Quotes by Lois McMaster Bujold

“Some prices are just too high, no matter how much you may want the prize. The one thing you cant trade for your hearts desire is your heart.”

“When you cant do something truly useful, you tend to vent the pent up energy in something useless but available, like snappy dressing.”

“You kill me so courteously”

“They imagine theyre the wave of the future, but its only sewage flowing downhill”

“The gods most savage curses come upon us as answers to our own prayers, you know”

“What you are is a question only you can answer.”

“War is not its own end, except in some catastrophic slide into absolute damnation.”

“The dead cannot cry out for justice. It is a duty of the living to do so for them.”

Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.

Suicidal glory is the luxury of the irresponsible.

[Koudelka] looked back, You?! I know you! You trust beyond reason![Cordelia] met his eyes steadily, Yes, its how I get results beyond hope, as you may recall.

Think of the glory. Think of your reputation. Think how great itll look on your next resume.On my cenotaph, you mean. Nobody will be able to collect enough of my scattered atoms to bury. You going to cover my funeral expenses, son?Splendidly. Banners, dancing girls, and enough beer to float your coffin to Valhalla.- Miles coaxing Ky Tung to agree to an almost suicidal mission

Lakewalker legends say the gods abandoned the world when the first malice came. And that they will return when the earth is entirely cleansed of its spawn. If you believe in gods.Do you?I believe they are not here, yes. Its a faith of sorts.

Its a bizarre but wonderful feeling, to arrive dead center of a target you didnt even know you were aiming for.

I need words that mean more than they mean, words not just with height and width, but depth and weight and, and other dimensions that I cannot even name.

In mysticism, knowledge cannot be separated from a certain way of life which becomes its living manifestation. To acquire mystical knowledge means to undergo a transformation; one could even say that the knowledge is the transformation. Scientific knowledge, on the other hand, can often stay abstract and theoretical. Thus most of today’s physicists do not seem to realize the philosophical, cultural and spiritual implications of their theories.

Women shouldnt be in combat, said Vorkosigan, grimly glum. Neither should men, in my opinion.

Modern warfare wasnt supposed to have this much blood in it. The weapons were supposed to cook everyone neatly, like eggs in their shells. (Mark Vorkosigans first experience with warfare, on seeing Miles Vorkosigan splattered before him)

Barrayar is bred in my bones. I cannot shake it, no matter how far I travel. This struggle, God knows, has no honor in it. But exile, for no other motive than ease—that would be to give up all hope of honor. The last defeat, with no seed of future victory in it.

Im afraid even ImpSec has no explanation for womens tastes in men.