Quotes from Steven Brust

What foul sorcery is this?" she said. "Pretty standard foul sorcery; nothing special." "Okay," she said. "Just checking.

I suggested that my patron goddess should take sensual pleasure, though I didn't put it quite in those terms.

It's just that no one wants to be the one being rescued, we all want to do the rescuing.

There's nothing worse than a smartass who pretends not to understand hyperbole.

But we're assassins: when we make mistakes, people live

You're stubborn, Vlad." "Is that a compliment?

Painting consists of long periods of minutes followed by short bursts of hours

The creation of powerful magical tools, generally, is the result of one of three things: the desire to impress a lover; an accident while trying to create something else entirely; or a side project created to assist while working toward something considered more significant by the creator.

Captain," said Khaavren, both by way of affirmation and correction, thus conveying the maximum amount of information in the fewest possible words; a custom of his, and one that this historian has, in fact, adopted for himself, holding efficiency of language to be a high virtue in all written works without exception.

I turned away, took a deep breath, and sheathed the weapon. I never know what to say after I've intimidated someone; I ought to keep a list of tough-guy remarks.

Those are good questions. I recognize good questions, because I can come up with them myself.

Boss, what, exactly, are we doing here?" "Feeling maudlin." "Oh. Good. How long are we planning on doing that?" "Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" "What?" "Never mind.

Aliera said, "You are a Jhereg." Mario said, "You are the most beautiful woman who has ever lived, or ever will live, in the Empire or anywhere else." "Well," said Aliera. "I am," remarked Mario, "confronted by a difficult decision." "Life seems to be full of them," agreed Aliera. "What is yours?" "Whether to continue running for my life, or to stay here and look at you.

Saving someone's life is a wonderful feeling. Try it. You feel like, if you don't mind a TV reference, a big damn hero.

The door opened, and Ren emerged, and my heart did a thing.

Does it really matter what you feel when you do something? Does it somehow make a difference if you're sorry when you go blasting your way over someone's life like a locomotive over a papier-mâché doll

She grinned and nodded and another frozen thing inside of me melted.

Let him who doubts the victory wrest the banner from my hand.

Don't explain why it works; explain how you use it.

Several years ago, I was getting drunk with four or five of the most powerful sorcerers in the Empire—like you do—when Daymar told a story.

Short version: it doesn't matter how many bad decisions you just made, your job is to make the next one correct.

Boss, she's a _Dragon_. They don't _believe_ in assassination. They consider it a _crime_. If you go up to her and--" "Kragar," I interrupted, "I never said that I was going to go up to her and say, 'Aliera, I'm trying to assassinate this guy, how would you like to help set him up?' Give me credit for a little finesse, all right?

I just never learn: When you're about to finally get what you've been wanting, and when it's what you need like you've rarely needed anything, turn off your fucking phone.

Time has stretched, so that a few hours are an age; and it has collapsed, so that the events of hours seem to have ended before they began. Turmoil, even when generated from within, can do that to a person.