43 quotes
Miles was plenty expressive too, in his own unreliable way. Half of it was horseshit, but you were never sure which half.
A Civil Campaign (1999)
I propose a treaty. You can have all the rest of the women in the universe. I just want this one.
A Civil Campaign (1999)
He lived, therefore he learned.
A Civil Campaign (1999)
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.
A Civil Campaign (1999)
You had to admire their honesty. No wonder they did so well at the sciences.
A Civil Campaign (1999)
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.
A Civil Campaign (1999)
There is no more hollow feeling than to stand with your honor shattered at your feet while soaring public reputation wraps you in rewards. That’s soul-destroying. The other way around is merely very, very irritating.
A Civil Campaign (1999)
He carefully ignored his simmering fury. Rage had no place in this. Calculation and implacable action did.
A Civil Campaign (1999)
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.”
A Civil Campaign (1999)
He must not be in one of his voluble moods. Either you can’t turn him on or can’t turn him off. Well, if there was a choice, taciturn was probably safer for the innocent bystanders than spring-wound.
A Civil Campaign (1999)
For her, this was a metaphor, he reminded himself. Though maybe he was a metaphor too, inside his head with the Black Gang. A metaphor gone metastatic. Metaphors could do that, under enough pressure.
A Civil Campaign (1999)
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.
A Civil Campaign (1999)
Then time ran out—no. Time ran on. There was no end to time. But you come to the end of yourself, and time runs on, and leaves you.
A Civil Campaign (1999)
She’d made it clear that Things Would Be Done Properly.
The problem came in defining the term Properly.
A Civil Campaign (1999)
“You? I know you! You trust beyond reason.”
She met his eyes steadily. “Yes. It’s how I get results beyond hope. As you may recall.”
A Civil Campaign (1999)
Roots grow deep in the dark.
A Civil Campaign (1999)
“Heavens, Kareen, you don’t have to pay me—”
“Never,” said Kareen with passion, “ever suggest they don’t have to pay you. What they pay for, they’ll value. What they get for free, they’ll take for granted, and then demand as a right. Hold them up for all the market will bear.”
A Civil Campaign (1999)
I wanted to give you a victory. But by their essential nature triumphs can’t be given. They must be taken and the worse the odds and the fiercer the resistance, the greater the honor. Victories can’t be gifts.
A Civil Campaign (1999)
“No,” said his father, “you don’t have to smile. But if you’re really asking for advice from my accumulated experience, I’m saying Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will. And outlive the bastards.”
A Civil Campaign (1999)
Oh yes. This was going to do well. If there was one thing Tsipis appreciated, it was a quick study. Ekaterin was one of those show once people whom Miles, in his mercenary days, had found more precious than unexpected oxygen in the emergency reserve.
A Civil Campaign (1999)