91 Quotes & Sayings By Lois Mcmaster Bujold

Think of the glory. Think of your reputation. Think how great it'll look on your next resume." On my cenotaph, you mean. Nobody will be able to collect enough of my scattered atoms to bury. You going to cover my funeral expenses, son?" Splendidly. Banners, dancing girls, and enough beer to float your coffin to Valhalla."- Miles coaxing Ky Tung to agree to an almost suicidal mission Lois McMaster Bujold

Lakewalker legends say the gods abandoned the world when the first malice came. And that they will return when the earth is entirely cleansed of its spawn. If you believe in gods."" Do you?"" I believe they are not here, yes. It's a faith of sorts. Lois McMaster Bujold

In mysticism, knowledge cannot be separated from a certain way of life which becomes its living manifestation. To acquire mystical knowledge means to undergo a transformation; one could even say that the knowledge is the transformation. Scientific knowledge, on the other hand, can often stay abstract and theoretical. Thus most of today’s physicists do not seem to realize the philosophical, cultural and spiritual implications of their theories. . Lois McMaster Bujold

Modern warfare wasn't supposed to have this much blood in it. The weapons were supposed to cook everyone neatly, like eggs in their shells. (Mark Vorkosigan's first experience with warfare, on seeing Miles Vorkosigan splattered before him) Lois McMaster Bujold

Barrayar is bred in my bones. I cannot shake it, no matter how far I travel. This struggle, God knows, has no honor in it. But exile, for no other motive than ease–that would be to give up all hope of honor. The last defeat, with no seed of future victory in it. Lois McMaster Bujold

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

When you give each other everything, it becomes an even trade. Each wins all. Lois McMaster Bujold

But though you’d never starve your body to wasting and still expect to go on, you starve your heart, yet act as though you can still draw on it forever without the debt ever coming due. If you fall–when you fall, you’re going to fall like a starving man. Lois McMaster Bujold

(Watching her) was a little like watching water lilies; rather more like smelling a dinner he was not allowed to eat. Was it possible to be starved for so long as to forget the taste of food, for the pangs of hunger to burn out like ash? It seemed so. But both the pleasure and the pain were his heart’s secret, here. He was put in mind, suddenly, of the soil at the edge of a recovering blight; the weedy bedraggled look of it, unlovely yet hopeful. Blight was a numb gray thing, without sensation. Did the return of green life hurt? Odd thought. Lois McMaster Bujold

You don't pay back your parents. You can't. The debt you owe them gets collected by your children, who hand it down in turn. It's a sort of entailment. Or if you don't have children of the body, it's left as a debt to your common humanity. Or to your God, if you possess or are possessed by one. The family economy evades calculation in the gross planetary product. It's the only deal I know where, when you give more than you get, you aren't bankrupted - but rather, vastly enriched. Lois McMaster Bujold

Power is better than revenge. Power is a live thing, by which you reach out to grasp the future. Revenge is a dead thing, reaching out from the past to grasp you. Lois McMaster Bujold

Events may be horrible or inescapable. Men have always a choice - if not whether, then how, they may endure. Lois McMaster Bujold

Don't wish to be normal. Wish to be yourself. To the hilt. Find out what you're best at, and develop it, and hopscotch your weaknesses. Wish to be great at whatever you are. Lois McMaster Bujold

Don't let fear swallow all your happiness. Don't forget to take joy." Dag gulped. Both of their grounds were nearly closed. It was Arkady's voice alone that hinted how hard-bought this bit of wisdom might've been, yet the words had been nearly toneless. Lois McMaster Bujold

Children might or might not be a blessing, but to create them and then fail them was surely damnation. Lois McMaster Bujold

Everybody has it wrong way round. Parents don't make children--children make parents. They shape our behavior from the first wail. Mold us into what they need. It can be a pretty rough process, too Lois McMaster Bujold

And whose fault was it that the boy swallowed down lies, when no one would feed him the truth? Lois McMaster Bujold

Women do desperately need models for power other than the maternal. Lois McMaster Bujold

Real destiny takes everything–the last drop of blood, and strip out your veins to be sure–and gives it back doubled. Quadrupled. A thousand-fold! But you can't give halves. You have to give it all. I know. I swear. I've come back from the dead to speak the truth to you. Real destiny gives you a mountain of life, and puts you on top of it. Lois McMaster Bujold

The gods' most savage curses come upon us as answers to our own prayers. Prayer is a dangerous business. Lois McMaster Bujold

This wasn't prayer anyway, it was just argument with the gods. Prayer, he suspected as he hoisted himself up and turned for the door, was putting one foot in front of the other. Moving all the same. Lois McMaster Bujold

And the Bastard grant us... in our direst need, the smallest gifts: the nail of the horseshoe, the pin of the axle, the feather at the pivot point, the pebble at the mountain's peak, the kiss in despair, the one right word. Lois McMaster Bujold

Tej seemed such a sunny personality, much of the time--these flashes of dark were like a crack in the sky, shocking and wrong. Reminding him that the daylight was the illusion, the scattering of light by the atmosphere, and the endless night was the permanent default behind it all. Lois McMaster Bujold

You? I know you! You trust beyond reason." She met his eyes steadily. "Yes. It's how I get results beyond hope. As you may recall. Lois McMaster Bujold

There will be grace and forgiveness enough, old dog, even for you. I pray you will spare me a drink from that cup, when it overflows for you.- Miles Vorkosigan Lois McMaster Bujold

Well, it is a particular sin to permit grief for what is gone to poison the praise for what blessings remain to us. Lois McMaster Bujold

Royse Bergon: "I've seen your integrity in action. It..widened my world. I'd been raised by my father, who is a prudent, cautious man, always looking for men's hidden, selfish motivations. No one can cheat him. But I've seen him cheat himself. If you understand what I mean." Caz: "Yes."R.B.: "It was very foolish of you to attack that vile Roknari galley-man." Caz: "Yes."R.B.: "And yet, I think, given the same circumstances you would do it again." Caz: "Knowing what I know now..it would be harder. But I would hope.. I would pray, Royse, that the gods would still lend me such foolishness in my need." R. B: "What is this astonishing foolishness, that shines brighter than all my father's gold? Can you teach me to be such a fool, too, Caz?"Caz: "Oh, " "I'm sure of it. Lois McMaster Bujold

You were kind.” Cazaril shrugged. “Why not? What could it cost me, after all?” Bergon shook his head. “Any man can be kind when he is comfortable. I’d always thought kindness a trivial virtue, therefore. But when we were hungry, thirsty, sick, frightened, with our deaths shouting at us, in the heart of horror, you were still as unfailingly courteous as a gentleman at his ease before his own hear . Lois McMaster Bujold

You must learn to give, from sufficiency, not only take, from neediness. Lois McMaster Bujold

It was suicide, wasn't it?"" In an involuntary sort of way, " said Vorob'yev. "These Cetagandan political suicides can get awfully messy, when the principal won't cooperate."" Thirty-two stab wounds in the back, worst case of suicide they ever saw?" murmured Ivan, clearly fascinated by the gossip." Exactly, my lord. Lois McMaster Bujold

It’s true that if your religion failed to deliver a miracle, that a human sacrifice would certainly follow."" Ah...quite. You are a man of acute insight."" That’s not insight. That’s a personal guarantee. Lois McMaster Bujold

A true Vor, Miles told himself severely, does not bury his face in his liegewoman's breasts and cry–even if he is at a convenient height for it. Lois McMaster Bujold

Do it for yourself. The universe will be around to collect its cut later. Lois McMaster Bujold

Lately I have come to believe that the principle difference between Heaven and Hell is the company you keep there.... Lois McMaster Bujold

You want to be good. All right, I can understand that. But you have to be careful who you let define your good. Lois McMaster Bujold

Honesty is the only way with anyone, when you’ll be so close as to be living inside each other’s skins. Lois McMaster Bujold

The world demands I make good choices on no information, and then blames my maidenhood for my mistakes, as if my maidenhood were responsible for my ignorance. Ignorance is not stupidity, but it might as well be. And I do not like feeling stupid. Lois McMaster Bujold

People do get hypnotized by the hard choices and stop looking at the alternatives. The will to be stupid is a powerful force Lois McMaster Bujold

We see the world not as it is, but as we are.~ Dag Redwing Hickory Bluefield Lois McMaster Bujold

It’s just a thing. You deal with it." "As in, one damn thing after another?"" Yes, very like. Lois McMaster Bujold

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."" What do you find on the other side? When you go on?" She shrugged. "Your life again. What else? Lois McMaster Bujold

It was hell to be so tired, and still care. Lois McMaster Bujold

We should have taken our chances back then, when we were young and beautiful and didn't even know it. Lois McMaster Bujold

Growing up, I have discovered over time, is rather like housework: never finished. Lois McMaster Bujold

Not that I haven't leaped up into the blinding light of competence now and then. It's sustaining the altitude that defeats me. Lois McMaster Bujold

One foot in front of the other, wasn't that the grownup way of solving problems? Surely he ought to be a grownup at his age. Lois McMaster Bujold

Bleeding ulcers run in my family, we give them to each other. Lois McMaster Bujold

Poets speak of hope in ladies smiles, but give me a smirk any day, I say. Lois McMaster Bujold

Anyway, if the Cetagandans really wanted to assassinate you, they'd hardly do it here. They'd slip something subtle under your skin that wouldn't go off for six months, and then would drop you mysteriously and untraceably in your tracks Lois McMaster Bujold

He who plots revenge must dig two graves. Lois McMaster Bujold

Miles added it to his life's lessons list. Call it Rule 27B. Never make key tactical decisions while having electro-convulsive seizures. Lois McMaster Bujold

But when he’s cut, I bleed. Lois McMaster Bujold

Your father calls you to his court. You need not pack. You go garbed in glorious raiment. He waits eagerly by his palace doors to welcome you, and has prepared a place at the high table, by his side, in the company of the great-souled, honored, and best-beloved. Lois McMaster Bujold

The really unforgivable acts are committed by calm men in beautiful green silk rooms, who deal death wholesale, by the shipload, without lust, or anger, or desire, or any redeeming emotion to excuse them but cold fear of some pretended future. But the crimes they hope to prevent in that future are imaginary. The ones they commit in the present – they are real. Lois McMaster Bujold

For your fourth consoling thought, I would point out that in this venue, " a wave of his finger took in Vorbarr Sultana, and by extension Barrayar, "acquiring a reputation as a slick and dangerous man, who would kill without compunction to obtain and protect his own, is not all bad. In fact, you might even find it useful."" Useful! Have you found the name of the Butcher of Komarr a handy prop, then, sir?" Miles said indignantly. His father's eyes narrowed, partly in grim amusement, partly in appreciation. "I've found it a mixed. . damnation. Lois McMaster Bujold

Everyone has their folding-point, Miles. Their mortal vulnerability. Some just keep it in a nonstandard location. Lois McMaster Bujold

And this was your friend?" Cordelia raised her eyebrows. "Seems to me the only difference between your friends and your enemies is how long the stand around chatting before they shoot you. Lois McMaster Bujold

There's something to that in both directions, " said Ekaterin mildly. "Nothing is more guaranteed to make one start acting like a child than to be treated like one. It's so infuriating. It took me the longest time to figure out how to stop falling into that trap."" Yes, exactly, " said Kareen eagerly. "You understand! So–how did you make them stop?"" You can't make them–whoever your particular them is–do anything, really, " said Ekaterin slowly. "Adulthood isn't an award they'll give you for being a good child. You can waste . . years, trying to get someone to give that respect to you, as though it were a sort of promotion or raise in pay. If only you do enough, if only you are good enough. No. You have to just . take it. Give it to yourself, I suppose. Say, I'm sorry you feel like that, and walk away. But that's hard. Lois McMaster Bujold

I miss it every minute, and I have no wish at all to go back. Lois McMaster Bujold

I am not schizoid. A little manic-depressive, maybe.""' Know thyself.'" "We try, sir. Lois McMaster Bujold

The fourth approved approach for the problem of frontally attacking a guarded wormhole was to shoot the officer who suggested it. Lois McMaster Bujold

That civet-jasmine blend you're wearing tonight absolutely clashes with the third-level formal style of your dress, you know. Lois McMaster Bujold

Her smile grew bitter as desert brine. "The gods may forgive Ista all day long. But if Ista does not forgive Ista, the gods may go hang themselves. Lois McMaster Bujold

Change is possible.'' Change is inevitable. Lois McMaster Bujold

I wanted to give you a victory. But by their essential nature triumphs can’t be given. Lois McMaster Bujold

God save me from another such victory. Lois McMaster Bujold

The strangeness of the Barrayaran government system with all its unwritten customs, pressed on Cordelia not so much as first glance but gradually. And yet it seemed to work for them somehow. They made it work, pretending a government into existence. Perhaps all governments were all consensus fictions at their hearts. Lois McMaster Bujold

Lord X was a tyrant, not a revolutionary. He wanted to take over the system, not change it. Lois McMaster Bujold

When I was a wee little kid, " remarked Roic, watching over their shoulders, "there was a time I thought that any skinny old man I saw was my grandfather. It was pretty confusing. Lois McMaster Bujold

Apologizing to me again, thought Miles miserably. For me. He keeps telling me I'm all right–and then apologizing. Inconsistent, Father.He shuffled back and forth across the room again, and his pain burst into speech. He flung his words against the deaf door, "I'll make you take back that apology! I am all right, damn it! I'll make you see it. I'll stuff you so full of pride in me there'll be no room left for your precious guilt! I swear by my word as Vorkosigan. I swear it, Father, " his voice fell to a whisper, "Grandfather. Somehow, I don't know how . . . Lois McMaster Bujold

They stared at her curiously, and she caught snatches of conversation in two or three languages. It wasn't hard to guess their content, and she smiled a bit primly. Youth, it appeared, was full of illusions as to how much sexual energy two people might have to spare while hiking forty or so kilometers a day, concussed, stunned, diseased, on poor food and little sleep, alternating caring for a wounded man with avoiding becoming dinner for every carnivore within range - and with a coup to plan for the end. Lois McMaster Bujold

It wasn't a case of storming heaven. It was a case of letting heaven storm you. Lois McMaster Bujold

But personally, I think [sainthood] is not so much the growth of virtue, as simply the replacement of prior vices with an addiction to one's god. Lois McMaster Bujold

If there’s no game, isn't winning a pretty meaningless concept? Lois McMaster Bujold

He was shaken by an unwelcome insight. Lives did not add as integers. They added as infinities. Lois McMaster Bujold

It’s a .. . transcendental act. Making life.. .. ‘By this act, I bring one death into the world.’ One birth, one death, and all the pain and acts of will between.. .. Our children change us .. . whether they live or not. Lois McMaster Bujold

Hunting hawks did not belong in cages, no matter how much a man coveted their grace, no matter how golden the bars. They were far more beautiful soaring free. Heartbreakingly beautiful. Lois McMaster Bujold

His master plan to get them all out the door early met its first check of the day when he opened his closet door to discover that Zap the Cat, having penetrated the security of Vorkosigan House through Miles's quisling cook, had made a nest on the floor among his boots and fallen clothing to have kittens. Six of them. Zap ignored his threats about the dire consequences of attacking an Imperial Auditor, and purred and growled from the dimness in her usual schizophrenic fashion. Miles gathered his nerve and rescued his best boots and House uniform, at a cost of some high Vor blood, and sent them downstairs for a hasty cleaning by the overworked Armsman Pym. The Countess, delighted as ever to find her biological empire increasing, came in thoughtfully bearing a cat-gourmet tray prepared by Ma Kosti that Miles would have had no hesitation in eating for his own breakfast. In the general chaos of the morning, however, he had to go down to the kitchen and scrounge his meal. The Countess sat on the floor and cooed into his closet for a good half-hour, and not only escaped laceration, but managed to pick up, sex, and name the whole batch of little squirming furballs before tearing herself away to hurry and dress. . Lois McMaster Bujold

The book is not an object on the table; it is an event in the reader's mind. It's a process, through which an idea in my mind triggers an idea, more-or-less corresponding, in yours. The words on the page are merely the means to that end, a think-by-numbers set, a bottled daydream. The book, therefore, is only finished when someone reads it. - Sidelines Lois McMaster Bujold

There is a sad disconnectedness that overcomes a library when its owner is gone. Lois McMaster Bujold

The dead cannot cry out for justice. It is a duty of the living to do so for them. Lois McMaster Bujold

I think 99 percent of women's lib comes from technology making different kinds of lives possible, and then the social adjustment follows the technology - it doesn't precede it. Lois McMaster Bujold