Lois McMaster Bujold quotes - page 2

Any community's arm of force - military, police, security - needs people in it who can do 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)
A stunning first impression was not the same thing as love at first sight. But surely it was an invitation to consider the matter.
Lois McMaster Bujold
Good soldiers never pass up a chance to eat or sleep. They never know how much they'll be called on to do before the next chance.
Lois McMaster Bujold
I've always thought tests are a gift. And great tests are a great gift. To fail the test is a misfortune. But to refuse the test is to refuse the gift, and something worse, more irrevocable, than misfortune. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Lois McMaster Bujold
Lately I have come to believe that the principle difference between Heaven and Hell is the company you keep there....
Lois McMaster Bujold
If you can't be seven feet tall, be seven feet smart.
Lois McMaster Bujold
I don't want power. I just object to idiots having power over me.
Lois McMaster Bujold
There is no more hollow feeling than to stand with your honor shattered at your feet while soaring public reputation wraps you in rewards. That's soul-destroying. The other way around is merely very, very irritating.
Lois McMaster Bujold
I have a catchphrase to describe my plot-generation technique - "What's the worst possible thing I can do to these people?"
Lois McMaster Bujold
I've got forward momentum. There's no virtue in it. It's just a balancing act. I don't dare stop.
Lois McMaster Bujold
Miles clutched Quinn's elbow. "Don't Panic." "I'm not panicking," Quinn observed, "I'm watching you panic. It's more entertaining. (Lois McMaster Bujold)
Aren't family squabbles jolly fun? Bleeding ulcers run in my family, we give them to each other.
Lois McMaster Bujold
I don't confuse greatness with perfection. To be great anyhow is...the higher achievement.
Lois McMaster Bujold
Sometimes insanity is not a tragedy. Sometimes, it's a strategy for survival. Sometimes ... it's a triumph.
Lois McMaster Bujold
You can say a lot in a little time, if you stick to words of one syllable.
Lois McMaster Bujold
Hi, I'm a hero, but I can't tell you why. It's classified.
Lois McMaster Bujold
If you ever have to make a choice between learning and inspiration, choose learning. It works more of the time.
Lois McMaster Bujold
I am increasingly convinced that technological culture is the entire root of women's liberation.
Lois McMaster Bujold
One learns better than to hand one's choices to fear. With age, with every wound and scar, one learns.
Lois McMaster Bujold
If you desire a man to tell you comfortable lies about your prowess, and so fetter any hope of true excellence, I'm sure you may find one anywhere. Not all prisons are made of iron bars. Some are made of feather beds.
Lois McMaster Bujold
If you want to catch something, running after it isn't always the best way. (Lois McMaster Bujold)
I'm sorry. I can love you. I can grieve for you, or with you. I can share your pain. But I cannot judge you.
Lois McMaster Bujold
All the worry people expend over not existing after they die, yet nary a one ever seems to spare a moment to worry about not having existed before they were conceived. Or at all. After all, one sperm over and we would have been our sisters, and we'd never have been missed.
Lois McMaster Bujold
From fried witchetty grubs to gold-plated turnips, when you're a writer you never know what's going to appear on your plate next. It keeps a woman alert, it does.
Lois McMaster Bujold
Whether you function as welders or inspectors, the laws of physics are implacable lie-detectors. You may fool men. You will never fool the metal. That's all.
Lois McMaster Bujold