Skip to content

Quotes from The Borders of Infinity — Lois McMaster Bujold

born 1949 United States

← All quotes by Lois McMaster Bujold

16 quotes

Men may move mountains, but ideas move men.

The Borders of Infinity (1987)

How could I have died and gone to hell without noticing the transition?

The Borders of Infinity (1987)

Let he who is without sin cast the first lure.

The Borders of Infinity (1987)

I hate an enemy who doesn’t make mistakes.

The Borders of Infinity (1987)

“Is this guy for real?”
“He thinks he’s faking it,” said Suegar blandly, “but he’s not.”

The Borders of Infinity (1987)

“You don’t have any inhibitions at all, do you?”
“Not in combat.”

The Borders of Infinity (1987)

Communication. This lack of word from the outside world might drive even him crazy shortly.
It was as bad as prayer, talking to a god who never talked back.

The Borders of Infinity (1987)

“The devil can quote scripture, y’know.”
Yes, that was rather what I had in mind…

The Borders of Infinity (1987)

There is a subtle difference between being a prisoner and being a slave. I don’t mistake either for being free. Neither do you.

The Borders of Infinity (1987)

I can’t quit, once I’ve started. I’ve been told I’m pathologically persistent. I can’t quit.

The Borders of Infinity (1987)

“Power is better than revenge,” suggested Miles, not flinching before her snake-cold, set face, her hot coal eyes. “Power is a live thing, by which you reach out to grasp the future. Revenge is a dead thing, reaching out from the past to grasp you.”

The Borders of Infinity (1987)

“I have a particular aversion to stalemates. I prefer winning wars to prolonging them.”
She sighed, momentarily drained, tired, old. “I’ve been at war a long time, y’know? After a while even losing a war can start to look preferable to prolonging it.”

The Borders of Infinity (1987)

“It’s true,” agreed Oliver, “that if your religion failed to deliver a miracle, that a human sacrifice would certainly follow.”
“Ah...quite,” Miles gulped. “You are a man of acute insight.”
“That’s not an insight,” said Oliver. “That’s a personal guarantee.”

The Borders of Infinity (1987)

Now there’s this about cynicism, Sergeant. It’s the universe’s most supine moral position. Real comfortable. If nothing can be done, then you’re not some kind of shit for not doing it, and you can lie there and stink to yourself in perfect peace.

The Borders of Infinity (1987)

“All right,” Miles pulled Suegar to his feet, “let’s go preach to the unconverted.”
Suegar laughed suddenly. “I had a top kick once who used to say, ‘Let’s go kick some ass,’ in just that tone of voice.”

The Borders of Infinity (1987)

He lay a long time, cradled in pain. He was not sure how long. The illumination from the force dome was even and shadowless, unchanging. Timeless, like eternity. Hell was eternal, was it not? This place had too damn many congruencies with hell, that was certain.

The Borders of Infinity (1987)

Attribution

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