Lois McMaster Bujold Quotes

226 Sourced Quotes

With all this manure around, there's got to be a pony someplace.

Lois McMaster Bujold
When I go down into the ground at last, as God is my judge, I pray my best-beloved may have better to say of me than, "He didn't hit me."

Lois McMaster Bujold
My dinner party,' Miles grated. 'It's just breaking up.' And sinking. All souls feared lost.

Lois McMaster Bujold
There is a sad disconnectedness that overcomes a library when its owner is gone.

Lois McMaster Bujold
If there's no game, isn't winning a pretty meaningless concept?

Lois McMaster Bujold
You should have fallen in love with a happy man, if you wanted happiness. But no, you had to fall for the breathtaking beauty of pain.

Lois McMaster Bujold
Real destiny takes everything-the last drop of blood, and strip out your veins to be sure-and gives it back doubled. Quadrupled. A thousand-fold! But you can't give halves. You have to give it all. I know. I swear. I've come back from the dead to speak the truth to you. Real destiny gives you a mountain of life, and puts you on top of it.

Lois McMaster Bujold
I don't want power. I just object to idiots having power over me.

Lois McMaster Bujold
I could take over the universe with this army if I could ever get all their weapons pointed in the same direction.

Lois McMaster Bujold
Suicidal glory is the luxury of the irresponsible. We're not giving up. We're waiting for a better opportunity to win.

Lois McMaster Bujold
Oh, was that liquor of yours a stimulant?" asked Elena. "I wondered why he didn't fall asleep." "Couldn't you tell?" chuckled Mayhew. "Not really." Miles twisted his head to take in Elena's upside-down worried face, and smile in weak reassurance. Sparkly black and purple whirlpools clouded his vision. Mayhew's laughter faded. "My God," he said hollowly, "you mean he's like that all the time?

Lois McMaster Bujold
Lots of us SF-types like the idea of traveling to the Future (although, having now done so once myself — the hard way — I'm less sure), but why do we imagine the Future would want us? Oh, a few 21st-century Icemen, perhaps, as historical curiosities, but in our hundreds of millions? It would be like the greatest wave of immigration ever, but from the past into other people's Now. It might seem to them like sacrificing resources needed for their children to their great-great-great-grandparents. Counter-evolutionary, among other things.

Lois McMaster Bujold
Surely only correct understanding could lead to correct action.

Lois McMaster Bujold
I guess it just doesn't look very heroic to sneak up behind somebody and shoot them in the back. I can't help thinking it would be more efficient, though.

Lois McMaster Bujold
"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."

Lois McMaster Bujold
I was never a mercenary, not ever. Not for one single minute.

Lois McMaster Bujold
East is west, up is down, and being falsely arrested for getting your C. O.'s throat cut is a simplification. I must be on Barrayar.

Lois McMaster Bujold
I don't duel, boy. I kill as a soldier kills, which is as a butcher kills, as quickly, efficiently, and with as least risk to myself as I can arrange. If I decide you die, you will die when I choose, where I choose, by what means I choose, and you will never see the blow coming. (...)
I don't duel. But if you seek to die like a bludgeoned steer, cross me again.

Lois McMaster Bujold
Taura nailed it. She'll do for m'lord, all right. And God help their enemies.

Lois McMaster Bujold
He gave me no sign. I was never the sort to receive portents, or to delude myself that I had. Silence was always my portion, in return for my prayers.

Lois McMaster Bujold
Home is where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.

Lois McMaster Bujold
It is always easier to get forgiveness than permission.

Lois McMaster Bujold
Since no one is perfect, it follows that all great deeds have been accomplished out of imperfection.

Lois McMaster Bujold
I'm just dazzled by the glittering tinsel of neo-fascism.

Lois McMaster Bujold
When you can see the colors of the feathers, you'll also understand how you can expand your borders to infinity.

Lois McMaster Bujold
The good face pain. But the great — they embrace it.

Lois McMaster Bujold
If you're trying to take a roomful of people by surprise, it's a lot easier to hit your targets if you don't yell going through the door.

Lois McMaster Bujold
Leadership is mostly a power over imagination, and never more so than in combat. The bravest man alone can only be an armed lunatic. The real strength lies in the ability to get others to do your work.

Lois McMaster Bujold
Marta blinked at him with manufactured innocence. "Kareen had it from Mark. I had it from Ivan. Mama had it from Gregor. And Da had it from Pym. If you're trying to keep it a secret, Miles, why are you going around telling everyone"?

Lois McMaster Bujold
If the truth doesn't save us, what does that say about us?

Lois McMaster Bujold