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Any community’s arm of force—military, police, security—needs people in it who can do the necessary evil, and yet not be made evil by it. To do only the necessary and no more. To constantly question the assumptions, to stop the slide into atrocity.

— Lois McMaster Bujold Barrayar (1991)

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More quotes by Lois McMaster Bujold

One learns better than to hand one's choices to fear. With age, with every wound and scar, one learns.

Paladin of Souls (2003)

I for one find a casual destruction of a man's life even more repugnant than a determined one.

The Curse of Chalion (2000)

If it ever came down to exerting power by force, it would mean I’d already lost it.

Shards of Honor (1986)

If you make it plain you like people, it’s hard for them to resist liking you back.

Diplomatic Immunity (2002)

Women do desperately need models for power other than the maternal.

All Lois McMaster Bujold quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Lois McMaster Bujold (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.