“A mercenary who can’t honor his contract when it’s rough as well as smooth is a thug, not a soldier.”

—  Lois McMaster Bujold , Vorkosigan Saga

Source: Chapter 13 (pp. 221-222) Vorkosigan Saga, The Warrior's Apprentice (1986)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "A mercenary who can’t honor his contract when it’s rough as well as smooth is a thug, not a soldier." by Lois McMaster Bujold?
Lois McMaster Bujold photo
Lois McMaster Bujold 383
Science Fiction and fantasy author from the USA 1949

Related quotes

Eric Hoffer photo

“The Renaissance was a time of mercenary soldiers, ours is a time of mercenary labor.”

Eric Hoffer (1898–1983) American philosopher

Before the Sabbath (1979)

Abraham Lincoln photo

“Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country's cause. Honor, also, to the citizen who cares for his brother in the field and serves, as he best can, the same cause.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
Voltaire photo

“The first who was king was a fortunate soldier:
Who serves his country well has no need of ancestors.”

Voltaire Mérope

Le premier qui fut roi fut un soldat heureux:
Qui sert bien son pays n'a pas besoin d'aïeux.
Mérope, act I, scene III (1743). Borrowed from Lefranc de Pompignan's "Didon"
Citas

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield photo

“Manners must adorn knowledge, and smooth its way through the world. Like a great rough diamond, it may do very well in a closet by way of curiosity, and also for its intrinsic value.”

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) British statesman and man of letters

1 July 1748
Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774)

Roberto Bolaño photo

“When people read his books they have an uncontrollable desire to hang the author in the town square. I can’t think of a higher honor for a writer.”

Roberto Bolaño (1953–2003) Chilean author
Philo photo

“This too is a truth well known to everyone who has taken even a slight hold of culture, that freedom is an honorable thing, and slavery a disgraceful thing, and that honorable things are associated with good men and disgraceful things with bad men. Hence, it clearly follows that no person of true worth is a slave, though threatened by a host of claimants who produce contracts to prove their ownership.”

Philo (-15–45 BC) Roman philosopher

136.
Every Good Man is Free

Don DeLillo photo

“The cheesecake was smooth and lush, with the personality of a warm and well-to-do uncle who knows a hundred dirty jokes and will die of sexual exertions in the arms of his mistress.”

Don DeLillo Underworld

Source: Underworld

Glen Cook photo

“It is not necessarily for mercenary soldiers to know what is going on. It is sufficient for them to do the job for which they have taken the gold. That had been drummed into me from the moment I enlisted. There is neither right nor wrong, neither good nor evil, only our side and theirs. The honor of the company lies within, directed one brother toward another. Without, honor lies only in keeping faith with the sponsor.”

Glen Cook book Shadow Games

Source: Shadow Games (1989), Chapter 28, “Back to Scouting” (p. 148)

“You can’t play the role of thug all over the galaxy and not store up in the subconscious a fine line of private fears and remembered enemies.”

Andre Norton book Storm Over Warlock

Source: Storm Over Warlock (1960), Chapter 18, “Storm’s Ending” (p. 198)

George S. Patton photo

“Fail to honor people, They fail to honor you; But of a good leader, who talks little, When his work is done, his aims fulfilled, They will all say, We did this ourselves.”

George S. Patton (1885–1945) United States Army general

This is actually a translation of a statement by Lao Zi from the Tao Te Ching (Daodejing). Patton may have used a similar or identical expression, perhaps quoting the book.
Misattributed

Related topics