Quotes from Martha Wells

Sometimes humans can't help but let emotion bleed through into the feed.

Self-determination was a pain in the ass sometimes but it beat the alternative by a lot.

an absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

The problem I was going to have is that the way murderbots fight is we throw ourselves at the target and try to kill the shit out of it, knowing that 90 percent of our bodies can be regrown or replaced in a cubicle. So, finesse is not required.

I have extracted living clients from situations that were less than nine percent survivable. I'm more than qualified to make that call.

I am actually trying my best despite the fuck-ups.

In the shows, I saw humans comfort each other all the time at moments like this. I had never wanted that and I still didn't. (Touching while rendering assistance, shielding humans from explosions, etc., is different.) But I was the only one here, so I braced myself and made the ultimate sacrifice. "Uh, you can hug me if you need

Humans are nervous of me because I'm a terrifying murderbot, and I'm nervous of them because they're humans.

I found it odd that the transport was less interested in Sanctuary Moon, which took place on a colony, than Worldhoppers, which was about the crew of a large exploration ship. You'd think it would be too much like work—I avoided serials about survey teams and mining installations—but maybe familiar things were easier for

Target Two whispered something, which FacilitySys rendered as "What are you?" I said, "I'm a Shut Up or Get Your Head Smashed.

Reaction 1: oh, that's who had hacked my code. Reaction 2: flattering that they thought I was dangerous enough to pay for the contract on a Combat SecUnit. Reaction 3: I bet PortSec did not okay that and was going to be pissed off. Reaction 4: oh shit I'm going to die.

I'll give you one more answer. The words Bashasa spoke to me before he died were 'Don't let everything we fought for be for nothing.

But mostly because the news was boring and I didn't care what humans were doing to each other as long as I didn't have to a) stop it or b) clean up after it.

His biggest rule was that you didn't involve anyone who wasn't already playing the game. Or, as he phrased it, if you have to kill innocent bystanders, then your planning is at fault and someone should best eliminate you.

Granted, I liked the imaginary people on the entertainment feed way more than I liked real ones, but you can't have one without the other.

I had cycled out of horrified that they wanted to talk to me about my feelings into grateful that she had ordered them not to.

Ugh, this was going to be fun, in the not at all fun sense.

That isn't how this works, expositor." Then he peeled Tarrow's soul from his body and ate his life.

He was starting to realize that maybe he didn't actually know the difference between trusting people and just pretending to trust them while bracing for the betrayal.

I didn't want to see helpless humans. I'd rather see smart ones rescuing each other.

I'm tired of entirely new things," Tremaine said. "I don't understand most of the old things yet.

Mother bared her fangs. "Stop being overdramatic." Kai would have loved to, if dramatic things would stop happening to him.

The last thing I wanted was to ask the company gunship for help. The last thing I wanted was for GrayCris to catch us. The two last things were incompatible.

I don't like planets. There's dust and weather, and something always wants to eat the humans.