543 quotes
She’d have no objection to the principle of the thing, but she didn’t exactly approve of the military. She didn’t exactly disapprove, either; she just made it plain that she thought there were better things for intelligent human beings to do with their lives.
Memory (1996)
The hostage game is a bad game, a sad and ugly game that’s a lot easier to start than end. The worst versions I’ve seen ended up with neither side in control, or getting anything they wanted. And the people who stand to lose the most in it frequently aren’t even playing.
Komarr (1998)
“Anyway, he thinks we’re lying. But we’re not. Also, your people are idiots.”
“Yes. I know. But they’re my idiots.
Diplomatic Immunity (2002)
“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)
The deadly weapon seemed unnaturally light and easy in his hand. Something that lethal should have more heft, like a broadsword. Wrong, for murder to be so potentially effortless—one ought to at least have to grunt for it.
The Warrior's Apprentice (1986)
He’d underestimated how much work normal healthy children would take, even with all the help his money and position could buy. For there were some tasks you didn’t want to delegate, because then you’d be missing the best parts.
Cryoburn (2010)
Puzzles. I hate puzzles. Ivan liked flowcharts—nice and clear and you could always tell just where you were and what you should do next, everything laid out neatly. No ambiguities. No traps. Why couldn’t life be more like flowcharts?
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)
“Hair shirts, really, what is the point?” She gave the impression of a faint, dramatic shudder, and Pen smiled despite himself. She added more tartly, “And it indicates a deep confusion of thinking to mistake one’s own discomfort for a benefit to another.”
Penric's Demon (2015)
His mother had often said, When you choose an action, you choose the consequences of that action. She had emphasized the corollary of this axiom even more vehemently: when you desired a consequence you had damned well better take the action that would create it.
Memory (1996)
“The probabilities would now seem to lean that way,” agreed Millisor. “I doubt everything, you see.”
Ethan thought this over. “Encountering the truth must be horribly confusing for you, then.”
Millisor’s lips twitched dryly. “Fortunately, it happens very seldom.”
Ethan of Athos (1986)
Roots grow deep in the dark.
A Civil Campaign (1999)
I have no idea why some of my books draw awards and others don't, except that the ones I spent the least time worrying about other people's response to — that I wrote for myself — seem to do the best of all.
The Vorkosigan Companion (2008)
And that was just how it worked, wasn’t it? Happiness handed around and around, never stopping. It wasn’t something one could hoard tight like a miser. That would be like trying to hold one’s breath for later.
The Prisoner of Limnos (2017)
It wasn’t, he swore, that he picked up so many women. Compared to Ivan, he was practically celibate. It was just that he never put any down. The accumulation could become downright embarrassing, over a long enough time-span.
Mirror Dance (1994)
But pain...seems to me an insufficient reason not to embrace life. Being dead is quite painless. Pain, like time, is going to come on regardless. Question is, what glorious moments can you win from life in addition to the pain?
Barrayar (1991)
"But have you ever overheard two women discussing men? Men are crude liars, comparing their drabs, but women—I'd rather have a Mother's anatomist dissect me alive than to listen to the things the ladies say about us when they think they are alone."
The Hallowed Hunt (2005)
“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)
Some fortunate, prolific writers seem to be able, efficiently, to keep several projects going at once; it appears I am not one of them.
Geek Speak Magazine Interview (2010)
No matter which the writer chooses, someone will be unhappy about it. If one's audience is large enough, it will collectively demand every possible closure, most mutually exclusive.
Lightspeed Magazine interview (2011)
I had a teacher who used to reflect back my questions that way. I thought it was the Socratic method, and it impressed me immensely, until I found out he used it whenever he didn’t know the answer.
Shards of Honor (1986)