Quotes from Elizabeth Bear

Government is either imposed with force, or it derives from the will of the governed. But it's a social contract, right? It exists simply because people say it does. It's not a thing you can touch.

Galaxies dances across her drawn skin. Mine moved in reflection.

He turned his head aside, offered Sebastien his throat, his fingers curled and urging.

He chuckled, his eyes twinkling like agates, the first flash of a real personality she'd seen.

I'm flattered to find out I'm a topic of conversation anywhere. I'm a tugboat engineer.

It was a smooth voice, androgynous, and cultured, unexpected.

My type of woman. Damn it to the Well.

Everything this woman says surprises me.

Downthehatch wasn't a big station-thirty thousand people at most-but that was enough to get lost in.

If I turned my head to look at this woman on the street, it would be because of her hearing-because she is tall, and stern as the iron color of her hair. It would be because of the stubborn military shoulders and the chipped flint of an unmistakably Iroquois nose, the crows's-feet at the corners of her eyes. I might not even notice the glittering steel of her left hand until she moved into my line of sight.

I realized I was mirroring her, and intentionally broke the pattern by setting the mug down.

Blinking, startled, as if he had utterly forgotten the Elf-Knight's existence, Kit turned away from the mortal men and hurried to Murchaud's side. Kit pulled Murchaud upright, checking his injuries with a fussiness that left Will tasting bile and jealousy.

It stung that his words didn't mean more to me than they did.

It wasn't healthy to live in the past or worse, to let the past live in your head forever. I'd save that kind of wallowing for special occasions.

Authority derives from the consent of the governed, is what I'm saying," Singer continued, as if we hadn't been derailed by the threat of people with guns and a grudge. "And that consent is derived from consensus. Which is never universal.

Relationships with the blood put a strain on mortal partners, and though Sebastien tried to spread the burden, he worried.

What did it hurt me to be honest with her? To be vulnerable?

Rien drew back among the other upstairs maids, twisting the polishing cloth between her hands, but started when Head's hand fell upon her.

The old ways-the old respect might no longer be enforced with terror, but enough of it lingered that Dust was no entirely bereft of hope for the future of Engine and the Conn family. They might have grown soft, but they had not entirely fallen apart.

You've got a key inside you, and you don't even know it.

I'm allergic to perfect consensus. It has to be enforced somehow and once you sign the clade contract, they just tune your neurology until you agree. Boom, no conflict.

He's warm and solid, present as an oak tree as he sighs and leans against me.

Enjoy belonging to the machine, babes.

It was too early for Scotch, unfortunately, because the dusty crystal decanter on the sideboard had never looked so good. Resolutely, Riel turned her back on it.