Lois McMaster Bujold

"“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."

"Self-sedation seemed to require more alcohol than it used to, a problem easily remedied."

"“How come they promoted you before me? Who the hell have you been sleeping with?” boiled off of Miles’s lips before he could bite it back down. He hadn’t meant his tone of voice to come out quite that harsh. Ivan shrugged, smirking. “I do my job. And I do it without going around bending all the rules into artistic little origami, shapes, either.”"

"Well, good going with your captaincy. I know you worked for it, even though you pretend not to."

"“If you can’t win, change the game.” Ivan twitched a brow upward. “If there’s no game, isn’t winning a pretty meaningless concept?”"

"Was winning all he really wanted? Or did he still want also to be seen to have won? And by whom?"

"It was never what I wanted to buy that held my heart’s hope. It was what I wanted to be."

"How could you be a Great Man if history brought you no Great Events, or brought you to them at the wrong time, too young, too old? Too damaged."

"“‘Most men,’” he quoted, “‘are of naught more use in their lives but as machines for turning food into shit.’” Ivan cocked an eyebrow at him. “Who said that? Your grandfather?” “Leonardo da Vinci,” Miles returned primly. But was compelled to add, “Grandfather quoted it to me, though.”"

"The last thing a monster wanted was a fellow to follow him around all day long with a mirror."

"Ordinary men and women…die every day. For all sorts of reasons, from random chance to inexorable time. Death is not an Imperial monopoly."

"Boleso’s men, Ingrey was reminded, were out of the habit of questioning the sense of their superiors’ orders. Or perhaps it was that any who dared were got rid of, one way or another, and these were the remainder. Residue. Scum."