335 quotes
We all choose our own teachers, don't we? I wonder if our choice of teacher shows anything about what our lives will be.
Earthborn (1995)
You are mine, but you are not mine. I am yours, but you hardly know it.
Songmaster (1979)
Debased men, but they all had something in common: They showed a keen regard for virtue, and tried to dress themselves in that costume. Hypocrisy, for all its bad reputation, at least showed a decent respect for goodness.
Alvin Journeyman (1995)
There are maybe two or three thousand people in the world as smart as us, little sister. Most of them are making a living somewhere. Teaching, the poor bastards, or doing research. Precious few of them are actually in positions of power.
No, no, no, Hooch told himself silently. Getting even don't amount to nothing in this world. Getting even only gets you behind. The best revenge is to get rich enough to make them all call you sir, that's how you get even with these boys.
Red Prophet (1988)
Every terrible thing in the world was caused by a whole combination of things. But everybody wanted to narrow it down to one cause—and not even the real one. Much better to have one cause—one person to punish. Then the unbearable could be borne.
The Crystal City (2003)
The others are even more likely to obey their god.
Which is?
It dangles between their legs.
The Ships Of Earth (1994)
It occurred to me that if my friends were loathsome, perhaps I needed to learn from my enemies.
Earthborn (1995)
"Women's intuition" wasn't intuition at all, it was heightened observation, unconscious registration of subtle clues.
Enchantment (1999)
Maybe if I could bear my life as it is for one day, for one hour, for one minute, I could forget my wish to be something else.
Earthborn (1995)
You always do that. Make all the questions harder.
I make them truer.
Earthborn (1995)
I'm losing Savanna.
That's good. No one should own someone else.
Treason (1988)
To be cut off from the land of the living, and yet not to be dead. How could I bear that?
That's how most men live, and don't even know it.
Stone Tables (1997)
Permanence was always an illusion, and love was just the disguise that lovers wore to hide the death of their union from each other for a while.
The Memory Of Earth (1992)
I interpreted all you did as weakness — but I should have known that it was wisdom and strength, freely shared with all of us, even the ones who don't deserve it.
The Ships Of Earth (1994)
For the first time I understood the haunting beauty of the song. It was the song of a killer who longed to die. It was the song of justice yearned for but not yet done.
Treason (1988)
I don't care how loyal you think you're going to be, Dink. It's not in you. You're a brat and you always will be. So admit what a lousy follower you are, and go ahead and LEAD.
Shadow of the Giant (2005)
I walked down the hill, forgot philosophy, and joined the human race again. Nobody was particularly glad to see me.
Treason (1988)
Today, I saw a spark of decency. Let's blow on that spark and give it fuel.
Earthborn (1995)
We're both damaged property, I guess.
Plenty of time for renovation.
Homebody (1998)