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Steven Brust QUOTES

Steven Brust QUOTES

1 " The tools are real. The viewer is real, you, the artist, is real and a part of everything you paint. You connect yourself to the viewer by sharing something that is inside of you that connects with something inside of him. All you have as your guide is that you know what moves you. All you have to do it with is a brush, some chemical and canvas, and technique. "

― Steven Brust

2 " There was a sergeant at a desk. I knew he was a sergeant because I recognized the marks on his uniform, and I knew it was a desk because it's always a desk. There's always someone at a desk, except when it's a table that functions as a desk. You sit behind a desk, and everyone knows you're supposed to be there, and that you're doing something that involves your brain. It's an odd, special kind of importance. I think everyone should get a desk; you can sit behind it when you feel like you don't matter. "

― Steven Brust , Iorich (Vlad Taltos, #12)

3 " You’ll be angry, but I’m going to ask anyway. Will you marry me?' The unsupported voice, the one that happened when he couldn’t breathe, but had to speak.
I nudged his hands apart to see his face, and found it faintly overcast by tension. 'No,' I said gently,
He blinked again and asked, his voice unaltered, 'May I ask you once a year, every seventh of December, in case the answer changes?'
'Yes. I don’t think it will.'
'Oh. I only ask because I hate the thought of not having breakfast with you for the rest of my life.'
'My dear,' I said. 'Jamie. That’s a different question.'
'Oh. Will you have breakfast with me for the rest of my life?'
'Probably. "

― Steven Brust , Freedom and Necessity

4 " The Cool Stuff Theory of Literature is as follows: All literature consists of whatever the writer thinks is cool. The reader will like the book to the degree that he agrees with the writer about what's cool. And that works all the way from the external trappings to the level of metaphor, subtext, and the way one uses words. In other words, I happen not to think that full-plate armor and great big honking greatswords are cool. I don't like 'em. I like cloaks and rapiers. So I write stories with a lot of cloaks and rapiers in 'em, 'cause that's cool. Guys who like military hardware, who think advanced military hardware is cool, are not gonna jump all over my books, because they have other ideas about what's cool.

The novel should be understood as a structure built to accommodate the greatest possible amount of cool stuff. "

― Steven Brust

5 " Always speak politely to an enraged dragon. "

― Steven Brust , Jhereg (Vlad Taltos, #1)

6 " You connect yourself to the viewer by by sharing something that is inside of you that connects with something inside of him. All you have as your guide is that you know what moves you. "

― Steven Brust

7 " And all of the late, late-night talks, when you're not stoned, but you're so tired you might as well be, when you just sit there glowing with warmth, and all of those things that you really hope for come out, and you connect with each other on such deep levels that, when you think about it the next day, you wonder if it was real - if the others felt it too. "

― Steven Brust , The Sun, the Moon, & the Stars

8 " I'm told I'm very charming when people do what I want. "

― Steven Brust , Tiassa (Vlad Taltos, #13)

9 " Why do you work so hard to make yourself disliked? I should think you'd find it happens enough on its own without putting yourself to any extra trouble. "

― Steven Brust , Tiassa (Vlad Taltos, #13)

10 " Because here’s the thing: No matter how much one tells stories of magical beasts or impossible worlds, in the end, it is always the world of here and now one is writing about. The better one understands that world, the more powerful the stories will be. "

― Steven Brust

11 " Besides, two kinds of people have the courage to make someone else's decisions: the hero, who comes to your rescue when you can't even cry out for help, and the tyrant. The only difference between them is the hero listens. As soon as you can talk, he'll put you down if you say so. "

― Steven Brust , The Incrementalists (Incrementalists, #1)

12 " Your job is to find better ideas, mine is to cut holes in the ones you have, and you've already done that pretty well. "

― Steven Brust , Iorich (Vlad Taltos, #12)

13 " A stupid person can make only certain, limited types of errors; the mistakes open to a clever fellow are far broader. But to the one who knows how smart he is compared to everyone else, the possibilities for true idiocy are boundless. "

― Steven Brust , Iorich (Vlad Taltos, #12)

14 " I have a clever and devious plan. "

― Steven Brust , Iorich (Vlad Taltos, #12)

15 " Plan. Yes. Good idea. I should come up with a plan. "

― Steven Brust , Dzur (Vlad Taltos, #10)

16 " Have you never understood more than you could put into words? Many people only have their slogans--but they respond because the slogans are true and touch a spark in their hearts and their lives. And as for the ones who don't want to think for themselves, we teach them to anyway. "

― Steven Brust , Teckla (Vlad Taltos, #3)

17 " No, sarcasm aside, life is always worth living. Even when sometimes it seems like more trouble than it’s worth. Oh, who am I kidding? It’s when it seems like more trouble than it’s worth that I want it the most. I mean, isn’t everyone like that? "

― Steven Brust , Hawk (Vlad Taltos, #14)

18 " Men have invented various names in which to measure distance, and have a certain pleasure in assigning units of one to the other, it is the sense that so many inches toi the spans, and so many spans to the league; in the sense that a league in the Sorannah is almost two leagues within the ancient confines of Seawall, that is, within the barony that once held the city of Dragaera, and, at the time of which we have the honor to write, still held a portion of it; yet. for all of this measurement, it is understood by those who travel and by those who listen to travelers that the meaningful unit by which distance can be measured is time. "

― Steven Brust , The Phoenix Guards (Khaavren Romances, #1)

19 " A cheery receptionist met Donovan as he entered and said something with an upside-down question mark at the beginning. "

― Steven Brust , Good Guys

20 " True heroics must be carefully planned - and strenuously avoided. "

― Steven Brust