Well, what is a blessing but a curse from another point of view?

Money, power, sex ... and elephants.

The Imperial Service could win a war without coffee, but would prefer not to have to.

If you're trying to take a roomful of people by surprise, it's a lot easier to hit your targets if you don't yell going through the door.

If you're trying to take a roomful of people by surprise, it's a lot easier to hit your targets if you don't yell going through the door.

I do think, half of what we call madness is just some poor slob dealing with pain by a strategy that annoys the people around him.

I don't want power. I just object to idiots having power over me.

Miles clutched Quinn's elbow. "Don't Panic." "I'm not panicking," Quinn observed, "I'm watching you panic. It's more entertaining .

Experience suggests it doesn't matter so much how you got here, as what you do after you arrive.

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

On the sixth day God saw He couldn't do it all, so He created ENGINEERS

Have you ever heard the phrase, Living well is the best revenge?" "Where I come from, someone's head in a bag is generally considered the best revenge

Endure pain, find joy, and make your own meaning, because the universe certainly isn't going to supply it.

The rule for finding plots for character-centered novels, which is to ask: 'So what's the worst possible thing I can do to *this* guy?' And then do it.

Too late, he recalled Miles's dictum that the reward for a job well done was usually a harder job.

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

If the truth doesn't save us, what does that say about us?

I've got forward momentum. There's no virtue in it. It's just a balancing act. I don't dare stop.

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.

One step at a time,” Vorkosigan returned grimly, “I can walk around the world. Watch me.

One step at a time,” Vorkosigan returned grimly, “I can walk around the world. Watch me.

If you make it plain you like people, it's hard for them to resist liking you back.

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

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