16 quotes
We claim the dignity of age, she thought, but the truth is, age leaves us without any dignity at all.
Bone and Jewel Creatures (2010)
He wouldn’t be much of a diplomat if he couldn’t lie with a straight face.
Carnival (2006)
While it is true that notoriety offers certain benefits, it is not by any means confirmed that those benefits compensate for the disadvantages.
Bone and Jewel Creatures (2010)
The world is full of the markers of abandoned empires, from Hadrian’s Wall to the Great Wall of China, from the remnants of the one in Arizona to the remnants of the one in Berlin.
The Hand is Quicker (2014)
Strike two for Utopia. The problem with the damned things always comes when you try to introduce actual people into your philosophical constructs.
Carnival (2006)
Age had not yet defeated her on all fronts, though it was a war of attrition she knew she was fated to lose.
Bone and Jewel Creatures (2010)
Sure, it’s abuse of power. What’s the point in power if you can’t abuse it?
Any government founded on a political or religious agenda more elaborate than “protect the weak, temper the strong” is doomed to tyranny.
Carnival (2006)
Can you imagine a planet full of assholes who used to just…cut down trees?
The old have nothing to pace themselves for, she’d say. This is the final sprint. Run. Run. See how far you can get before you fall.
Bone and Jewel Creatures (2010)
We need what we need. Judging ourselves doesn’t change it. Sometimes a hug and a cookie right now mean more than a grand gesture at some indeterminate point in the future.
And I admit, I don’t like dying very much myself. But I look forward to Death herself, once the dying is over.
Bone and Jewel Creatures (2010)
Memories weigh something. They drag you down.
There were idiots on every planet who considered possession more important than morality.
Carnival (2006)
Kusanagi-Jones was long past feeling guilt about lying. Conscience was one of the first things to go. If he’d ever had much of one to begin with, the job had burned it out.
Carnival (2006)
The secret to lying is to believe with all your heart. That goes for lying to yourself even more than lying to another.