Quotes from Mike Shepherd

God, you don't just barge in on my father, and definitely not my mother. No way. You check with their personal secretaries first. Check out their moods. Then you make an appointment to slip in. There are basic things you learn when your parents run a planet.

Kris decided to wait and see if this new Wasp was bigger than a bread box and smaller than the mythical telephone booth.

Why am I alive when so many others are dead?

He is committed to the truth. But the truth is a slippery thing, I've learned. Makes one a whole lot less resolute over the long run.

Wars and war rumors sold a lot of soap these days.

If you look at old Earth's bloodiest periods, there are several patterns that repeat. One is missionaries come. Missionaries get killed. Army comes. Houses and crops get burned. Natives get killed. And the flag comes last. Suddenly a whole lot of local folks find themselves with an empress or kaiser or president they never voted for.

This court finds that no one should have to wait until they are dead to prove that they are in harm's way.

She could worry about it, do it, or not do it.

If what they say is true, and a wise warrior must know her enemy, then it may follow that the only person whom you understand . . . and who really understands you . . . is your enemy.

Strange, we're ready for our enemies and the hard-fought campaigns. But it's the love and grace that brings us to our knees in tears.

A supply ship was named the Surprise. That . . . was not encouraging.

You can dispose of evil," Abby added, "but you never can reclaim what it has done.

Grampa Trouble always said the only fair fight was the one you lost.

She fell back on the blandest of questions a politician's daughter knew. "So, do you like what your legislator is doing? You plan to vote for him next election?

You walk like a duck, and quack like a duck, I'm gonna fill your ass full of birdshot like a duck.

There was no way to solve a problem for people who didn't know they had one.