. I can’t quit."

"Let he who is without sin cast the first lure."

"“It’s true,” agreed Oliver, “that if your religion failed to deliver a miracle, that a human sacrifice would certainly follow.” “Ah...quite,” Miles gulped. “You are a man of acute insight.” “That’s not an insight,” said Oliver. “That’s a personal guarantee.”"

"“Is this guy for real?” “He thinks he’s faking it,” said Suegar blandly, “but he’s not.”"

"Now there’s this about cynicism, Sergeant. It’s the universe’s most supine moral position. Real comfortable. If nothing can be done, then you’re not some kind of shit for not doing it, and you can lie there and stink to yourself in perfect peace."

"“All right,” Miles pulled Suegar to his feet, “let’s go preach to the unconverted.” Suegar laughed suddenly. “I had a top kick once who used to say, ‘Let’s go kick some ass,’ in just that tone of voice.”"

"Communication. This lack of word from the outside world might drive even him crazy shortly. It was as bad as prayer, talking to a god who never talked back."

"“The devil can quote scripture, y’know.” Yes, that was rather what I had in mind…"

"He lay a long time, cradled in pain. He was not sure how long. The illumination from the force dome was even and shadowless, unchanging. Timeless, like eternity. Hell was eternal, was it not? This place had too damn many congruencies with hell, that was certain."

"How could I have died and gone to hell without noticing the transition?"

"He had his idea-fixee now, and its ramifications and his rage were an effective block against incoming data."

"Devotion to duty, or pragmatic ruthlessness, which was which? He would never know, now."

"One maneuvers to the limit, but the golden moment demands action. If you miss it, the gods damn you forever. and vice versa."

"It’s not what you don’t know that’ll hurt you, the old saying went. It’s what you do know that isn’t so."

"Miles was no musician, but even he could sense an intensity of passion in the playing that went beyond talent, reaching for genius."

"“Some party,” commented Bel. “I went to a pet show with an atmosphere like this once.”"

"If you can’t be seven feet tall, be seven feet smart."

"Change is a function of time and experience, and time is implacable."

"“I was just a little taken aback. That—that wasn’t the proposition I was expecting, is all. Excuse me. I fear I am become incurably low-minded.” “You can’t help that, I’m sure,” Ethan said tolerantly. “Being female, and all that.”"

"Curiosity is not a theological virtue."

"Do not mistake charm for virtue."

"“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."