"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."

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

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

"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."

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

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

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

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

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

"“I made up a lot of instant barbarian folklore—I told ’em a Vor prides himself on self-control, that it’s not considered polite on Barrayar for a man to, you know, before his lady has. Three times. It was considered insulting to her. I stroked, I rubbed, I scratched, I recited poetry, I nuzzled and nibbled and—cripes, my fingers are cramped.” His speech was a bit slurred, too, Miles noticed. “I thought they’d never fall asleep.” Ivan paused; a slow smirk displaced the snarl on his face. “But they were smiling, when they finally did.”"

"He did not attempt to capture her hands. He did not make a single move that might embarrass them both. Old friends were harder to come by than new lovers. Oh, my oldest friend. Still. Always."

"“Can you be paranoid about being paranoid?” She smiled sweetly. “If anyone can, it’s you.”"

"“I am not schizoid.” Miles bit off. “A little manic-depressive, maybe,” he admitted in afterthought. Galeni’s lips twitched. “Know thyself.” “We try, sir.”"

"I have taken up the art of bonsai for a hobby. The ancient Japanese are said to have worked on a single tree for as long as a hundred years. Or perhaps it only seemed like it."

"What the hell was HQ thinking of? It seemed extraordinarily obtuse even for them."

"“If I got assassinated now,” he shrugged helplessly, “my father would kill me.”"

"Between justice and genocide there is, in the long run, no middle ground."

"The building had a strange hermetically-sealed flavor to it, redolent to Miles’s experienced nose as paranoid security in action. Ah, yes, a planet’s embassy is that planet’s soil. Feels just like home."

"So slight a compression of the lips, and widening of the eyes, to convey so much amusement and contempt."

"“You’re pretty damn casual about it.” “Early conditioning. Total strangers trying to kill me make me feel right at home."

"But at least think about it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a human being who needed to get laid worse than you do now."

"There are a number of people in the universe I’d be willing to double-cross, but my own wounded aren’t among ’em."

"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."