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Quotes from Captain Vorpatril's Alliance — Lois McMaster Bujold

born 1949 United States

← All quotes by Lois McMaster Bujold

17 quotes

The most interesting question of history is always, What were these people thinking?

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)

Maybe only love gave you more than what you’d dealt for.

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)

As the week wore on, Ivan contemplated the merits of inertia as a problem-solving technique with growing favor.

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)

The limits of trust depend much on whether you mean to do business more than once.

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)

Just because I have forgotten so many old enemies does not mean they have forgotten me.

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)

No amount of money can make one stay bought. Who does not freely choose to.

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)

How many details had to point in the same direction before one decided they pointed true? Depends on how costly it is to be mistaken, maybe?

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)

It’s been a long time since I wagered so much on a single throw. Though if I’m to revisit the desperation of my youth, I want the body back, too.

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)

“Is that going to be a problem?” said Ivan.
“Definitely. I just don’t know what kind, yet. Or whose.”

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)

Let’s be sensible and wish for both of us there, while we’re wishing. I mean, it’s not like wishes are rationed.

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)

The admiral did not invite Ivan to sit, so Ivan took up a prudent sort-of parade rest and waited. Someone would tell him what was going on shortly; they always did, however little he wanted to know.

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)

It was not a very original period of my life. I won’t say I fell in with bad company—I more hunted them down.

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)

A three-planet empire delivered upset snakes by the basket-load to this man’s office, every damned morning. Yeah—for all the talk of men coveting the emperor’s throne, Ivan had never yet heard anyone speak of coveting his desk.

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)

In all, in truth, it was a problem for another day, Ivan decided. When life and chance handed you an afternoon as idyllic as this one promised to be, it seemed profoundly ungrateful not to pay attention.

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)

There are two possible ways to solving a dilemma, in justice or elsewhere; begin with the facts, and follow out their logic where it leads one, or begin with the desired outcome, and reason backward to the necessary steps to achieve it.

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)

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)

“What’s a call girl?” asked Tej, her brows crimping in puzzlement.
“Uh…” Ivan sought a translation. “Like a Betan licensed practical sexuality therapist, only without the licensed and the therapy parts.”

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Lois McMaster Bujold (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.