"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."

"“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.”"

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

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

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

"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."

"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."

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

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

"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."

"“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.”"

"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."

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

"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.”"

"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?"

"How many details had to point in the same direction before one decided they pointed true? Depends on how costly it is to be mistaken, maybe?"

"He had been the end point of human evolution. At this moment he abruptly felt more like a missing link. I thought I knew everything. Surely I knew nothing. How had his own life become such a surprise to him, so utterly rearranged? His brain had whirled with a thousand plans for these tiny lives, visions of the future both hopeful and dire, funny and fearful. For a moment, it seemed to come to a full stop. I have no idea who these two people are going to be."

"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?”"

"“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 was borrowing trouble, reasoning in advance of his data."

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

"Yet if the truth doesn’t serve us, what does that say about us, eh?"

"If you make it plain you like people, it’s hard for them to resist liking you back."

"“I will consider this contention,” said Greenlaw dryly, with the For about ten seconds, after which I shall toss it out the nearest airlock hanging unspoken."

"There is a great deal of sanity to be saved in letting the past go, and moving on."

"What is it about you people who run sexually segregated fleets that makes you all disembark insane? No, don’t bother answering that, I think we all know. But the all-male military organizations who have that custom for religious or cultural reasons all come onto station leave like some horrible combination of kids let out of school and convicts let out of prison. The worst of both, actually—the judgment of children combined with the sexual deprivation of—never mind."

"“Anyway, he thinks we’re lying. But we’re not. Also, your people are idiots.” “Yes. I know. But they’re my idiots."

"There were security angles, political angles, personal angles—how many angles could dance on the head of a pin?"

"Military intelligence was as nothing to military stupidity."

"I smell diplomacy. Miles grimaced."

"Taura nailed it. She'll do for m'lord, all right. And God help their enemies."

"I’d have worn them as a courtesy to your friend...I’ll wear them now as a defiance to our enemies."

"Your talent for making interesting new enemies has evidently not deserted you."

"“What would you do? If you discovered or suspected such a horror?” His lips twisted. “That’s a tough one. A higher honor must underlie ours, the count says. We can’t ever obey unthinkingly.” “Huh. That’s what Miles says, too. Is that where he got it, from his father?” “I shouldn’t be surprised. M’lord’s brother Mark says integrity is a disease, and you can only catch it from someone who has it.”"

"Life’s uncertain out there. Things can go down bad, fast, anytime. We all just get a time, in our different ways."

"“I am a bodyguard by trade,” she said, evidently continuing a conversation with Lady Vorpatril. “How can I kick someone’s teeth in wearing this?” “A woman wearing that suit, my dear, will have volunteers to kick in annoying persons’ teeth for her,” said Lady Alys."

"“When he invited me to one for the Winterfair season, I wasn’t sure if it was hunting or social, and whether I should pack weapons or dresses.” Lady Vorpatril’s smile sharpened. “Dresses are weapons, my dear, in sufficiently skilled hands.”"

"Roots grow deep in the dark."

"If power was an illusion, wasn’t weakness necessarily one also?"

"“So much for that line of reasoning, Lord Richars,” Ekaterin finished. She sat back with a hand-dusting gesture, and added, by no means under her breath, “Twit.”"

"Government by thugs in the Bloody Centuries gave Barrayar many colorful historical incidents, suitable for high drama. I don’t think it’s a drama we wish to return to in real life."

"He smiled, recapturing her hand. “A very wise woman once told me—you just go on. I’ve never encountered any good advice that didn’t boil down to that, in the end. Not even my father’s.”"

"How can you stand me? I can’t even stand me."

"Even love is not as strong as habit, eh?"

"The trouble with oaths of the form, death before dishonor, is that eventually, given enough time and abrasion, they separate the world into just two sorts of people: the dead, and the forsworn."

"A tactical retreat is not a bad response to a surprise assault, you know. First you survive. Then you choose your own ground. Then you counterattack."

"Gardens were meant to be seen, smelled, walked through, grubbed in. A hundred objective measurements didn’t sum the worth of a garden; only the delight of its users did that."