Steven Brust Quotes (18 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

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Athyra

Steven Brust

Steven Brust: 18 quotes 0 likes

Famous Steven Brust Quotes

“The struggle is always worthwhile, if the end be worthwhile and the means honorable; foreknowledge of defeat is not sufficient reason to withdraw from the contest.”

Steven Brust

“One man's mistake is another man's opportunity.”

Steven Brust

“I'm told I'm very charming when people do what I want.”

Steven Brust book Tiassa

Source: Tiassa

“Most people seem to take pleasure in feeling superior to someone. I'm not like that, which pleases me because it makes me feel superior.”

Steven Brust book Jhegaala

Source: Jhegaala

“Always speak politely to an enraged dragon.”

Steven Brust book Jhereg

Source: Jhereg

“Everybody generalizes from one example. At least, I do.”

Steven Brust

Steven Brust Quotes about thinking

“All literature consists of whatever the writer thinks is cool. The reader will like the book to the degree that he agrees with the writer about what’s cool.”

Steven Brust

Source: The Paths of the Dead

“Why do you work so hard to make yourself disliked? I should think you'd find it happens enough on its own without putting yourself to any extra trouble.”

Steven Brust book Tiassa

Tiassa ( 2011) (goodreads) http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/13578278

“Stalin is the perfect example of what I was talking about. To simply call him corrupt tells us nothing useful. What circumstances put him into power? What objective pressures, as well as subjective characteristics, led him to make the decisions he made? I'm currently reading Trotsky's writings from 1932 (scary how accurately he predicts the way WWII would play out), and analyzing the details of why Stalin did as he did is far more complex and useful than just, 'power corrupts.'
And it is even more true for the other great dictators of the 20th Century: I don’t think you can even say that Hitler and Mussolini were corrupt: they came to power in order to do the very things they did.”

Steven Brust

"Truisms rot brains; absolute truisms rot brains absolutely" (9 August 2010) http://dreamcafe.com/words/2010/08/09/truisms-rot-brains-absolute-truisms-rot-brains-absolutely/
The Dream Café

Steven Brust Quotes

“To seek understanding before taking action, yet to trust my instincts when action is called for.”

Steven Brust

Paths of the Dead (2002)
Context: To seek understanding before taking action, yet to trust my instincts when action is called for. Never to avoid danger from fear, never to seek out danger for its own sake. Never to conform to fashion from fear of eccentricity, never to be eccentric from fear of conformity.

Understanding

“Never to conform to fashion from fear of eccentricity, never to be eccentric from fear of conformity.”

Steven Brust

Fear , Fashion

“It isn't always easy to act on what's in your head instead of what's in your heart. And it isn't always right to.”

Steven Brust book Athyra

Athyra (1993)
Context: It isn't always easy to act on what's in your head instead of what's in your heart. And it isn't always right to. The whole trick to knowing what to do is deciding when to make yourself listen to your head, and when it's okay to just follow your feelings.

Heart

“No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style.”

Steven Brust

“A stupid person can make only certain, limited types of errors; the mistakes open to a clever fellow are far broader.”

Steven Brust book Iorich

Source: Iorich (2010), p. 172 
Context: A stupid person can make only certain, limited types of errors; the mistakes open to a clever fellow are far broader. But to the one who knows how smart he is compared to everyone else, the possibilities for true idiocy are boundless.

Stupidity , Error , Personality

“I’ve heard it said: ‘By his home you shall know him’; and we all know that we must pay attention to anyone who reverses the subject and auxiliary verb in his sentence.”

Steven Brust book Issola

Source: Issola

Home

“When there's nothing you can do except worry, that's a good time to worry.”

Steven Brust

Kiera the Thief, in Orca (1996), Ch. 14

Time

“Still, all this time, I was only barely aware that my subconscious was putting together a layout of the house. It wasn't that I expected to need one, it's just how my mind works. I am, quite frankly, very good at it, and maybe that's where the real pleasure comes in — just the joy of doing something you do well. There are worse reasons for doing things; maybe there aren't any better ones.”

Steven Brust

Kiera the Thief, in Orca (1996), Ch. 9