Quotes from John Scalzi

the first moment I met Watson it was clear that he was the sort of cocky, willfully ignorant son of a bitch who would get himself or his squadmates killed. My problem was I was his squadmate.

Which means I will have failed because of you. I may be low on the diplomatic totem pole, but I am sufficiently high enough on it that when I push you, you will die from the fall." She looked over to Schmidt. "And he'll kill you when he lands.

As well as you can, live the life you want to live and make the work you want to make. After you're gone it'll all be sorted out or not. You won't be around to worry about it. Focus on the parts you're around for.

There are probably others; my source could only track these." "And you trust this source." "I trust that he appreciates having his gambling debts paid off. And that he knows if he crosses me, I'll push him in front of a fucking bus. So, yes.

You don't win by getting through all your life not having done anything.

You were merely part of the package deal. It was acceptable because you seemed unlikely to fuck things up." "Nice to be valued

I can't do that, Harry said. I don't have the math for it.

The goal was the goal, and we were going to get to it however we could. And if it meant changing our plans, sometimes in the middle of executing them, then we would.

in thirty years of service there has yet to be an MP-35 that has malfunctioned. This is because, unlike your dipshit military scientists on Earth, we can build a weapon that works! Your job is not to fuck with your weapon; your job is to fire your weapon. Trust your weapon, it is almost certainly smarter than you are. Remember this and you may yet live.

blackballed from guild roles for two generations, because apparently mutiny is in the DNA, like eye color or a tendency toward irritable bowels. On

It's your job to save humanity, Perry." "No pressure there

They are still in rebellion. You don't win a rebellion by default.

DOGS ARE THE WORST. THEY'LL SELL YOU OUT FOR A TREAT AND A HEAD PAT.

Duvall sighed. "Anatoly," she said. "It's me." "Maia?" Kerensky said. "They got you too. Don't worry. I won't let these bastards do anything to you. Do you hear me, you sons of bitches?" Hester looked over to Dahl disbelievingly. Dahl shrugged. "Anatoly," Maia said, more forcefully. "They didn't get me too." "What?" Kerensky said. Then, after a minute, "Oh.

And it had worked; he had looked like a fool when he attempted to call out the general. What I and the general had underestimated were the number of other assembly members who would willingly continue to follow a fool.

First, I want my pants," Kerensky said. Everyone turned to Duvall, who gave everyone a what? expression and then pulled Kerensky's pants out of her duffel and threw them at him. "Second," Kerensky said, fumbling into his pants, "I want to know why we're here.

That left one missile. That one went to my best guess as to where Control was. Because fuck that guy.

This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. And I will.

Destiny gets compressed, you know, into just that small fraction of a second you have right in front of you at any one time.

Dr. Gitsen did genetic typing of some of the Dalasýslans," Marce said. "Do you know what she found?" "Inbreeding?" "No," Marce said. "Well, yes.

No one wants the Interdependency to end. Including the House of Wu. There's too much money and power at stake," Attavio VI said. "And the survival of humanity doesn't matter?" Cardenia asked, incredulously. "Not if it means the end of the Interdependency.

the protesters weren't wrong, it is discriminatory, and also, who gives a shit, because it's not legally discriminatory, and it's mostly discriminatory on the basis of skill, just like every other major sport. It helps to be more than six feet tall in pro basketball, but there have been enough players who haven't been, to say skill can compensate.

This is why I told Lambert to stop going on about it, you know," Powell said. "All the thinking about the steps beyond what we were directly doing. It never makes you happy. It never solves anything for you, right now.

What happens if I don't leave the planet within seventy-two hours?" I said as I handed the paper back to the recruiter. "Nothing," she said, taking the form. "Except that since you're legally dead, all your belongings are split up according to your will, your health and life benefits are canceled or disbursed to your heirs and being legally dead, you have no legal right to protection under the law from everything from libel to murder.