“Some people grow into their dreams, instead of out of them.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Komarr
“All the geniuses I ever met were so just part of the time. To qualify, you only have to be great once, you know. Once when it matters.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Komarr
“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, quote from Komarr
“So the difference between a criminal and a hero is the order in which their vile crimes are committed. And justice comes with a sell-by date. In that case, you’d better hurry. You wouldn't want your heroism to spoil.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Komarr
“It’s just a thing. You deal with it."
"As in, one damn thing after another?"
"Yes, very like.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Komarr
“There is a sad disconnectedness that overcomes a library when its owner is gone.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Komarr
“like swatting flies with a laser cannon. The aim's a bit tricky, but it sure takes care of the flies.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Komarr
“He’s not so short,” said Ekaterin defensively. “He’s just . . . concentrated.” Her”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Komarr
“If only you were willing to betray a trust, why, the most amazing range of possible actions opened up to you.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Komarr
“Once you had delegated the best people to do a job for you, you had to trust both them and your judgment. What”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Komarr
“She turned for her kitchen, mentally revising her planned family dinner to include a Vor lord from the Imperial capital. White wine? Her limited experience of the breed suggested that if you could get them sufficiently sloshed, it wouldn't matter what you fed them.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Komarr
“You had a jumpship and you gave it away?” Nikki’s eyes widened in astonishment. “Do you have any more?” “Not at present. Oh, look, a General-class cruiser.” Miles reached for it. “My father commanded one of those, once, I believe. Do you have any Betan Survey ships . . . ?” Heads bent together, they laid out the little fleet on the floor. Nikki, Miles was pleased to find, was well-up on all the tech-specs of every ship he owned; he expanded wonderfully, his voice, formerly shy around Miles-the-weird-adult-stranger, growing louder and faster in his unselfconscious enthusiasm as he detailed his machinery. Miles’s stock rose as he was able to claim personal acquaintance with nearly a dozen of the originals for the models, and add a few interesting nonclassified jumpship anecdotes to Nikki’s already impressive fund of knowledge.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Komarr
“Or that they believed you would not be here to inflict the consequences,” said Ekaterin. Had they meant Vorkosigan to die, too? Or . . . what? “Oh, nice. That’s reassuring.” He bit rather aggressively into the last of his sandwich. She rested her chin on her hand and regarded him with wry curiosity. “Does ImpSec know you babble like this?”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Komarr
“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, quote from Komarr
“You think he's a genius?" she said, raising her eyebrows. The high Vor twit? "I don't know him quite well enough, yet. But I suspect so, a part of the time." "Can you be a genius part of the time?" "All the geniuses I ever met were so just part of the time. To qualify, you only have to be great once, you know. Once when it matters. Ah, dessert. My, this is splendid!" He applied himself happily to a large chocolate confection with whipped cream and more pecans.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Komarr
“His avid look made her feel not beautiful and loved, but ugly and ashamed. How could you be violated by mere eyes? How could you be lovers with someone, and yet feel every moment alone with them intruded upon your privacy, your dignity?”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Komarr
“She also discovered that he was attracted by the dreadful, among the galactic wares cramming the narrow shops into which they ducked. He actually appeared to seriously consider for several minutes what was claimed to be a genuine twentieth-century reproduction lamp, of Jacksonian manufacture, consisting of a sealed glass vessel containing two immiscible liquids which slowly rose and fell in the convection currents. “It looks just like red blood corpuscles floating in plasma,” Vorkosigan opined, staring in fascination at the under-lit blobs. “But as a wedding present?” she choked, half amused, half appalled. “What kind of message would people take it for?” “It would make Gregor laugh,” he replied. “Not a gift he gets much. But you’re right, the wedding present proper needs to be, er, proper. Public and political, not personal.” With a regretful sigh, he returned the lamp to its shelf. After another moment, he changed his mind again, bought it, and had it shipped. “I’ll get him another present for the wedding. This can be for his birthday.” After”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Komarr
Lois McMaster Bujold
Born place: in Columbus, Ohio, The United States
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“More data—such as paying attention to the eye colors of the people around when crossing the street—can make you miss the big truck.”
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb, quote from Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
“I don't keep mistresses; it's far too much trouble. I'm offering to marry you, although I might regret it. And if you think the Lim family disapproved of your marriage, wait until you meet mine.”
― Yangsze Choo, quote from The Ghost Bride
“Cece was all I had. Without her, I’d be totally alone in the world.
Oh, God. I probed her gentle face, her receptive dream state. What would I do without you?
Stop it, my brain screamed. She’s here with you now. Thats what matters.
I took a deep breath to quell my anxiety. Try to. I needed her. Cece was a part of me now. The me that felt solid and sure and strong. She was the one thing in my life that kept me going, made me happy.
And that happiness hadn't come without a price. I'd given up a lot to be with Cece: my home, friends, family. Maybe even my future family. Plus this sense of belonging I’d always had. The sense of fitting in, knowing where I stood. It might not be so bad if could be like her. Out. Proud. With a new place of belonging in the gay community. With new friends. A new family.
But what I’d lost was insignificant compared to what I’d found. Me. The missing part of myself. And Cece. Knowing love. Being loved.
“Please, God," I whispered into the night. “Let me be loved.”
Beside me, Cece whimpered a little and rolled onto her side. She snaked an arm around my hip and pulled me close. Cece gave me life, she nurtured me, and I burrowed into the warm cocoon of her. –Ch.22”
― Julie Anne Peters, quote from Keeping You a Secret
“You make everything all right for me, Anita. You make me feel like a human being instead of a monster.’
'And you love all of me, Micah, every last hard-boiled, ruthless bit of me. You make it okay that sometimes I am the monster.”
― Laurell K. Hamilton, quote from Micah
“Sometimes it has to feel worse before it feels better.”
― Carol Plum-Ucci, quote from What Happened to Lani Garver
Hot Six
Captain's Fury
The Secret
The Sea
Blue-Eyed Devil
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