Quotes from Ship Breaker

Paolo Bacigalupi ·  326 pages

Rating: (35.8K votes)


“Killing isn't free. It takes something out of you every time you do it. You get their life; they get a piece of your soul. It's always a trade.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, quote from Ship Breaker


“I'm a chess piece. A pawn,' she said. 'I can be sacrificed, but I cannot be captured. To be captured would be the end of the game.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, quote from Ship Breaker


“It’s human nature to tear one another apart. Be glad you come from such a successful line of killers.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, quote from Ship Breaker


“Crew up, Nailer!" Lucky Girl shouted. "You think I'm going to pull your ass up here like a damn swank?”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, quote from Ship Breaker


“Family. It was just a word…Could see its letters all strung together. But it was a symbol, too. And people thought they knew what it meant…It was a thing everyone had an opinion about—that it was all you had when you didn’t have anything else, that family was there, that blood was thicker than water, whatever. But when Nailer thought about it, most of these words and ideas just seemed like good excuses for people to behave badly and get away with it. Family wasn’t more reliable than marriages or friendships…maybe less…The blood bond was nothing. It was the people that mattered. If they covered your back, and you covered theirs, then maybe that was worth calling family.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, quote from Ship Breaker



“Her whispering lips brushed his ear.
She was praying. Soft begging words to Ganesha and the Buddha, to Kali-Mary Mercy and the Christian God...she was praying to anything at all, begging the Fates to let her walk from the shadow of death. Pleas spilled from her lips, a desperate trickle. She was broken, soon to die, but still the words slipped out in a steady whisper. Tum Karuna ke saagar Tum palankarta hail Mary full of grace Ajahn Chan Bodhisattva, release me from suffering...
He drew away. Her fingers slipped from his cheek like orchid petals falling.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, quote from Ship Breaker


“You're afraid to gamble even when you're already dead”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, quote from Ship Breaker


“She was too smart for his own good.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, quote from Ship Breaker


“We waste all our money throwing dice, trying to get close to Luck, trying to get the big win... To help us find something we can keep for ourselves.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, quote from Ship Breaker


“It was one of those things everyone had an opinion about—that it was what you had when you didn’t have anything else, that family was always there, that blood was thicker than water, whatever. But when Nailer thought about it, most of those words and ideas just seemed like good excuses for people to behave badly and think they could get away with it. Family wasn’t any more reliable than marriages or friendships or blood-sworn crew, and maybe less.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, quote from Ship Breaker



“That’s what the pig in the pen says when his brother gets knifed for dinner.” He shrugged. “You’re still in the pen. Still gonna die.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, quote from Ship Breaker


“Half-men don’t fight like people. More like hurricanes.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, quote from Ship Breaker


“Family wasn’t any more reliable than marriages or friendships or blood-sworn crew, and maybe less.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, quote from Ship Breaker


“He was going to drown, but hey, he could read.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, quote from Ship Breaker


“The blood bond was nothing. It was the people that mattered. If they covered your back, and you covered theirs, then maybe that was worth calling family. Everything else was just so much smoke and lies.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, quote from Ship Breaker



“Blood is not destiny, no matter what others may believe.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, quote from Ship Breaker


Video

About the author

Paolo Bacigalupi
Born place: The United States
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Horror gives place to wonder at your true account;
The rest outstrips our comprehension; we give up.”
― Aeschylus, quote from The Oresteia


“How could you miss it? Just the sound of her voice makes my chest feel tight, and my face gets hot and my mouth goes dry whenever she's near. It's getting so bad, all I have to do is see her and I'm already thinking, what does she want? What can I do for her? She's got some power over me, there's no question, and what else could it be?
There was a heavy pause, then Enna burst out laughing. Finn smiled at his boots.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from River Secrets


“It is significant ..... that the English regard slackness as a vice. We, on the other hand, should vastly prefer it to tension. Is there not too much tension in the world at present, and might it not be better if more people were slackers?”
― James Hilton, quote from Lost Horizon


“I’m tired and bitchy and all I want is some sleep so cuddle your ass up with me or so help me I will kill you.”
― R.L. Mathewson, quote from Playing for Keeps


“When she emerged, Keith was watching the tiny round window of the under-the-counter washing machine.
"Put your clothes in for a wash," he said. "They were disgusting."
Ginny always thought that the only way of getting clothes clean was by drowning them in scalding water and then whipping them around in a violent centrifugal motion that caused the entire washing machine to vibrate and the floor to shake. You beat them clean. You made them suffer. This machine used about half a cup of water and was about as violent as a toaster, plus it stopped every few minutes, as if it were exhausted from the effort of turning itself.
Sluff, sluff, sluff sluff. Rest. Rest. Rest.
Click.
Sluff, sluff, sluff, sluff. Rest. Rest. Rest.
"Who thought to put a window on a washing machine?" Keith asked. "Does anyone just sit and watch their wash?"
You mean, besides us?"
"Well," he said, "yeah. Is there any coffee?”
― Maureen Johnson, quote from 13 Little Blue Envelopes


Interesting books

The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily
(1K)
The Love Letters of...
by Laura Creedle
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
(110.3K)
Surely You're Joking...
by Richard Feynman
El asesinato de Roger Ackroyd
(96.6K)
El asesinato de Roge...
by Agatha Christie
The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde
(462)
The Last Testament o...
by Peter Ackroyd
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
(9.4K)
12 Rules for Life: A...
by Jordan B. Peterson
The Blindfold
(2.3K)
The Blindfold
by Siri Hustvedt

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.