Quotes from Lois McMaster Bujold

Could you people stop trying to come up with novel ways to kill me for just ONE HOUR? Or maybe the rest of the night? I would SO like that. Just the rest of the night. Just sit down. Just stop doing anything. Sit down and wait sensibly. Earth, water, air, fire - you're running out of elements here!

Trust in the gods, They will supply? Hardly. He wondered suddenly if it was as hard for the gods to have faith in Ingrey as it was for him to have faith in Them, and a weird wild urge to show Them how it should be done swept him for a moment.

In fact, since no one is perfect, it follows that all great deeds have been accomplished out of imperfection. Yet they were accomplished, somehow, all the same.

A doctrinal point Pen had constantly to explain to people trying to pray for good weather or no earthquakes, who never listened, he'd finally decided, because they didn't want it to be so.  The gods did not control the weather.  Or the world.  Or souls. But death, oh, they own that.

Fear is easy.  Joy is hard, said Des. Mm.

Indeed. On average, one-half of all supplicants to come before a judge's bench must depart angry and disappointed. But not, by that, necessarily wronged..

And right or wrong, what I also saw was that you made an enemy, and left him alive behind you. Great charity. Bad tactics.

The Emperor's Birthday is the traditional end of the fiscal year, for each count's district in relation to the Imperial government. In other words, it's tax day, except—the Vor are not taxed. That would imply too subordinate a relationship to the Imperium. Instead, we give the Emperor a present.

You bastards are on the top of Imperial Lord Auditor Miles Vorkosigan's very own shit list now, you bet. But under what name? Only five days on this benighted world, and already total strangers are trying to kill me.

The world is ashes and the gods are a horror. Tell me, Learned, what other place is there for me to go?

If you desire a man to tell you comfortable lies about your prowess, and so fetter any hope of true excellence, I'm sure you may find one anywhere. Not all prisons are made of iron bars. Some are made of feather beds.

Everybody has it wrong way round. Parents don't make children—children make parents. They shape our behavior from the first wail. Mold us into what they need. It can be a pretty rough process, too.

A stunning first impression was not the same thing as love at first sight. But surely it was an invitation to consider the matter.

The gods...the gods may forgive much, to a truly penitent heart. Her smile grew bitter as desert brine. The gods may forgive Ista all day long. But if Ista does not forgive Ista, the gods may go hang themselves.

So, how long has my mother had this questionable fetish for bisexual Barrayaran admirals? I don't think even the Betans have earrings for that one.

But why, in God the Father's name, should they want to destroy Athos? Is Cetaganda—controlled by women or something?" A

Although even then, it hadn't been because he hadn't wanted to learn—just that he hadn't wanted to learn what had been set on the plate in front of him that day.  The power to select his own plates had changed everything.

The gods do not grant miracles for our purposes, but for theirs, Umegat had said. Yes? It seemed to Cazaril that this bargain ought to run two ways. If people stopped lending the gods their wills by which to do miracles, eh, what would the gods do about it then?

He fantasized about burning his fraying vestments when he finally reached home.

don't be afraid of troubles, Silver. They're a sign of life.

Weddell/Canaba was still an ass at heart, Miles reflected. But he did know his molecular biology. After

I guess it just doesn't look very heroic to sneak up behind somebody and shoot them in the back. I can't help thinking it would be more efficient, though.

The one thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart

Well, I don't hate him. Can't say as I worship him, either." She paused a long time, and looked up to meet her mother's eyes square on. "But when he's cut, I bleed.