Mervi > Mervi's Quotes

“No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style.”
― Steven Brust

“Some prices are just too high, no matter how much you may want the prize. The one thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, Memory

“Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign

“Since no one is perfect, it follows that all great deeds have been accomplished out of imperfection. Yet they were accomplished, somehow, all the same.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, Mirror Dance

“A weapon is a device for making your enemy change his mind.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, The Vor Game

“I am who I choose to be. I have always been what I chose, though not always what I pleased.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, Memory

“Never do yourself, what you can con professionals into doing for you.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold

“The will to be stupid is a very powerful force, but there are always alternatives.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, Brothers in Arms

“Ignorance is not stupidity, but it might as well be. And I do not like feeling stupid.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, The Curse of Chalion

“An honor is not diminished for being shared.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, Shards of Honour

“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
― Napoleon Bonaparte

“Aim high. You may still miss the target, but at least you won't shoot your foot off.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, Miles in Love

“The world is made by the people who show up for the job.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, CryoBurn

“Experience suggests it doesn't matter so much how you got here, as what you do after you arrive.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, Barrayar

“On the sixth day God saw He couldn't do it all, so He created ENGINEERS”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, Falling Free

“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”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, CryoBurn

“Signs of the Bastard's holy presence tend to be unmistakable, to those who know Him. The screaming, the altercations, the people running in circles - all that was lacking was something bursting into flame, and I was not entirely sure for a moment you weren't going to provide that as well.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, The Hallowed Hunt

“Suicidal glory is the luxury of the irresponsible.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, Barrayar

“Never underestimate the human capacity for wishful thinking and willful blindness,' said Miles. Such as a whole society of people who became so wrapped up in avoiding death, they forgot to be alive?”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, CryoBurn

“[Koudelka] looked back, "You?! I know you! You trust beyond reason!"
[Cordelia] met his eyes steadily, "Yes, it's how I get results beyond hope, as you may recall.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign

“The world demands I make good choices on no information, and then blames my maidenhood for my mistakes, as if my maidenhood were responsible for my ignorance. Ignorance is not stupidity, but it might as well be. And I do not like feeling stupid.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, The Curse of Chalion

“Your father calls you to his court. You need not pack. You go garbed in glorious raiment. He waits eagerly by his palace doors to welcome you, and has prepared a place at the high table, by his side, in the company of the great-souled, honored, and best-beloved.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, Paladin of Souls

“Anyway, if the Cetagandans really wanted to assassinate you, they'd hardly do it here. They'd slip something subtle under your skin that wouldn't go off for six months, and then would drop you mysteriously and untraceably in your tracks”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, Cetaganda

“What a mess the world was in, Vimes reflected. Constable Visit had told him the meek would inherit it, and what had the poor devils done to deserve that?”
― Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

“You are in favour of the common people?” said Dragon mildly.
The common people?” said Vimes. “They’re nothing special. They’re no different from the rich and powerful except they’ve got no money or power. But the law should be there to balance things up a bit. So I suppose I’ve got to be on their side.”
― Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

“They represented what people called the "international community." And like all uses of the word "community," you were never quite sure what or who it was.”
― Terry Pratchett, Jingo

“Always be wary of any helpful item that weighs less than its operating manual.”
― Terry Pratchett, Jingo

“It was much better to imagine men in some smokey room somewhere, made mad and cynical by privilege and power, plotting over brandy. You had to cling to this sort of image, because if you didn't then you might have to face the fact that bad things happened because ordinary people, the kind who brushed the dog and told the children bed time stories, were capable of then going out and doing horrible things to other ordinary people. It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was Us, then what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.”
― Terry Pratchett, Jingo

“A stupid person can make only certain, limited types of errors; the mistakes open to a clever fellow are far broader. But to the one who knows how smart he is compared to everyone else, the possibilities for true idiocy are boundless.”
― Steven Brust, Iorich

“One man's mistake is another man's opportunity.”
― Steven Brust