Lois McMaster Bujold quotes - page 6

Power is better than revenge. Power is a live thing, by which you reach out to grasp the future. Revenge is a dead thing, reaching out from the past to grasp you. (Lois McMaster Bujold)
It's an ancient and honorable term for the final step in any engineering project. Turn it on, see if it smokes. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
For me, writing is more a process of discovering the book than planning it. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
It's important that someone celebrate our existence... People are the only mirror we have to see ourselves in. The domain of all meaning. All virtue, all evil, are contained only in people. There is none in the universe at large. Solitary confinement is a punishment in every human culture. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
Most people go through their whole lives without killing anybody. False argument. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
His mother had often said, "When you choose an action, you choose the consequences of that action." View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
Don't wish to be normal. Wish to be yourself. To the hilt. Find out what you're best at, and develop it, and hopscotch your weaknesses. Wish to be great at whatever you are. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
Some people grow into their dreams, instead of out of them. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
I cannot emphasize enough that I do not start with a plan or agenda and mechanically manipulate characters and events to carry it out. I set characters in motion, and let them teach me what the book is. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
We see the world not as it is, but as we are. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
S funny. Piotr, toward the end of his life, looked at our district and only saw how much better it was. All the backbreaking, heartbreaking work he did cleaning up the messes after the war is taken for granted now, or mostly just forgotten. Instead, we look around and only see how much better it could be. And neither of us is wrong, exactly. (Lois McMaster Bujold)
Events may be horrible or inescapable. Men have always a choice - if not whether, then how, they may endure. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
The will to be stupid is a very powerful force. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
Never do yourself, what you can con professionals into doing for you. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
One step at a time, I can walk around the world. Watch me. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
This wasn't prayer anyway, it was just argument with the gods. Prayer, he suspected as he hoisted himself up and turned for the door, was putting one foot in front of the other. Moving all the same. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
Have you ever heard the phrase, Living well is the best revenge?" "Where I come from, someone's head in a bag is generally considered the best revenge. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
The Imperial Service could win a war without coffee, but would prefer not to have to. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
I am not a fate worse than death, dammit! View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
Well, what is a blessing but a curse from another point of view? View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
Poets speak of hope in ladies smiles, but give me a smirk any day, I say. (Lois McMaster Bujold)
My dinner party,' Miles grated. 'It's just breaking up. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
Do it for yourself. The universe will be around to collect its cut later. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
The good face pain. But the great - they embrace it. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold
Miles is... Miles; close to a force of nature, climbing up out of his own pages and escaping subordination to any opinion of mine. View quote
Lois McMaster Bujold