Quotes from Steven Brust

It isn't that they're ungrateful." "I know. It's just that no one wants to be the one being rescued, we all want to do the rescuing." She nodded. "And this job is all about making everyone else do the rescuing. Which is why you're here right now." "You want me to rescue someone?

I'd forgotten to close the shutters again, and so woke with the Furnace burning painfully into my eyes. I cursed for a little while, then got up and closed them, because it is better to close the shutters than curse the light, or however that goes. I tried to sleep some more but it didn't take.

I'm generalizing from one example, here, but everyone generalizes from one example. At least, I do.

Always speak politely to an enraged dragon.

No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style.

Everybody generalizes from one example. At least, I do.

A stupid person can make only certain, limited types of errors; the mistakes open to a clever fellow are far broader. But to the one who knows how smart he is compared to everyone else, the possibilities for true idiocy are boundless.

The tools are real. The viewer is real, you, the artist, is real and a part of everything you paint. You connect yourself to the viewer by sharing something that is inside of you that connects with something inside of him. All you have as your guide is that you know what moves you. All you have to do it with is a brush, some chemical and canvas, and technique.

Most people seem to take pleasure in feeling superior to someone. I'm not like that, which pleases me because it makes me feel superior.

All literature consists of whatever the writer thinks is cool. The reader will like the book to the degree that he agrees with the writer about what's cool.

I'm told I'm very charming when people do what I want.

True heroics must be carefully planned - and strenuously avoided.

When I say that life is like an onion, I mean this: if you don't do anything with it, it goes rotten. So far, that's no different from other vegetables. But when an onion goes bad, it can either do it from the inside, or the outside. So sometimes you see one that looks good, but the core is rotten. Other times, you can see a bad spot on it, but if you cut that out, the rest is fine. Tastes sharp, but that's what you paid for, isn't it?

Because here's the thing: No matter how much one tells stories of magical beasts or impossible worlds, in the end, it is always the world of here and now one is writing about. The better one understands that world, the more powerful the stories will be.

One man's mistake is another man's opportunity.

I've heard it said: 'By his home you shall know him'; and we all know that we must pay attention to anyone who reverses the subject and auxiliary verb in his sentence.

The struggle is always worthwhile, if the end be worthwhile and the means honorable; foreknowledge of defeat is not sufficient reason to withdraw from the contest.

Staring into the dragon's maw, one quickly learns wisdom.

The others followed, and found themselves in a small, stuffy basement, which would have been damp, smelly, close, and dark, were it not, in fact, well-lit, which prevented it from being dark.

Plan. Yes. Good idea. I should come up with a plan.

Can you be serious for two words?" "Not without effort.

I guess there's just a time for doing dumb things.

Why do you work so hard to make yourself disliked? I should think you'd find it happens enough on its own without putting yourself to any extra trouble.

In our memories, there is a graveyard where we bury our dead. They all lie there together, the loved ones and the ones we hated, friends and foes and kin, with no distinction among them. We have to mourn every one of them, because our memories have made them as much a part of us as our bones or our skin. If we don't, we've no right to remember anything at all.