Quotes from Lois McMaster Bujold

principles come and go, but . . . human souls are immortal, and you should therefore throw in your lot with the greater part.

Or that they believed you would not be here to inflict the consequences," said Ekaterin. Had they meant Vorkosigan to die, too? Or . . . what? "Oh, nice. That's reassuring." He bit rather aggressively into the last of his sandwich. She rested her chin on her hand and regarded him with wry curiosity. "Does ImpSec know you babble like this?

Miles's eyes glinted. Besides, it'll put a little excitement in your life, Sergeant. It has to be dull as dirt, following me around all day. I'd be bored to tears. I like being bored, said Bothari morosely.

Never had Miles seen a man wish more passionately to be twins; he half-expected Bothari to go into mitosis on the spot.

The page answered disgustedly, "A madman, I suppose." After a short pause, the maid's voice floated back faintly, "Well, he'll fit right in here, then, won't he…

We cannot continue to flounder along with no attempt at a plan," he began firmly. "You've rejected mine. Have you a better?" "Run away was not my idea of a plan." She cocked an eye at him. "And when did I become we?" His mouth, tightening, paused. The first hour I saw you at Boar's Head, five gods help me.

Death is not a performance to rate ourselves upon, or berate ourselves upon either.

My mother was a real soldier, too. And I don't think she ever failed to feel another's pain. Not even her enemy's.

Iselle swallowed. It was clear her mind was frantically churning over responses. She'd stifled her first scream of outrage, and had not the trick of falling down in a convincing dead faint. She stood trapped and conscious.

We share a certain problem apart from your legal morass," he continued. "Cat maiden." "Oh, it's not apart. Dog lord.

I love you as I love breath— His heart rocketed. But I can't be your annex. And crashed. I don't understand. I don't know how to put it plainer. You'd swallow me up the way an ocean swallows a bucket of water. I'd disappear in you. I love you, but I'm terrified of you, and of your future.

It seemed to Ivan that he needed to court his wife. Promptly. In the next, what was it, ten days.

They circulated, exchanging greetings, making courtesies. Why can't these people wear nametags? Cordelia thought hopelessly. As usual, everyone but her seemed to know everyone else. She pictured herself opening a conversation: Hey you, Vor-guy—. She clutched Aral more firmly, and tried to look mysterious and exotic rather than tongue-tied and mislaid. They

Am I to form myself into the pattern of a perfect Barrayaran maiden like trying to work a magic spell for absolution? I could spend my whole life working out that ritual and not come to the end of it, damn it!

have stuck to your original contract. Or your second plan.

Tej glanced toward the balcony. Toward him. Toward the balcony. Toward him. Why is this a hard choice? From the hallway, a teeth-gritting mechanical whine began, as of someone cutting through an airseal door. "You can't tell me you'd rather jump off a twenty-story building and smash in your skull than marry me," Ivan went on desperately. "I am not a fate worse than death, dammit! Or at least not worse than that death, good God!

Bothari maintained an admirable stillness, against the wall, but Miles could feel his eyes boring through his shoulder blades with his sharpest what-the-hell-are-you-doing-now look. Miles did not turn.

Los capitanes vienen y van, pero las administraciones viven eternamente

Captain Bel Thorne was a Betan hermaphrodite, a race that was remnant of an early experiment in human genetic and social engineering that had succeeded only in creating another minority.

The days were a gray fog. Faces, familiar and unfamiliar, badgered him for directions, to which his reply was an invariable, laconic, "Suit yourself." Elena would not talk to him at all. He was stirred to fear she was finding comfort in Baz's arms. He watched her covertly, anxious. But she seemed not to be finding comfort anywhere. After

exactly what Commander Cavilo wants. It's why she shipped me back

Let's go over a little astrography. Geography is the mother of strategy, they say.

The five theological purposes of prayer, I was taught, are service, supplication, gratitude, divination, and atonement.

One corner of his mouth crooked up, then the quirk vanished in a thoughtful pursing of his lips. "He's bisexual, you know." He took a delicate sip of his wine. "Yes," she agreed absently, looking fondly across the room. "Now he's monogamous." Vordarian choked, sputtering.