Christopher G. Nuttall Quotes

Defending the United States was important and there were few higher honours, yet ... was it worth making such a commitment when one's political leaders were worse than the enemy?

The more divorced from practical reality any given theory is, the greater its fascination for those who are also divorced from reality.

She was so sick of hearing that excuse. Bullying was tolerated because bullying made its victims stronger, determined to fight back ... she loathed that logic.

Most people are idiots

As power and responsibility become ever more separated, those with power will act in an increasingly irresponsible fashion, perhaps even neglecting the very source of their power. Why should they not? Surely, they think, their power lies apart from any responsibility.

But if you grow up in a society which is rotten to the core, where you can cheerfully ignore the rules if you have power and status, where your superiors will screw you over if they happen to need a scapegoat . . . you wind up with very little respect for those rules.

Concentrate on the here and now. The future can take care of itself.

William glanced at the captain. The way she sat suggested she was tense - and that she disliked the princess on sight. William wasn't sure why, but he knew that women tended to pick up on subtle points men missed. Or maybe she just felt dowdy when compared to the princess.

the questions a person asked often taught the hearer more about that person than they might realise.

Prior to the First Battle of Zion, it was commonly believed that aliens would be peaceful, rather than being just as violent as humanity. When the Zion Defense Force encountered alien starships emerging from a previously undiscovered Asimov Point in the Zion System, they allowed themselves to be suckered into a position that allowed the Snakes to obliterate the entire force with ease.

There was no reason to deny humans the benefits of human civilisation, no matter what warlords, kings, emperors and even elected politicians thought about it. A society so primitive that it used gold as a means of exchange and practised the slave trade, didn't deserve to exist.

They're politicians," her father pointed out dryly. "A good grip on reality isn't part of the job description.

The federal government hated it when people tried to move outside its sphere of control, no matter the reason. It was incapable of leaving people alone, even if they weren't causing trouble or doing anything more than keeping themselves to themselves.

He knew from his own studies that if a child wasn't taught right and wrong from a very early age, the behaviour would never truly improve.

...they're currently planning to ram something unpleasant up our buttocks, probably a dildo covered in chili.

One of the most dangerous signs of decline is the sudden reluctance to tolerate different points of view in political debate. Questions and issues that were discussed freely are suddenly forbidden, limiting the realm of political science. The reluctance to question the fundamental basis of our culture and society is, in itself, crippling free enquiry and freedom of speech.

Romeo was meant to be the villain.

His more cynical side suspected that humans had never really needed an excuse to pick on other humans.

that even the best tracker couldn't find the caster

there would always be incompetent assholes in the world ... and many of them would be in places of power.

War was a democracy, he knew. The enemy got a vote too.