Quotes from Brothers in Arms

“The will to be stupid is a very powerful force, but there are always alternatives.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Brothers in Arms

“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, quote from Brothers in Arms

“No, no, never send interim reports," said Miles. "Only final ones. Interim reports tend to elicit orders. Which you must then either obey, or spend valuable time and energy evading, which you could be using to solve the problem.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Brothers in Arms

“The man who assumes everything is a lie is at least as mistaken as the one who assumes everything is true.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Brothers in Arms

“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, quote from Brothers in Arms

“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, quote from Brothers in Arms

“. . . people do get hypnotized by the hard choices. And stop looking for alternatives.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Brothers in Arms

“The will to be stupid is a very powerful force—”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Brothers in Arms

“Some attitudes couldn't be changed, they just had to be outlived”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Brothers in Arms

“I know my limits." "No one knows their limits till they've gone beyond them.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Brothers in Arms

“You make yourself sound like a Venn diagram. ‘The set of all sets which are members of themselves’ or something.” “I feel like it,” he admitted. “But I’ve got to keep track somehow.” “What contains Lord Vorkosigan?” she asked curiously. “When you look in the mirror when you step out of the shower, what looks back? Do you say to yourself, Hi, Lord Vorkosigan?” I avoid looking in mirrors . . . “Miles, I guess. Just Miles.” “And what contains Miles?” His right index finger traced over the back of his immobilized left hand. “This skin.” “And that’s the last, outer perimeter?” “I guess.” “Gods,” she muttered. “I’ve fallen in love with a man who thinks he’s an onion.” Miles”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Brothers in Arms

“We’re just good friends,” caroled Miles, and laughed hysterically. He lunged for the comconsole—the guards grabbed for him and missed—and, climbing across the desk, snarled into the vid, “Stay away from her, you little shit! She’s mine, you hear, mine, mine, all mine—Quinn, Quinn, beautiful Quinn, Quinn of the evening, beautiful Quinn,” he sang off-key as the guards dragged him back. Blows ran him down into silence. “I thought you had him on fast-penta,” said the clone to Galen. “We do.” “It doesn’t sound like fast-penta!”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Brothers in Arms

“How does a kidnapping grab you?” She giggled inexplicably. “Absolutely not!” “Oh, you’re going to make an exception in this case,” she predicted with confidence, even verve. “Elli . . .” he growled in warning. She controlled her humor with a deep breath, though her eyes remained alight. “But Miles—our mysterious and wealthy strangers want to hire Admiral Naismith to kidnap Lord Miles Vorkosigan from the Barrayaran embassy.” *”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Brothers in Arms

“The door was locked. The control had been buggered. Miles ripped it apart, shorted it out, and heaved the door open manually, nearly snapping his splayed fingers. She lay in a tumbled heap, too pale and still. Miles fell to his knees beside her. Throat pulse, throat pulse—there was one. Her skin was warm, her chest rose and fell. Stunned, only stunned. Only stunned. He looked up at a blurred Ivan hovering anxiously, swallowed, and steadied his ragged breathing. It had, after all, been the most logical possibility.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Brothers in Arms

“Mon Dieu, it’s the little admiral,” she said cheerfully. “What are you doing here?” Ignoring the anguished scream inside his skull, Miles schooled his features to an—exquisitely—polite blankness. “I beg your pardon, ma’am?” “Admiral Naismith. Or . . .” She took in his uniform, her eyes lighting with interest. “Is this some mercenary covert operation, Admiral?” A beat passed. Miles allowed his eyes to widen, his hand to stray to his weaponless trouser seam and twitch there. “My God,” he choked in a voice of horror—not hard, that—“Do you mean to tell me Admiral Naismith has been seen on Earth?” Her chin lifted, and her lips parted in a little half-smile of disbelief. “In your mirror, surely.” Were his eyebrows visibly singed? His right hand was still bandaged. Not a burn, ma’am, Miles thought wildly. I cut it shaving . . . Miles came to full attention, snapping his polished boot heels together, and favored her with a small, formal bow. In a proud, hard, and thickly Barrayaran-accented voice, he said, “You are mistaken, ma’am. I am Lord Miles Vorkosigan of Barrayar. Lieutenant in the Imperial Service. Not that I don’t aspire to the rank you name, but it’s a trifle premature.” She smiled sweetly. “Are you entirely recovered from your burns, sir?” Miles’s eyebrows rose—no, he shouldn’t have drawn attention to them—“Naismith’s been burned? You have seen him? When? Can we speak of this? The man you name is of the greatest interest to Barrayaran Imperial Security.” She”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Brothers in Arms

“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, quote from Brothers in Arms

“People do get hypnotized by the hard choices and stop looking at the alternatives. The will to be stupid is a powerful force”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Brothers in Arms

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“Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts! Unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top full
Of direst cruelty; make thick my blood,
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
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Wherever in your sightless substances
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And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor Heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
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“ومن ثم لم يعد يصدق ما يراه وراح يعتقد أن الحياة الحقيقية للفرد، أن الحياة الممتعة حقا هي التي تجري في الخفاء وتحت ستار من الليل. والحقيقة أن كل حياة فردية محفوفة بالأسرار ، وربما كان هذا هو السبب الرئيسي في أن جميع المثقفين يلحون كل الالحاح في المطالبة باحترام الأسرار الشخصية”
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