Bujold Quotes

The most important thing about quests, he decided, was not in finding what you went looking for, but in finding what you never could have imagined before you ventured forth. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

The Imperial Service could win a war without coffee, but would prefer not to have to. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

How fortunate that science hasn't cracked human immortality. It's a great blessing that we can outlive old wars. And old warriors. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Her lips thinned, but she ignored the bait. "Schedules have been moved up in all departments, you know. Claire received her new reproduction assignment. It didn't include Tony." "Reproduction assignment? You mean, having a baby?" Leo could feel his face flushing. Somewhere within him, a long-controlled steam pressure began to build. "Do you hide what you're really doing from yourselves with those weasel-words, too? And here I thought the propaganda was just for us peons." Yei started to speak, but Leo overrode her, bursting out, "Good God! Were you born inhuman, or did you grow so by degrees - M.S., M.D., Ph.D. . . ." Yei ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Those five days we were locked up together at Vasa Luigi's, that wasn't an effect of the imprisonment, was it? That's the way you really are, when you're well?"
"Pretty much," he admitted.
"I've always wondered what adult hyperactives did for a living. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Cordelia's stomach tightened. "Radnov and Darobey, by chance?" Stuben stared. "How did you know?" "Go on, just go on." "They were the ringleaders of a conspiracy to unseat that homicidal maniac Vorkosigan. Vorkosigan was after them, so they were glad to see us." "I'll bet. Just like manna from heaven." "A Barrayaran patrol shuttled down after them. We set up an ambush - stunned them all, except for one Radnov shot with a nerve disruptor. Those guys really play for keeps. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

From fried witchetty grubs to gold-plated turnips, when you're a writer you never know what's going to appear on your plate next. It keeps a woman alert, it does. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

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. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

(T)he cadet was too young to believe in death after life. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

So what's the test?"
"Ah, that's the trick of it. It's not a test. It's real life. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

The dead cannot cry out for justice; it is a duty of the living to do so for them. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Everyone has their folding-point, Miles. Their mortal vulnerability. Some just keep it in a nonstandard location. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

What is love but delight in another human being? He delights me daily. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Her smile grew bitter as desert brine. The gods may forgive Ista all day long. But if Ista does not forgive Ista, the gods may go hang themselves. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

I don't like to intellectualize about my acting. I don't sit around and study the pages of a script over and over again. ~ Genevieve Bujold

That civet-jasmine blend you're wearing tonight absolutely clashes with the third-level formal style of your dress, you know. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Dying's easy." Illyan's drawn features grew distant. How much did he remember of his agonized pleading to Miles for an easy death, so few weeks ago? "Living's hard. Let the son of a bitch stand his court-martial. Every last eternal minute of it. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

he'd looked as tall and cool as ever, but a faint panicked light in his blue eyes had put her oddly in mind of a cat that had just had an inadvertent ride in a dryer. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Women do desperately need models for power other than the maternal. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Egalitarians adjust to aristocracies just fine, as long as they get to be the aristocrats. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Cute-and-furry was always an easier sell than carapaced-and-multilegged, for some obscure reason. Grownups, so unreasonable ... ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

When you give each other everything, it becomes an even trade. Each wins all. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

There will be a ten percent surcharge for resisting arrest, ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

So, how long has my mother had this questionable fetish for bisexual Barrayaran admirals? I don't think even the Betans have earrings for that one. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

It's so obviously bogus, no one will look for a second layer of, er, bogusity. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Canaba gave Miles a cold look. "The left gastrocnemius muscle. That's where I injected my complexes. These storage virus aren't virulent; they won't have migrated far. The greatest concentration should still be there." "I see." Miles rubbed his temples, pressed his eyes. "All right. We'll take care of it. This personal contact between us is very dangerous, and I'd rather not repeat it. Plan to report to my ship in forty-eight hours. Will we have any trouble recognizing your critter?" "I don't think so. This particular specimen topped out at just over eight feet. I . . . want you to know, the fangs were not my idea." "I . . . see." "It ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Miles, when he was contemplating this technology for my future grandchildren, wanted to start twelve at once and do them all in one efficient batch. Like growing his own platoon, I gather. I offered to take turns with Ekaterin holding his head under water till he had a better idea, but as it turned out, she didn't need my help. Wonderful girl, my daughter-in-law. I still don't know what he did to deserve her. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

My Lord, we wish to resign. Her smile, confusingly, crept wider, as if she just said something delightful. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Welcome to my gates, Ista dy Chalion. I am the Mother of Jokona." Her hand lifted from the girl's head, flicked out, fingers spreading.
Within Ista, the god unfolded.
Her second sight burst anew upon Ista's mind like a dazzling lightning stroke, brilliant beyond hope, revealing an eerie landscape. She saw it all, at one glance: the dozen demons, the swirling, crackling lines of power, the agonized souls, Joen's dark, dense, writhing passenger. The thirteenth demon, spinning wildly through the air toward her, trailing its evil umbilicus.
Ista opened her jaws in a fierce grin, and took it in a gulp.
"Welcome to mine, Joen of Jokona," said Ista. "I am the Mouth of Hell. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Cordelia faced one more climb onto that torture-device for humans and horses called a saddle. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Are you sure this isn't instant boots? asked Cordelia sadly, for in color, taste, and smell they closely resembled pulverized shoe leather pressed into wafers. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

I have noticed a curious bifurcation in outcome in the way romances are written by women et written by men - Love Story, The Bridges of Madison County, every James Bond tale ever penned, even the film named above - end with the woman either lost or dead. And the man free to love, or at least to have sex, again. Romances (in the modern genre sense) written by women end with the couple alive, together, and in a committed and at least potentially fertile relationship, ready to turn to the work of their world. In other words, men's romances are about love and death; women's romances are about love and life. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Miles clutched Quinn's elbow. "Don't Panic."
"I'm not panicking," Quinn observed, "I'm watching you panic. It's more entertaining . ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

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. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

The shuttle bumped, bounced, banged, rocked, and roared out over the flat, cracked surface. She was sorry she had never made a pass at Leo. Clearly, you could die while waiting for other people to start your life for you. Her seat harness cut across her breasts as deceleration sucked her forward and the rumbling vibration rattled her teeth. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Divide the infinite future into five-minute blocks, and take them one by one. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will. And outlive the bastards. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Second sight is redundant to reason anyway. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

I don't want power. I just object to idiots having power over me. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Your father calls you to his court. You need not pack. You go garbed in glorious raiment. He waits eagerly by his palace doors to welcome you, and has prepared a place at the high table, by his side, in the company of the great-souled, honored, and best-beloved. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

It was suicide, wasn't it?" "In an involuntary sort of way," said Vorob'yev. "These Cetagandan political suicides can get awfully messy, when the principal won't cooperate." "Thirty-two stab wounds in the back, worst case of suicide they ever saw?" murmured Ivan, clearly fascinated by the gossip. "Exactly, my lord. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

I do think, half of what we call madness is just some poor slob dealing with pain by a strategy that annoys the people around him. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

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

I know what the value [of storytelling] is to me
varied and huge, giving me everything from delight, to knowledge, to access to friends and colleagues, a desirable identity through valued work, escape from pain, and a steady income. Not bad, for something so intangible as making and selling dream-by-number kits. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

I guess it just doesn't look very heroic to sneak up behind somebody and shoot them in the back. I can't help thinking it would be more efficient, though. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Miles watched the evening shadows flowing up along the backbone of the Dendarii range, high and massive in the distance. How small those mountains looked from space! Little wrinkles on the skin of a globe he could cover with his hand, all their crushing mass made invisible. Which was illusory, distance or nearness? Distance, Miles decided. Distance was a damned lie. Had his father known this? Miles suspected so. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Cordelia shook her head helplessly. "You would. A vote. Right." She buried her face in her hands a moment, and sobbed a laugh. "Why?" she asked through her fingers. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Money, power, sex ... and elephants. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

I'd storm heaven for you, if I knew where it was. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

All true wealth is biological. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

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. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

All great human deeds both consume and transform their doers. Consider an athlete,or a scientist, or an independent business creator. in service of their goals they lay down time and energy and many other choices and pleasures; in return, they become most truly themselves. A false destiny may be spotted by the fact that it consumes without transforming, without giving back the enlarged self. Becoming a parent is one of these basic human transformational deeds. By this act, we change our fundamental relationship with the universe- if nothing else, we lose our place as the pinnacle and end-point of evolution, and become a mere link. The demands of motherhood especially consume the old self, and replace it with something new, often better and wiser, sometimes wearier or disillusioned, or tense and terrified, certainly more self-knowing, but never the same again. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

You will," said Vorkosigan wearily, "sit in that fortified palace that half the engineers are going to be tied up constructing, and party in it, and let your men do your dying for you, until you've bought your ground by the sheer weight of the corpses piled on it, because that's the kind of soldiering your mentor has taught you. And then send bulletins home about your great victory. Maybe you can have the casualty lists declared top secret." "Aral, careful," warned Vorhalas, shocked. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Miles had sworn his officer's oath to the Emperor less than two weeks ago, puffed with pride at his achievement. In his secret mind he had imagined himself keeping that oath through blazing battle, enemy torture, what-have-you, even while sharing cynical cracks afterwards with Ivan about archaic dress swords and the sort of people who insisted on wearing them.

But in the dark of subtler temptations, those that hurt without heroism for consolation, he foresaw, the Emperor would no longer be the symbol of Barrayar in his heart.

Peace to you, small lady, he thought to Raina. You've won a twisted poor modern knight, to wear your favor on his sleeve. But it's a twisted poor world we were both born into, that rejects us without mercy and ejects us without consultation. At least I won't just tilt at windmills for you. I'll send in sappers to mine the twirling suckers, and blast them into the sky....

He knew who he served now. And why he could not quit. And why he must not fail. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Captain Quinn have the details, as usual?" She cocked a furry eyebrow at him. "Captain Quinn . . . will not be coming on this mission." He swore her gold eyes widened, the pupils dilating. Her lips drew back baring her fangs further in what took him a terrifying moment to realize was a smile. In a weird way, it reminded him of the grin with which Thorne had greeted that same news. She glanced up; the bay had emptied of other personnel. "Aah?" Her voice rumbled, like a purr. "Well, I'll be your bodyguard any time, lover. Just give me the sign." What sign, what the hell - She ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Arhys would have protected you from this choice, as a father would a beloved child. Arhys is wrong in this. I give you a woman's choice, here, at the last gasp. He looks to spare you pain this one night. I look to your nights for the next twenty years. There is neither right nor wrong in this, precisely. But the time to amend all choices runs out like Porifors's water. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Integrity is a disease, and you can only catch it from someone who has it. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

It had the strangest effect on my internal visualizations." She stared at the hypospray with speculative respect. "I may try it on purpose someday." I want to be there if you do. Miles had a sudden exciting vision of using the drug to augment his own insights - instant brains! - then remembered to his extreme disappointment that fast-penta didn't work like that on him. Riva ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Barrayaran warships tended to be not so much mothballed as hoarded. The eldest members of the General Staff were notorious for an attitude toward ordnance that resembled that of a famine survivor stashing foodstuffs, and perhaps for analogous reasons. Ships that most Nexus militaries would have sent directly to the scrapyards were instead tucked away to age a few more decades like dodgy food in the back of a refrigerator, out of sight, before the Staff - or more likely, its successors - was finally persuaded to give them up. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Emperors per se did not unnerve Miles ... Emperor Gregor had been raised along with Miles practically as his foster-brother; somewhere in the back of Miles's mind the term emperor was coupled with such identifiers as somebody to play hide-and-seek with. In this context those hidden assumptions could be a psychosocial land mine. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

This is important! But you have to stay absolutely cool. I may be completely off-base, and panicking prematurely."
"I don't think so. I think you're panicking post-maturely. In fact, if you were panicking any later it would be practically posthumously. I've been panicking for days. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Ethan thought he understood how a propaganda-stuffed young soldier must feel the first time in combat, stumbling by some sudden chance over his enemy's human face. He had gloried for a red moment in his power to break her. Now he stood foolishly with the pieces in his hands. Not at all heroic. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

It was never what I wanted to buy that held my heart's hope. It was what I wanted to be. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Hi, I'm a hero, but I can't tell you why. It's classified. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

When I go down into the ground at last, as God is my judge, I pray my best-beloved may have better to say of me than, "He didn't hit me." ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

He let his head rest against the crisp cloth of her uniform jacket a moment longer. She shifted, her arms reaching toward him. Was she about to hug him? If she did, Miles decided, he was going to grab her and kiss her right there. And then see what happened - Behind him, Galeni's office doors swished open. Elli and he both flinched away from each other, Elli coming to parade rest with a toss of her short dark curls, Miles just standing and cursing inwardly at the interruption. He ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

A Caligula, or a Yuri Vorbarra, can rule a long time, while the best men hesitate to do what is necessary to stop him, and the worst ones take advantage. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

I've described my usual writing process as scrambling from peak to peak on inspiration through foggy valleys of despised logic. Inspiration is better when you can get it. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

He was beginning to wonder if he was trying to rescue the dragon. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

The second ward was declared a temporary holding cell for their prisoner, the ba, who followed in the procession, bound to a float pallet. Miles scowled as the pallet drifted past, towed on its control lead by a watchful, muscular sergeant. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Endure pain, find joy, and make your own meaning, because the universe certainly isn't going to supply it. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

All true wealth is biological (Aral Vorkosigan) ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Well, what is a blessing but a curse from another point of view? ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Both. I'm on my way to bed, but I want to talk to Illyan first. Is he up yet, do you know?" "I think so. Pym just took him up his breakfast." "Breakfast in bed halfway to noon. What a life." "I think he's earned it, don't you?" "The hard way." He sucked up some more of her coffee, and rose to go upstairs. "Oh. Knock, first," she advised him as he passed the doorway. "Why?" "He's having breakfast with Alys." That explained the book; Lady Alys had delivered it. He wondered what piece of Vorish history she was making poor Illyan read. As ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Take heart, sir," Cazaril consoled him. "It is not your destiny today to win a royacy for your son. It is to win an empire for your grandson. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Lady Peace is the first hostage taken when economic discomfort rises. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

But when he's cut, I bleed. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Oh, was that liquor of yours a stimulant?" asked Elena. "I wondered why he didn't fall asleep."
"Couldn't you tell?" chuckled Mayhew.
"Not really."
Miles twisted his head to take in Elena's upside-down worried face, and smile in weak reassurance. Sparkly black and purple whirlpools clouded his vision. Mayhew's laughter faded. "My God," he said hollowly, "you mean he's like that all the time? ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

One foot in front of the other, wasn't that the grownup way of solving problems? Surely he ought to be a grownup at his age. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

That's the spirit! Forward momentum."
Mayhew snorted. "Your forward momentum is going to lead all your followers over a cliff someday." He paused, beginning to grin. "On the way down, you'll convince 'em all they can fly." He stuck his fists in his armpits, and waggled his elbows. "Lead on, my lord. I'm flapping as hard as I can. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

When the souls rise up in glory, yours shall not be shunned nor sunderered, but shall be the prize of the gods' gardens. Even your darkness shall be treasured then, and all your pain made holy. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Barrayar is bred in my bones. I cannot shake it, no matter how far I travel. This struggle, God knows, has no honor in it. But exile, for no other motive than ease - that would be to give up all hope of honor. The last defeat, with no seed of future victory in it. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

There it is! Do it or I'll have (my mother) do it for you! How's that for a threat?"
"Effective. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

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

I am not schizoid. A little manic-depressive, maybe."
"'Know thyself.'"
"We try, sir. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

I know girls who pine for it. They like to play dress-up and pretend being Vor ladies of old, rescued from menace by romantic Vor youths. For some reason they never play 'dying in childbirth', or 'vomiting your guts out from the red dysentery', or 'weaving till you go blind and crippled from arthritis and dye poisoning', or 'infanticide'. Well, they do die romantically of disease sometimes, but somehow it's always an illness that makes you interestingly pale and everyone sorry and doesn't involve losing bowel control. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

A true Vor, Miles told himself severely, does not bury his face in his liegewoman's breasts and cry
even if he is at a convenient height for it. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Hey, let's try speed-starting the fire with an infusion of pure oxygen! Because inside every senior tech officer was a junior tech officer who'd been on a short leash for a long time. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

There will be grace and forgiveness enough, old dog, even for you. I pray you will spare me a drink from that cup, when it overflows for you.
- Miles Vorkosigan ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Never argue with a pedant over nomenclature. It wastes your time and annoys the pedant. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Everybody has it wrong way round. Parents don't make children
children make parents. They shape our behavior from the first wail. Mold us into what they need. It can be a pretty rough process, too ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

I had never had a direct experience of the holy in my life, for all that I tried to serve my god as seemed best to me, according to my gifts as we are taught. Except for Hallana. She was the only miracle that ever happened to me. The woman seems vastly oversupplied with gods. At one point, I accused her of having stolen my share, and she accused me of marrying her solely to sustain a proper average. The gods walk through her dreams as though strolling in a garden. I just have dreams of running lost through my old seminary, with no clothes, late for an examination of a class I did not know I had, and the like. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

The gods give no gifts without hooks embedded. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

I had to discover and teach myself all kinds of tricks to get people to respond to the inside of me, and not the outside. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Royse Bergon: "I've seen your integrity in action. It ... widened my world. I'd been raised by my father, who is a prudent, cautious man, always looking for men's hidden, selfish motivations. No one can cheat him. But I've seen him cheat himself. If you understand what I mean."
Caz: "Yes."
R.B.: "It was very foolish of you to attack that vile Roknari galley-man."
Caz: "Yes."
R.B.: "And yet, I think, given the same circumstances you would do it again."
Caz: "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."
R.B: "What is this astonishing foolishness, that shines brighter than all my father's gold? Can you teach me to be such a fool, too, Caz?"
Caz: "Oh," "I'm sure of it. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

If only the president hadn't tried to dodge, he would have been all right. As it was, the toe of her jackboot caught him in the groin with perfect unplanned accuracy. His mouth made a soundless "O" and he went down behind the rostrum. Cordelia, ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Very good. But your most insidious chronic problem is in the area of . . . how shall I put this precisely . . . subordination. You argue too much." "No, I don't," Miles began indignantly, then shut his mouth. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

When the time came to leap in faith, whether you had your eyes open or closed or screamed all the way down or not made no practical difference. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Read, or you will be missing something extraordinary. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

He wanted to know what I saw in you. I told him ... " he paused again, and then continued almost shyly, "that you poured out honor like a fountain, all around you."
"That's weird. I don't feel full of honor, or anything else, except maybe confusion."
"Naturally not. Fountains keep nothing for themselves. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold