Home > Author > Lois McMaster Bujold
181 " Think of the glory. Think of your reputation. Think how great it'll look on your next resume."On my cenotaph, you mean. Nobody will be able to collect enough of my scattered atoms to bury. You going to cover my funeral expenses, son?"Splendidly. Banners, dancing girls, and enough beer to float your coffin to Valhalla."- Miles coaxing Ky Tung to agree to an almost suicidal mission "
― Lois McMaster Bujold , The Vor Game (Vorkosigan Saga, #6)
182 " All the worry people expend over not existing after they die, yet nary a one ever seems to spare a moment to worry about not having existed before they were conceived. Or at all. After all, one sperm over and we would have been our sisters, and we'd never have been missed. "
― Lois McMaster Bujold , CryoBurn (Vorkosigan Saga, #14)
183 " No, no, never send interim reports," said Miles. "Only final ones. Interim reports tend to elicit orders. Which you must then either obey, or spend valuable time and energy evading, which you could be using to solve the problem. "
― Lois McMaster Bujold , Brothers in Arms (Vorkosigan Saga, #5)
184 " It’s not that I’m not upset; it’s just that I’m too tired to run up and down the corridor screaming. "
― Lois McMaster Bujold , Barrayar (Vorkosigan Saga, #7)
185 " Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself... Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will. Andoutlive the bastards. "
― Lois McMaster Bujold , A Civil Campaign (Vorkosigan Saga, #12)
186 " Any man can be kind when he is comfortable. I'd always thought kindness a trivial virtue therefore. But when we were hungry, thirsty, sick, frightened, with our deaths shouting at us, in the heart of horror, you were still as unfailingly courteous as a gentleman at his ease before his own hearth.' 'Events may be horrible or inescapable. Men have always a choice - if not whether, then how they may endure.' -Bergon and Cazaril talking over the past "
― Lois McMaster Bujold , The Curse of Chalion (World of the Five Gods, #1)
187 " So you’re saying that I could die at any moment!” “Yes. And this is different from your life yesterday in what way? "
188 " Forward momentum only worked as a strategy if one had correctly identified which way was forward. "
― Lois McMaster Bujold
189 " And this was your friend?" Cordelia raised her eyebrows. "Seems to me the only difference between your friends and your enemies is how long the stand around chatting before they shoot you. "
― Lois McMaster Bujold , Shards of Honour (Vorkosigan Saga, #1)
190 " War is not its own end, except in some catastrophic slide into absolute damnation. It's peace that's wanted. Some better peace than the one you started with. "
191 " It's an ancient and honorable term for the final step in any engineering project. Turn it on, see if it smokes. "
― Lois McMaster Bujold , Falling Free (Vorkosigan Saga, #4)
192 " His outflung hands traced over the threads of his rug, passed loop by loop through some patient woman's hands. Or maybe she hadn't been patient. Maybe she'd been tired, or irritated, or distracted, or hungry, or angry. Maybe she had been dying. But her hands had kept moving, all the same. "
193 " What you are is a question only you can answer. "
194 " Utterly bleak and black is not the sum of realism. All the other colors are real, too. "
― Lois McMaster Bujold , The Hallowed Hunt (World of the Five Gods, #3)
195 " Miles was…the thing is, he was afflicted with a severe birth injury. He grew up pretty much crippled, so he poured all his frustrated energy into his intellect. Since the Vorkosigan family motto might as well be, Anything worth achieving is worth overachieving, the effect was pretty frightening. And it worked for him, so he did it some more. "
― Lois McMaster Bujold , Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (Vorkosigan Saga, #15)
196 " History does not so much repeat as echo, I suppose. "
197 " Pym!" The Countess spotted a new victim, and her voice went a little dangerous. "I seconded you to look after Miles. Would you care to explain this scene?"There was a thoughtful pause. In a voice of simple honesty, Pym replied, "No, Milady. "
198 " It reminded him of that definition of his father's. A weapon is a device for making your enemy change his mind. The mind was the first and final battleground; the stuff in between was just noise. "
199 " He's not too short. He's just... concentrated. "
200 " So the difference between a criminal and a hero is the order in which their vile crimes are committed. And justice comes with a sell-by date. In that case, you’d better hurry. You wouldn't want your heroism to spoil. "
― Lois McMaster Bujold , Komarr (Vorkosigan Saga, #11)