Harry Turtledove

"“Oh, they are great ones for taking a high moral tone, the Confederate States,” Douglass said. “Taking a high moral tone costs them nothing. Living up to it is something else again.”"

"War was rapidly doing what war did—making ugly everything it touched."

"“You wouldn’t bring me fifty dollars. You’re too damn old and too damn uppity.” “I can’t help being old, and I am proud to be uppity,” Douglass said."

"Every so often, though, the passing years up and ambushed him. They had more skill at it than any Yankees. One day, they would shoot him down from ambush, too."

"“What’s the war news?” “They’re killing people,” Sam said, and let it go at that."

"“Why do we have such a pack of confounded dunderheads running this country?” “My theory used to be that we get the government we deserve,” Sam said. “Bad as we are, though, I don’t think we’re that bad. Right now, I’m taking a long look at the notion that God hates us.”"

"We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some, the word means for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and with the product of his labor. With others, the same word means for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor. The fullness of time, I am convinced, will prove to the world which is the true definition of the word, and my earnest hope remains that the United States of America show yet lead the way in the proving."

"The worst revolutionaries today are those reactionaries who do not see and will not admit that there is any need for change."

"An army that was winning had little backbiting. When things went wrong, everyone was at pains to prove the misfortune could not possibly have been his fault."

"Apart from the Volunteer companies, a lot of men in San Francisco carried guns for self-protection—not least, for protection from other men carrying guns."

"Martyrdom was easier to contemplate in the abstract than to embrace in the flesh."

"We must deal with life as it is, not with life as we wish it were or as it may be ten years or fifty years from now."

"“Give me two synonyms for ‘idiots,’” Clemens said, and then gave them himself: “‘Fools’ and ‘Republicans.’”"

"“You done opened my eyes, and I reckon I can go and open some other folks’ eyes my own self. You got yourself a—what’s the Bible word?—A disciple, that’s what it is.” “Good luck to you, Mr. Blackford,” Lincoln said. “Be the truth’s disciple, not mine. Follow the truth, wherever it may lead you.”"

"Impasse. Stuart hated impasses. He hated ambiguity of any kind. The older he got, the more ambiguity he saw in the world. He hated that, too."

"When was the last time you heard a Republican speak up for a fair shake for the working man or for justice and equality for all men? Those are the ideals we espoused when we were young. Have they changed from boons to evils as we grew old?"

"Courage and the goodness of one’s cause, unfortunately, do not always go hand in hand."

"Longstreet, as far as Jackson was concerned, made a better politician than a soldier; he was full of the deviousness politics required."

"Anxious, he asked, “My dear, how are you?” “As the good Lord meant me to be,” she answered, to which he found no response. She went on, “Pretty soon I’ll see Him face-to-face, and I intend to have a good long talk with Him about the way things do go on in this here world.” “Good,” Douglass said. “I’m sure He could have made a much better job of things had He had you to advise Him.”"

"“You’re a Democrat, aren’t you general?” somebody asked. “What sensible man isn’t?” Custer returned."

"“Won’t it be fine, getting to spend Christmas somewhere near the edge of civilization?” “Yes, sir,” his aide-de-camp agreed enthusiastically. “If El Paso isn’t civilization, at least it’s on the railroad line to it.”"

"But, aside from that grumbling, without which they would hardly have been soldiers, they went where they were ordered."

"Radicals hire bomb-throwing maniacs. Rich men hire lawyers. They’re more expensive, but they ought to be, because they do more damage."

"An idea may be a good one no matter who propounds it."

"“You notice he does not do anything about it. The first amendment to the Constitution protects our right to speak freely.” He let out a chuckle the wind flung away. “The first amendment also protects his right to speak freely, however distasteful I find his opinion.”"

"The ability to see what is, sir, is essential for the leader of a great nation."

"He was a pretty fair officer, no doubt about it, but he wasn’t as smart as he thought he was. Of course, when you got right down to it, who was?"

"“Putting the best face on things doesn’t make them right,” Flora said with a stern rectitude of a temperance crusader smashing a bottle of whiskey against a saloon wall."

"Whenever you throw away what’s right for what’s convenient, you end up losing both."

"What should matter and what does matter, monsieur, are not one and the same thing, I regret to say."

"“What is the younger generation coming to?” she exclaimed: the cry of the older generation throughout recorded history."

"At sixteen, you knew you could do the impossible. At forty-three, you knew damn well you couldn’t."

"He’d always been glad he wasn’t an infantryman: if you were a mudfoot, war, and the death and the maiming that went with war, were random and impersonal. What had he just been doing but dealing out random, impersonal death? He thought of himself as a knight in shining armor. What sorts of filthy things had knights done that never got into the pages of Malory and Ivanhoe? He didn’t know. He didn’t want to find out, not really. He looked down at himself. His imaginary suit of armor seemed to have a patch or two of rust on it. No matter who you were or what you did, you couldn’t stay immaculate, not in this war."

"That was something else war was about: not caring."

"If you started thinking the whole world was like the part of it where you lived, you were going to be wrong a lot of the time."

"The countryside looked as if hell had been there, but had gone away on vacation."

"War would have been a much simpler, easier business with politics out of the mix."

"Being sure wasn’t the same thing as being right."

"Scott said, “If things had gone the way they were supposed to, we’d have been in Philadelphia a long time ago.” “Yeah, and if pigs had wings, we’d all carry umbrellas,” Featherstone replied with a snort “When you’ve been through even a little more fighting, kid, you’re going to see that things just don’t go the way they’re supposed to.”"

"Isaac might have been emboldened by the whiskey, for he asked Yossel Reisen, “What—is it like at the front?” Emboldened or not, he sounded hesitant. Yossel looked into the depths of his glass as he had looked through Flora. At last, he answered, “Think of all the worst things you know in the world. Think of them all in one place. Think of them as ten times as bad as they really are. Then think of them ten times worse than that. What you are thinking about when you do that is one ten-thousandth of what the front is like.” Nobody asked him any more questions."

"“How come they get to call us names whenever they please and we don’t get to call them names whenever we please? That’s not fair.” “Because they have more guns than we do, and they drove our soldiers out of this part of the country,” he told her. “If you have more guns in a war, you get to say what’s fair.”"

"Know what you’re doing and you’ll never need to cheat."

"Shouldering the bag, Moss made for the canvas tents that housed his new squadron. Such arrangements were all very well now, with the weather warm, but could you live in a tent in the middle of winter? Maybe the war would be over and he wouldn’t have to find out. He clicked tongue between teeth. He believed nonsense like that the year before. He was a tougher sell now."

"The Book of Mormon is no more the word of God than is an advertising circular for stomach powders."

"The paper was shipped up from the USA, and full of lies; since the demise of the Rosenfeld Register (which had been only half full of lies), no local paper had been permitted. But even lies could be interesting if they were new lies: why else did people read so many books and magazines?"

"Nobody was supposed to shoot at people wearing Red Cross armbands, but bullets, as he’d learned too well, weren’t fussy about whom they hit."

"He’d learned to strip and clean and reassemble the machine gun till he could do it with his eyes closed. It was an elegantly simple means of killing large numbers of men in a hurry, assuming that was what you wanted to do."

"When war reached out its hand, what did wealth and power matter? A fool with a gun could take them away. A fool with a gun had just taken them away."

"“How am I supposed to surprise you, Lucius?” He spread his hands and shrugged. “As long as we’ve been married, and you still expect to surprise me? You make me happy. That is enough, and more than enough. What do I need of surprises?”"

"Martin was convinced the military police attracted self-righteous sons of bitches the way spilled sugar drew ants."