19 quotes
Nothing is certain—that is the first lesson.
The Windup Girl (2009)
Politics is ugly. Never doubt what small men will do for great power.
The Windup Girl (2009)
Every time he makes plans for his future, he seems to fail. Every time he reaches forward, the world leans against him, pressing him down.
The Windup Girl (2009)
She does not know how little anyone cares to separate wheat from chaff, when all anyone wants to do is burn a field.
The Windup Girl (2009)
Laws are a fine thing on paper, but painful when no bribery can ease their bind.
The Windup Girl (2009)
If you bargain when they squeeze your balls, they will only squeeze again.
The Windup Girl (2009)
If you act like a servant, you will die like a dog.
The Windup Girl (2009)
Laws are confusing documents. They get in the way of justice.
The Windup Girl (2009)
Sex and hypocrisy. They go together like coffee and cream.
The Windup Girl (2009)
The symbol for the Environment Ministry is the eye of a tortoise, for the long view—the understanding that nothing comes cheap or quickly without a hidden cost.
The Windup Girl (2009)
Knowledge is simply a terrible ocean we must cross, and hope that wisdom lies on the other side.
The Pasho", in Asimov's Science Fiction (2004)
Nature has become something new. It is ours now, truly. And if our creation devours us, how poetic will that be?
The Windup Girl (2009)
You're saying that you yoked the world to your patented grains and seeds, happily enslaved us all—and now you finally realize that you are dragging us all to hell.
The Windup Girl (2009)
They say in the military that a good battle plan can last as long as five minutes in real fighting. After that, it comes down to if the general is favored by fate and the spirits.
The Windup Girl (2009)
A desert's a stupid place to put a river.
The Tamarisk Hunter", High Country (2006)
Food should come from the place of its origin, and stay there. It shouldn’t spend its time crisscrossing the globe for the sake of profit. We went down that path once, and it brought us to ruin.
The Windup Girl (2009)
We write dust epitaphs for our vanquished enemies and watch them blow away in the desert wind.
The Pasho", in Asimov's Science Fiction (2004)
An untrampled scorpion troubles no one.
The Pasho", in Asimov's Science Fiction (2004)
All life produces waste. The act of living produces costs, hazards and disposal questions, and so the (Environment) Ministry has found itself in the center of all life, mitigating, guiding and policing the detritus of the average person along with investigating the infractions of the greedy and short-sighted, the ones who wish to make quick profits and trade on others’ lives for it.
The Windup Girl (2009)