Quotes from Lois McMaster Bujold

Hunting hawks do not belong in cages, no matter how much a man covets their grace, no matter how golden the bars. They are far more beautiful soaring free. Heartbreakingly beautiful. He

Knowing what I know now…it would be harder. But I would hope…I would pray, Royse, that the gods would still lend me such foolishness in my need.

Suicide wasn't an option for me anymore, I found. Not like good old adolescent angst. I'm no longer of the secret opinion that death will somehow overlook me if I don't do something about it.

Someday, Miles, his boss ImpSec Chief Simon Illyan had once said to him, I hope you live to have a dozen subordinates just like you. Miles hadn't realized till now that had been a formal curse on Illyan's part.

A Degtiar empress named Lisbet Trapped a satrap lord neatly in his net. Enticed into treason For all the wrong reasons, He'll soon have a crash with his kismet.

So… so you went through all this effort, perpetrated all this pointless cruelty, just to make yourself feel better?" A wordless snarl. Pen's voice went dry; he couldn't help it. "Is it working?

Had getting rid of his uneven limp, leg braces, and most of the crookedness in his back made that much difference? Or was the difference in the Barrayarans?

Would it do any harm, to make of him a dream-lover? It seemed invasive. How would she like it, after all, if she discovered she was starring in someone else's pornographic daydreams? Horrified, yes? Disgusted, to be pawed over in some untrusted stranger's thoughts. She imagined herself so portrayed in Miles's thoughts, and checked her horror quotient. It was a little . . . weak.

My home is not a place, it is people.

The dead cannot cry out for justice. It is a duty of the living to do so for them.

Escapist literature gets a bad rap. But I think escape is important for a lot of people in a lot of places.

Seems like half my anxiety dreams are about airports.

One step at a time, I can walk around the world. Watch me.

You can say a lot in a little time, if you stick to words of one syllable.

Never argue with a pedant over nomenclature. It wastes your time and annoys the pedant.

How could you be a Great Man if history brought you no Great Events, or brought you to them at the wrong time, too young, too old?

When the time comes to leap in faith whether you have your eyes open or closed or scream all the way down or not makes no practical difference.

All the geniuses I ever met were so just part of the time. To qualify, you only have to be great once, you know. Once when it matters.

I began my writing career in a very isolated place and time.

If you ever have to make a choice between learning and inspiration, choose learning. It works most of the time.

I'm very interested in the impact of biotechnology on the way people live.

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

Like integrity, love of life was not a subject to be studied, it was a contagion to be caught. And you had to catch it from someone who had it.

I'm sorry. I can love you. I can grieve for you, or with you. I can share your pain. But I cannot judge you.