It was never what I wanted to buy that held my heart's hope. It was what I wanted to be. Lois McMaster Bujold More Quotes by Lois McMaster Bujold More Quotes From Lois McMaster Bujold You don't pay back your parents. You can't. The debt you owe them gets collected by your children, who hand it down in turn. It's a sort of entailment. Or if you don't have children of the body, it's left as a debt to your common humanity. Or to your God, if you possess or are possessed by one. The family economy evades calculation in the gross planetary product. It's the only deal I know where, when you give more than you get, you aren't bankrupted - but rather, vastly enriched. Lois McMaster Bujold common-humanitychildrenhands 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 doorsmotivationalpeople Colonel Otto, do you have a, perhaps, fuller and more detailed account than your preliminary one of why my Imperial Security building is now largely an underground installation? From a technical perspective. Lois McMaster Bujold accountsbuildingperspective History does not so much repeat as echo, I suppose. Lois McMaster Bujold repeatsechoesdoe Growing up, I have discovered over time, is rather like housework: never finished. Lois McMaster Bujold finishedgrowinggrowing-up 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 momentsworrypeople They stared at her curiously, and she caught snatches of conversation in two or three languages. It wasn't hard to guess their content, and she smiled a bit primly. Youth, it appeared, was full of illusions as to how much sexual energy two people might have to spare while hiking forty or so kilometers a day, concussed, stunned, diseased, on poor food and little sleep, alternating caring for a wounded man with avoiding becoming dinner for every carnivore within range - and with a coup to plan for the end. Lois McMaster Bujold caringsleepmen 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. Lois McMaster Bujold risksoldierboys Yes," Vorkosigan agreed, "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 if-i-couldarmyweapons And this was your friend?" Cordelia raised her eyebrows. "Seems to me the only difference between your friends and your enemies is how long the stand around chatting before they shoot you. Lois McMaster Bujold eyebrowsdifferenceslong Miles added it to his life's lessons list. Call it Rule 27B. Never make key tactical decisions while having electro-convulsive seizures. Lois McMaster Bujold lessonskeysdecision I don't want power. I just object to idiots having power over me. Lois McMaster Bujold objectsidiotwant There is a sad disconnectedness that overcomes a library when its owner is gone. Lois McMaster Bujold libraryovercominggone Utterly bleak and black is not the sum of realism. All the other colors are real, too. Lois McMaster Bujold blackcolorreal Like integrity, love of life was not a subject to be studied, it was a contagion to be caught. And you had to catch it from someone who had it. Lois McMaster Bujold love-lifecaughtintegrity 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 painsorrylove-you Never do yourself, what you can con professionals into doing for you. 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. Lois McMaster Bujold irrevocablefailingtests 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. Lois McMaster Bujold lawmenlying One learns better than to hand one's choices to fear. With age, with every wound and scar, one learns. Lois McMaster Bujold wounds-and-scarschoiceshands
