“I've got forward momentum. There's no virtue in it. It's just a balancing act. I don't dare stop.”
Source: Vorkosigan Saga, The Warrior's Apprentice (1986)
Lois McMaster Bujold:
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Lois McMaster Bujold Quotes
Vorkosigan Saga, Barrayar (1991)
Source: Cordelia's Honor
Context: Welcome to Barrayar, son. Here you go: have a world of wealth and poverty, wrenching change and rooted history. Have a birth; have two. Have a name. Miles means "soldier," but don't let the power of suggestion overwhelm you. Have a twisted form in a society that loathes and fears the mutations that have been its deepest agony. Have a title, wealth, power, and all the hatred and envy they will draw. Have your body ripped apart and re-arranged. Inherit an array of friends and enemies you never made. Have a grandfather from hell. Endure pain, find joy, and make your own meaning, because the universe certainly isn't going to supply it. Always be a moving target. Live. Live. Live.
“If the truth doesn't save us, what does that say about us?”
Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Diplomatic Immunity (2002)
Source: The Vor Game
Variant: "Don't panic."
"I'm not panicking, I'm watching you panic. It's more entertaining."
Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Brothers in Arms (1989)
“Experience suggests it doesn't matter so much how you got here, as what you do after you arrive.”
Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Barrayar (1991)
Source: Paladin of Souls (2003), p. 44
“The Imperial Service could win a war without coffee, but would prefer not to have to.”
Source: Captain Vorpatril's Alliance
Vorkosigan Saga, The Warrior's Apprentice (1986)
Source: Young Miles
“I am not a fate worse than death, dammit!”
Source: Captain Vorpatril's Alliance
“If power was an illusion, wasn't weakness necessarily one also?”
Source: Vorkosigan Saga, A Civil Campaign (1999)
Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Barrayar (1991)
“Poets speak of hope in ladies smiles, but give me a smirk any day, I say.”
Source: Paladin of Souls
Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Memory (1996)
Context: "You go on. You just go on. There's nothing more to it, and there's no trick to make it easier. You just go on."
"And what do you find on the other side? When you go on?"
"Your life again. What else?"
"Is that a promise?"
"It's an inevitability. No trick. No choice. You just go on."
“Do it for yourself. The universe will be around to collect its cut later.”
Vorkosigan Saga, Mirror Dance (1994)
“The good face pain. But the great — they embrace it.”
Vorkosigan Saga, Shards of Honor (1986)
Source: Shards of Honour
“Aren't family squabbles jolly fun? Bleeding ulcers run in my family, we give them to each other.”
Vorkosigan Saga, The Mountains of Mourning (1989)
Source: Borders of Infinity
Vorkosigan Saga, Shards of Honor (1986)
Source: Shards of Honour
“I don't confuse greatness with perfection. To be great anyhow is…the higher achievement.”
Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Mirror Dance (1994)
“Forward momentum only worked as a strategy if one had correctly identified which way was forward.”
Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Komarr (1998), Chapter 16 (p. 268)
Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Barrayar (1991)
Source: Vorkosigan Saga, The Warrior's Apprentice (1986)
Source: World of the Five Gods series, Paladin of Souls (2003), p. 295
Vorkosigan Saga, Mirror Dance (1994)
Source: World of the Five Gods series, Paladin of Souls (2003), p. 281
“The cream pie of justice flies one way.”
Vorkosigan Saga, The Vor Game (1990)
Source: World of the Five Gods series, The Curse of Chalion (2000), p. 433
“I'm just dazzled by the glittering tinsel of neo-fascism.”
Vorkosigan Saga, Brothers in Arms (1989)
Vorkosigan Saga, Borders of Infinity (1989)
“What you are is a question only you can answer.”
Vorkosigan Saga, The Warrior's Apprentice (1986)
Source: World of the Five Gods series, The Curse of Chalion (2000), p. 333
“We don't just march on the future, we charge it.”
Vorkosigan Saga, The Vor Game (1990)
“"Is this guy for real?"
"He thinks he's faking it, but he's not."”
Vorkosigan Saga, Borders of Infinity (1989)
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