Quotes from Lois McMaster Bujold

You should have fallen in love with a happy man, if you wanted happiness. But no, you had to fall for the breathtaking beauty of pain.

And whose fault was it that the boy swallowed down lies, when no one would feed him the truth?

War is not its own end, except in some catastrophic slide into absolute damnation.

Some prices are just too high, no matter how much you may want the prize. The one thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart.

Whether you function as welders or inspectors, the laws of physics are implacable lie-detectors. You may fool men. You will never fool the metal.

I think 99 percent of women's lib comes from technology making different kinds of lives possible, and then the social adjustment follows the technology - it doesn't precede it.

I am increasingly convinced that technological culture is the entire root of women's liberation.

Most people go through their whole lives without killing anybody. False argument.

When you can't do something truly useful, you tend to vent the pent up energy in something useless but available, like snappy dressing.

I spent my 20s working in patient care at a large university hospital, an experience that has informed all my work and has given me a lot of human observation to draw on.

Have you ever heard the phrase, Living well is the best revenge?" "Where I come from, someone's head in a bag is generally considered the best revenge

If you want to catch something, running after it isn't always the best way.

One of the best things about writing is how it redeems, not to mention recycles, all of one's prior experiences, including or perhaps especially the failures.

Leadership is mostly a power over imagination, and never more so than in combat. The bravest man alone can only be an armed lunatic. The real strength lies in the ability to get others to do your work.

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.

The principle difference between heaven and hell is the company you keep there.

If you can\'t do what you want, do what you can.

Men may move mountains, but ideas move men.

There are always survivors at a massacre. Among the victors, if nowhere else.

Check your assumptions. In fact, check your assumptions at the door.

It just happens to be very important to me to win with the hand I was dealt.

It's not a comfortable thing, to be chosen so. I tried to avoid it for a long time, but God finds ways of dealing with draft dodgers.

I would fight the world for you, but I'm damned if I can figure out how to save you from yourself.

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.