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Lois McMaster Bujold
628 quotes
“It's a bizarre but wonderful feeling, to arrive dead center of a target you didn't even know you were aiming for.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cordelia's Honor (1996), "Author's Afterword
“I've described my usual writing process as scrambling from peak to peak on inspiration through foggy valleys of despised logic. Inspiration is better — when you can get it.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Young Miles (1997), "Author's Afterword
“Women do desperately need models for power other than the maternal.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Correspondence with feminist scholar and author Sylvia Kelso, published in Women of Other Worlds (1999), also quoted in "Women’s Hero Journey : An Interview With Lois McMaster Bujold on Paladin of Souls by Alan Oak at W…
“I cannot emphasize enough that I do not start with a plan or agenda and mechanically manipulate characters and events to carry it out. I set characters in motion, and let them teach me what the book is.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Women’s Hero Journey : An Interview With Lois McMaster Bujold on Paladin of Souls by Alan Oak at WomenWriters.net (June 2009)
“I am a shy person when allowed. I regard a lot of the PR — s, speeches, appearances, media interviews — with much the same dismay as a non-swimming parent would contemplate the prospect of jumping into a raging torrent to rescue their child. One doesn't really see how any good can come of it, but one can't not jump. ("My baby book, help, it is drowning!") I need to get in touch with my surly side more, I suppose, to learn to say "no" to nice people who like me.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: as quoted by Jeremy L. C. Jones in: {{cite journal|journal=Clarkesworld: Science Fiction & Fantasy Magazine|issue=issue 50|date=November 2010|title=Interview. Testing What They're Made of: A Conversation with Lois McMas…
“There’s an awful a lot of gaming of the list that goes on in book promotion, where you try to make everybody aware of your book at the same time, try to get them to buy it, get it noticed, get it visible. Which is kind of the opposite of the way I’ve written. I’ve not written bestsellers, I’ve written evergreens. Every book I’ve ever written is still in print.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Writing is a very redemptive profession, because all of your mistakes can be reclassified as raw material. ... All those things that went awry become material and become more manageable, psychologically and otherwise. ... My five years I spent wandering around in college and left without a degree (to my parents' dismay) — all turned out to be useful to my career ...”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“On the sixth day God saw He couldn’t do it all, it read, so He created engineers.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whether you function as welders or inspectors, the laws of physics are implacable lie-detectors. You may fool men. You will never fool the metal. That’s all.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Were you born inhuman, or did you grow so by degrees—M.S., M.D., Ph.D...”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Of all the times to pick for this outbreak of idiocy, this has gotta be the worst possible. It’s got to be deliberate. Nothing this fouled up could be by chance.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The line of logic trailed off in confusion; he turned his thoughts impatiently from it. Mental wheel-spinning, as unproductive as philosophy class in college.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don’t know whose judgement is worse, yours or the jerk’s who hired you—”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Claire, listen to me. The proper response to Bruce isn’t suicide, it’s murder.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“GalacTech’s not God, Claire. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice your firstborn to it.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are weapons all around us here, we just don’t recognize them because we call them “tools.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Even soldiers in battle have to be brought to a special state of mental excitement to shoot total strangers.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This isn’t a class. This is real life.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God’s not here. Somebody’s got to fill in.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The quaddies, he reflected, didn’t seem to have a very clear idea of private property. Probably came from a lifetime spent in a communal space habitat, with its tight ecology. Planets were communal in the same way, really, except that their enormous size put so much slack in their systems, it was disguised.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The trouble with you, Ti,” lectured Leo kindly, “is that you lack teaching experience. If you had, you’d have faith that the most unlikely people can learn the most amazing things.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We’ve run into a problem, Leo.” “But of course. Who ever tracks me down to impart good news?”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We make our own luck. And it’s my responsibility to see it’s good and not bad.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He loathed letting her push his buttons; still, she had a valid point: cover-your-ass was a fundamental rule for survival even of the fittest.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Clearly, you could die while waiting for other people to start your life for you.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I could bring almost nothing—I scarcely knew what to choose.” “Think of the vast amounts of money we shall save on shipping charges, then.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Shooting people was such a stupid activity, why should everybody—anybody!—be so impressed? Silver wondered irritably. You would think she had done something truly great, like discover a new treatment for black stem-rot.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you ever have to make a choice between learning and inspiration, boy, choose learning. It works more of the time.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And what is the most important leg of a three-legged stool? The one that is missing, of course.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He gave himself up to God and pressed the button.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Smoke test?...What’s that?”... “It’s an ancient and honorable term for the final step in any engineering project,” Leo explained. “Turn it on, see if it smokes.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Leadership is mostly a power over imagination, and never more so than in combat. The bravest man alone can only be an armed lunatic. The real strength lies in the ability to get others to do your work.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If it ever came down to exerting power by force, it would mean I’d already lost it.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Save me from that! To pour your life into sons for eighteen or twenty years, and then have the government take them away and waste them cleaning up after some failure of politics—no thanks.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I suppose my determination to be a soldier stems from that date. I mean the real thing, not the parades and the uniforms and the glamour, but the logistics, the offensive advantage, the speed and surprise—the power. A better-prepared, stronger, tougher, faster, meaner son-of-a-bitch than any who came through that door.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Even after four days of oatmeal and blue cheese dressing, they were a disappointment. “Are you sure this isn’t instant boots?” asked Cordelia.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The old customs are dead, and we keep trying on new ones, like badly fitting clothes.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She took the story in like some strange, spiked gift, too fragile to drop, too painful to hold.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Seems to me the only difference between your friends and your enemies is how long they stand around chatting before they shoot you.” “Yes,” Vorkosigan agreed, “I could take over the universe with this army if I could ever get all their weapons pointed in the same direction.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I had a teacher who used to reflect back my questions that way. I thought it was the Socratic method, and it impressed me immensely, until I found out he used it whenever he didn’t know the answer.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We were told the Betans killed you, sir,” he said suspiciously. “Yes, it’s a rumor I’ve had difficulty living down,” said Vorkosigan. “You can see it’s not true.” “Your funeral was splendid,” said Koudelka. “You should have been there.” “Next time, perhaps,” Vorkosigan grinned. “Oh. You know I didn’t mean it that way, sir. Lieutenant Radnov made the best speech.” “I’m sure. He’d probably been working on it for months.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 grimly. 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 at the end.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Captains may come and captains may go, but the administration goes on forever.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Vorkalloner seemed suddenly less amusing. “Why are you all so anxious to put us in a bottle, anyway?” “Why, orders,” said Vorkalloner simply, like an ancient fundamentalist who answers every question with the tautology, “Because God made it that way.” Then a little agnostic doubt began to creep over his face. “Actually, I thought we might have been sent out here on guard duty as some kind of punishment,” he joked. The remark caught Vorkosigan’s humor. “For your sins? Your cosmology is too egocentric, Aristede”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have an aversion to closed doors anyway. You never know what’s on the other side.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Anybody ever tell you you’re a lunatic?” “Not in this context.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It’s a moribund body anyway, afflicted with the narrowest conservatism and stuffed with old relics only concerned with protecting their privileges. I’m not sure anything can be done with the Counts in the long run. Perhaps they should finally be allowed to dodder over the brink of extinction.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do you know, I think you’d like politics at least on Barrayar. Maybe because it’s so similar to what we call war, elsewhere.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’m sure we’d all rather be clever than brave.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So in the physics of the heart, distance is relative; it’s time that’s absolute.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source