Quotes from Timothy Zahn

What about you, Commander? Why do *you* seek higher rank?' It was a question many had asked over the years. Thrawn had asked it of himself. The answer never seemed to satisfy the questioner. 'Because there are problems that must be solved. Some cannot be solved by anyone except me.

But Lando was a gambler. A true gambler never folded when he still had cards left to play.

One whose path has taken a new turn is often initially disoriented. But as time passes, and the path continues steadily in its new direction, there is a tendency to believe that it will remain so forever, with no further turns.

His chief failing is a lack of curiosity." "I'd have said no imagination." "All beings possess imagination to varying degrees," Thrawn said. "It can be encouraged and nurtured, or can sometimes shine out in moments of stress. But curiosity is a choice. Some wish to have it. Others don't.

But Imperial stormtroopers were something else entirely. He and the others had survived a couple of brief encounters with them aboard the Death Star, but even at the time he'd had the feeling the Imperials had been taken by surprise and weren't operating at full efficiency. Now, of course, he knew that Tarkin and Vader had deliberately allowed the Falcon and its crew to escape so they could track it to Yavin 4.

And for the first time in five years, Pellaeon finally knew in the deepest level of his being that the old Empire was gone. The new Empire, with Grand Admiral Thrawn at its head, had been born.

One spoke to him in person, or one did not speak to him at all.

I said no, Jimmy said. His voice quavered slightly under the blazing heat of her glare, but his words were as solid as a sealant weld. Captain Smith says it's wrong. And I say it's right, Kulasawa snapped. Why listen to him instead of me? Because he's my boss. Jimmy looked at me. And because I trust him. He turned back to Kulasawa. And because he's never needed a gun to tell me what to do.

Chiss eyes were a bit better than those of humans, their visible spectrum edging a bit into the infrared. Apparently, their ears were better, too.

what most people call luck is often little more than raw talent combined with the ability to make the most of opportunities.

It's an Imperial attack, she said. Oh, he said. Can they do that? We're at war, she reminded him patiently. In war you can do just about anything the other side can't stop you from doing. How did you get in here, anyway? Oh, I cut myself an entry code a while back, he said, waving a vague hand, his eyes still on the tactical. Haven't had much to do lately. Can't you stop them? We're certainly going to try, Leia said grimly.

I know something about a lot of things, she countered evenly. That's why you're grooming me to be your lieutenant, remember? - Mara Jade

History is on the move, Captain. Those who cannot keep up will be left behind, to watch from a distance

With none of Vader's backstory available at the time, and having just invented the Noghri species for this story, I came up with the idea that Vader might have designed his mask to look like a stylized version of a Noghri face, the better to facilitate his command of the death commando squads.

But Mount Tantiss was gone, destroyed by agents of the New Republic and C'baoth's own madness and treason. And Grand Admiral Thrawn was dead. And the Empire was dying.

The side effects of combat can be unpredictable.

Yes," Vader said, frowning. "Are you suggesting I was wrong?

Mara Ã¢â'¬Â¦ will you marry me?

The fear of the violent and the lawless is no less a tyranny than the edicts that come from the Emperor's throne.

the way an Ugnaught gets to be an old Ugnaught is by being smart.

Jedi Skywalker; remember it well. For if you allow your justice to be forgotten, you will be forced to repeat the same lessons again and again." He held Luke's gaze

Jedi Skywalker; remember it well. For if you allow your justice to be forgotten, you will be forced to repeat the same lessons again and again." He held Luke's gaze a pair

And in that single crackle of tortured electronics she had lost everything. Her comm, her lights, her limited maneuvering jets, her life support regulator, her emergency beacons. Everything. For a second her thoughts flickered to Skywalker. He'd been lost in deep space, too, awhile back. But she'd had a reason to find him. No one had a similar reason to find her.

lawyers and soldiers came out of the same expensive box. If you couldn't settle things without them, you weren't going to like what it cost to settle things with them.