Daniel Abraham quotes - page 8

Primary mission is fucked, but secondary is a win.” "A moral victory, I guess,” Bobbie sighed. "You know who talks about moral victories?” Jillian asked as she floated out of the room. "The team that lost. (Daniel Abraham)
Naomi shook her head once, tightly, and held on to her anger like it was a vaccine against something worse. View quote
Daniel Abraham
The important thing is that we get good data. One person. Lots of people. All the same. But bad experimental design? That's what sin really is,” Cortázar slurred. "That's not me either. Nature eats babies all the time. View quote
Daniel Abraham
Easy to make rules,” Emma said. "Easy to make systems with a perfect logic and rigor. All you need to do is leave out the mercy, yeah? Then when you put people into it and they get chewed to nothing, it's the person's fault. Not the rules. Everything we do that's worth shit, we've done with people. Flawed, stupid, lying, rules-breaking people. Laconians making the same mistake as ever. Our rules are good, and they'd work perfectly if it were only a different species.” "You sound like someone I know,” Naomi said. "I'll die for that,” Emma said. "I'll die so that people can be fuckups and still find mercy. View quote
Daniel Abraham
Duarte was a thoughtful, educated, civilized man and a murderer. He was charming and funny and a little melancholy and, as far as Holden could tell, completely unaware of his own monstrous ambition. Like a religious fanatic, the man really believed that everything he'd done was justified by his goal in doing it. View quote
Daniel Abraham
She was rejoicing and mourning at the same time. And also feeling the deep unease that came from the reminder that being familiar wasn't the same as being understood. View quote
Daniel Abraham
It had seemed like a kind of magnanimity at the time. It looked more like necessity now. View quote
Daniel Abraham
"Thank you for your time, Doctor. My door is always open to you.” It was, she thought, an ironic way to tell her to leave. View quote
Daniel Abraham
It was just easier. She understood now why adults lied to children. It wasn't love. It was exhaustion. View quote
Daniel Abraham
No one asked after Dr. Cortázar. That, Teresa had come to understand, was one of the unwritten rules. When someone disappears, don't ask why. View quote
Daniel Abraham
Elvi spent the hours before dawn watching the feeds. As soon as the violence ended, even before the wounded and the dead were sorted, the stories began taking shape. The differences between the state newsfeeds and the security reports Elvi saw in the aftermath made it sound like there had been two different battles. (Daniel Abraham)
And if there was one thing that her decades in academic science had drilled into her consciousness, it was that power meant policy. View quote
Daniel Abraham
Explain.” "Short version,” Ochida said, "light went faster.” Admiral Milan scratched his neck. "Did the word explain change meanings and no one told me? View quote
Daniel Abraham
But before they could go anywhere, they needed a place to go and a plan that was more fleshed out than Don't die. View quote
Daniel Abraham
The dysfunctions and idiosyncrasies of childhood became the self-evident norms of adulthood. View quote
Daniel Abraham
Every miracle we've pulled off, we've done it using primates. Just because we're capable of mind-blowing wonders doesn't mean we aren't still sex-and-murder machines. The organism doesn't change. View quote
Daniel Abraham
He was grandiose. He was ruthless. He was a genius at a couple of things and under the misapprehension that it meant he was smart about everything. But in his mind, he was doing the right thing. View quote
Daniel Abraham
They're people,” Naomi said, exhaustion in her tone. "We're trying to do all of this with humans. Shortsightedness is coded in our DNA. View quote
Daniel Abraham
Jim's sigh was soft, gentle. It would have been less devastating if she hadn't heard the despair under it. "Detective Miller once told me, ‘We don't have a right thing, just a plateful of a little less wrong.'” "Yeah, but he was an asshole.”. View quote
Daniel Abraham
It would have worked,” she said. "If we'd cooperated, it would have worked.” "It would have been better.” "I think about all the things we could have done, all the miracles we could have achieved, if we were all just a little bit better than it turns out we are. View quote
Daniel Abraham
Portraits of great war leaders or critical battles that looked flattering, well composed, and balanced always felt like propaganda. Tanaka had spent a lot of time in the halls of power. She'd seen many paintings of great men in uniform staring eagle-eyed into the distance where their future glory lay. She'd seen very few paintings of soldiers with only a ragged tent and a dying fire to hold back the cold nights before some stranger tried to bayonet them in the morning. (Daniel Abraham)
You mean what did you let yourself in for?” "Yeah.” "Too late to turn back now.” "I know. I'm just not feeling great.” "You want bullshit happy mouth noises, or the truth.” "Bullshit happy mouth noises.” "It's great,” Miller said without missing a beat. "It's having a long restful sleep full of interesting, vivid dreams.” A cramp ran through Jim's gut, sharp as a screwdriver. "You're right. That does sound great,” he said through clenched teeth. "I really think I'm going to like that. View quote
Daniel Abraham