Quotes from David Weber

All things considered, Her Grace's plan may not have been the single rashest, most foolhardy, do-or-die, all-or-nothing throw of the dice in the history of the Royal Manticoran — or Grayson — Navy. If it wasn't, however, I have so far failed to find the plan that was .

She really should be careful about imputing sordid motives to the First Lord. Not because she doubted that he had them, but because not even Sir Edward Janacek could have only sordid motivations. That would have completely devalued his ability to do such things out of simple stupidity, instead of calculation.

I want manned spaceflight, not just back to the Moon, but beyond that. And I want my daughters and my son to have their own July 20, 1969, to remember. Apollo 11 didn't give us wings; it only showed us how far the wings we had would take us.

Son, you'll know you're in love when a woman's voice settles into your spine.

McKeon: "You know Hauptman is going to deny they had anything to do with it [smuggling]." "Forty-three million in illegal peltries? Of course they will, just as Mondragon 's captain insists the space fairies must have brought them," Honor said ironically.

It had to be the greatest irony in the history of mankind, he thought. The last Christian in the entire universe was a machine.

They could hate her guts all they liked as long as they did their duty.

there was an almost terrifying lack of intelligence in his eyes.

It's much more comfortable to cling to your bigotry than it is to admit you've been wrong to feel it in the first place

Victor smiled politely in return, the way someone smiles when they're thanked for having done a minor favor in times past. Held open a door in the rain, lent someone a small amount of money, butchered an ex-lover, that sort of thing.

one of the first signs of a self-destructing aboriginal culture always seems to be an increase in the use of drugs and intoxicants

Constitutional irregularities, is it? Interesting concept — given that Torch hasn't yet adopted a formal constitution. Yup. He listed that as Irregularity Number One.

This, she realized suddenly, was probably the best squadron command she would ever have—unless

She was thirteen T-years older than he, but there was something uncannily familiar about his emotions where she was concerned. Somehow, without realizing it was happening, she'd acquired a MacGuiness with a gun, and she suspected her life would never be quite the same again. She

If you ever mention my uncle to me again, I will personally push your face through the top of this table, Elizabeth told him in a flat, deadly tone, and the baron recoiled physically from her.

Dying gloriously sounds good in bad historical novels. Speaking for myself, I think doing it in real life when you don't have to is fucking stupid, and it irritates the hell out of me that we don't appear to have any choice.

that was about as good as it was going to get this side of a hot tub, a good-looking man, and a chocolate milkshake.

It must come from your father's side of the family, Allison informed her with severe disapproval. You never got that sort of dreary, plebeian logic from my genes, dear! Beowulfans' cognitive processes rely far more on the creative and intuitive manipulation of concepts without the drudgery of applying reason to them. Don't you realize how badly you can damage a perfectly good preconception or assumption if you insist on thinking about it that way? That's why I never indulge in such a vice.

She was never certain how long she wept, and it didn't really matter. It wasn't something to be measured by clocks, cut up into minutes and seconds.

The marvelous intricacy of the rules they'd established, the processes they'd set into motion, the miracles of subtlety and beauty, were enough to make anyone drunk with admiration and awe, and how could God, having given man the ability to reason and understand, not want him to explore all the beautiful marvels with which He'd surrounded him? She

Manticore System's G0 primary and its G2 companion were dim behind her, reduced to two more stars amid millions, for the Junction lay almost seven light-hours from them.

I'll bring the rest through as quickly as I can, Honor promised after the inevitable delay. And I'll try to make sure there's still a Star Kingdom when you do, Kuzak replied.

Well, thank the gods,' he sighed. 'Oh? And what would it be you're thanking them for?' Bahzell inquired, and Brandark grinned. 'For making roads and letting us find one. Not that I'm complaining, you understand, but this business of following you cross-country without the faintest idea where I am can worry a man.

Battles aren't always—or even usually—won by killing everybody on the other side. They're won inside the other side's brains and wills. Given the right weapons, the right tactical situation, anyone can kill an enemy. Convincing her to yield, to do what you set out to compel her to do without killing her—that's harder.