Quotes from Aaron Allston

Vader wasn't a galaxy-conquering psychopath. He was a sad man whose one love in life had died, and whose one anchor to the world of the living was, yes, a galaxy-conquering madman.

Leia nodded. If the Yuuzhan Vong learn that the Solos are here, they come to get us. Even if we use false names, if a Corellian YT-1300 freighter lands with a dashing, vainglorious man at the controls, it doesn't matter what name he uses, people are going to think Han Solo. Han shot her an offended look. Vainglorious? Vainglorious, Leia affirmed. Vain plus glorious. Go ahead, deny it. Well... I can't, really.

There are times when the end justifies the means. But when you build an argument based on a whole series of such times, you may find that you've constructed an entire philosophy of evil.

You're always going to be too young for something important to you, too old for something else, and the timing is just not going to be right for a third set of things. That's life, and you can make yourself crazy by dwelling on that. Or you can figure out what you are the right age for, and what the timing is right for, and celebrate those things.

A hundred to one says you weren't able to secure insurance for this little operation. True. I knew better. I didn't even try. So if a starfighter goes down and gets blown up, you're paying for it out of pocket, correct? Dodging the bogeys is better for all of us. I can't stress that enough.

You want to trade [starfighters] for the rest of the operation? What, in the middle of a mission? Sure. This isn't the armed forces, Wedge. It's more like a heavily armed bachelor party.

I don't think I've ever seen so many brown robes together in one place. It's like a showroom for the world's dullest textile factory. - Ben Skywalker

And now, I believe, protocol insists that we open a bottle or a dozen of wine and make some preliminary discussion of security, introduction protocols, and so on. Fortunately about the wine, and regrettably about everything else, you are correct.

You can't measure what a boy did in innocence against what a man has to do for the rest of his life.

Luke, I don't want to discourage your curiosity, but I have to remind you, if something goes wrong, this is an exceptionally embarrassing way to die.

When all else fails, complicate matters.

Definition of 'Free': You pay for it whether or not you elect to receive it.

The difference between tragedy and comedy: Tragedy is something awful happening to somebody else, while comedy is something awful happening to somebody else.

This would not be a problem if I were driving a snowplow.

Life is like an analogy.

At which time the repulsor puts out its final effort and slows you down so you crash quite slowly into the surface." "Crash." "Quite slowly." Face & Luke

Lawyers are the first refuge of the incompetent.

Where can I get some tat? I'd like to trade it in.

The analysis of the thing is not the thing itself.

I really can't complain about actresses who get paid to be dumb. Most of us can't get paid to be smart.

Tycho, we're about to achieve a tremendous victory we don't want." "We'll put that in your biography. General Antilles was so good he couldn't fail when he tried to." "Thanks." Wedge & Tycho

Luke, I don't want to discourage your curiosity, but I have to remind you, if something goes wrong, this is an exceptionally embarassing way to die." Mara

Luck consists largely of hanging on by your fingernails until things start to go your way.

The principle of Sturgeon's Razor states that the simplest answer to any problem is 90% crap.