Karen Traviss > Quotes

“Ugliness is an illusion, gentlemen. Like beauty. Like color. All depends on the light. The only reality is action.”
― Karen Traviss, True Colors

“So you want a knife, a nice sharp knife. You hone that blade to its limits. It even cuts through stone when you want it to. It saves your life. And then you're outraged when it cuts you accidentally. You see, knives don't switch off. And neither do people, not when you hone them to a fine edge.”
― Karen Traviss

“If you take a shot at someone, you keep firing until they can no longer return fire. Wound them, and you have an angry enemy who knows your position.”
― Karen Traviss

“I don't know who the good guys are anymore. But I do know what the enemy is. It's the compromise of principles. You lose the war when you lose your principles. And the first principle is to look out for your comrades.”
― Karen Traviss

“And nobody has the right to judge a soldier from the warmth and safety of their armchair.”
― Karen Traviss

“If we were given one word of information in our entire history, how we'd treasure it! how we'd pore over ever syllable, divining it's meaning, arguing its importance; how we'd examine it and wring every lesson we could from it. Yet today we have trillions of words, tidal waves of information and the smallest detail of every action our government and businesses take is easily available to us at the touch of a button. And yet...we ignore it, and learn nothing from it. One day we'll die of voluntary ignorance ”
― Karen Traviss, Order 66

“If we don't stand up for others, who will be left to stand up for us?”
― Karen Traviss

“Think of yourselves as a hand. Each of you is a finger, and without the others you're useless. Alone, a finger can't grasp, or control, or form a fist. You are nothing on your own, and everything together.”
― Karen Traviss

“It ain't what you say: it's how you say it.”
― Karen Traviss

“Nowhere does it say free speech is carte blanche to be a jerk. And don't cheapen real free speech by hijacking an honourable concept bought dearly with people's lives just to get a little spotlight. Spotlights run hot, and they can burn.”
― Karen Traviss

“It's okay to be scared as long as you use it.”
― Karen Traviss

“If you're not prepared to do something in public, don't do it at all.”
― Karen Traviss

“Sitting back and not getting involved while people get killed in an endless cycle of wars doesn't count as not having blood on your hands.”
― Karen Traviss

“Sergeant Skirata said that civvies didn't have a clue, and that it was alright for them to have lofty ideas about peace and freedom as long as they weren't the ones being shot at.”
― Karen Traviss

“Time means lives. Time means more chaos. We always think that time will resolve things, but it never has.”
― Karen Traviss

“There's rights, and there's right.”
― Karen Traviss

“Gar taldin ni jaonyc; gar sa buir, ori'wadaasla. (Nobody cares who your father was, only the father you'll be.) - Mandalorian saying”
― Karen Traviss, Order 66

“Your prowess with a lightsaber is childish vanity. Your physical Force powers are no more than a conjurer's trick, sleight of hand to dazzle the ordinary beings you should be serving. You profane these powers by using them as weapons in war. And you fail to grasp the single, simple, uncompromising duty of the true Jedi. The Jedi is the rock-lion at the gate who says, "I will defend these beings with my life, and that is the sum of me." Etain Tur-Mukan died to save one life, a man she did not even know, but felt compelled to save, and that is what made her stronger in the Force and a truer Jedi than any of you acrobats, tricksters, and specious, empty philosophers.”
― Karen Traviss

“If you can't beat them, divide them.”
― Karen Traviss

“I shall remain vigilant and unyielding in my pursuit of the enemies of the Coalition.
I will defend and maintain the Order of Life as it was proclaim by the Allfathers of the Coalition in the Octus Canon.
I will forsake the life I had before so I may perform my duty as long as I am needed.
Steadfast, I shall hold my place in the machine and acknowledge my place in the Coalition.
I am a Gear. ”
― Karen Traviss, Aspho Fields

“The trouble with taking away the certainty of evil was that its vacuum was filled by all kinds of more nebulous threats, rivalries, and feuds. It became increasingly difficult to judge where the threat was coming from.”
― Karen Traviss

“Long memory, short fuse, big revenge.”
― Karen Traviss, True Colors

“We have an understanding. I don’t laugh at his skirt, and he doesn’t rip my head off.”
-Fi Skirata”
― Karen Traviss, Triple Zero

“Every miracle's got a mundane explanation. [...] and you can choose - you can look at the wonderous surface or you can look at the crud beneath. I want to see the wondrous, believe me. I just know it isn't going to be there when I've finished looking.”
― Karen Traviss, City of Pearl

“Your boys okay?”
“Tired, edgy, but giving it all they’ve got. One of ‘em has sworn to get Vau, another is having a love affair with a woman he shouldn’t even look at, I’m collecting waifs and strays like an animal shelter, and we nearly killed a treasury agent. But if I told you the really bad stuff, you’d think I have problems.”
― Karen Traviss, Triple Zero

“[After a horrible, crazy speeder race by Bardan]
“Thank you for flying Jedi Air.” Jusik grinned and shook their hands. “Have a nice afternoon.”
“You’re all insane,” said Sev.”
― Karen Traviss, Triple Zero

“Do we get to do assassinations?”
“If we do, they never happened. You imagined them.”
“Whoops. My trigger finger just slipped, Sarge. Honest.”
― Karen Traviss, Triple Zero

“Maze: “I’m alerting HQ. Stand by.”
*on the private comlink*
Corr: “How are you Omega? Can we help? We’re really concerned that you’re stranded on a shabla rock surrounded by an infinite number of natives who’ll cut your gett’se off when they haul you screaming from the summit.”
― Karen Traviss, Order 66

“Vau: "We were having a philosophical discussion, as Mandalorians often do, and I asserted that the only demonstrable reality was individual consciousness, but he insisted on the existence of a priori moral values that transcended free will. So I hit him."
Zey: "You think you're so witty."
Vau: "No, I think you should stay out of Mando clan business.”
― Karen Traviss, Order 66

“Scorch: "I think Sev might have an anger problem."
Sev: "I think you have an intelligence problem.”
― Karen Traviss, Triple Zero

“That’s the worst thing about having chakaare like us around. We just wander off, find someplace you don’t know about, and hole up in it and get into all sorts of mischief that you know nothing about. And then we bill you for it. Dreadful.”
“Dreadful. Is this the kind of thing that CSF might notice?”
“Were we to get out of hand, I imagine very senior officers in CSF might need to be reassured, but not by you.”
“Dreadful. Hypothetically, anyway.”
― Karen Traviss, Triple Zero

“Visit Mandalore before Mandalore visits you. Take home some souvenirs—a slab of uj cake and a smack in the mouth.”
― Karen Traviss, A Practical Man

“Why should I cooperate with you now?”
“Because you’re stuck in a ship with four creatively sadistic people who hate your grey guts, and maybe the Jedi and the strill aren’t that fond of you either, and all you’ve got are the clothes you stand in. See how long you last…”
― Karen Traviss, True Colors

“Darman: I want my HUD back. I want my enhanced view.
Fi: But you get to wear face camo instead. Makes you feel wild and dangerous.
Sev: I'm wild. And then I get dangerous. Shut up.
Fi: Copy that. [exits Sev's comlink channel] Miserable di'kut.
Scorch: Don't mind him. He'll be fine once he's killed something.”
― Karen Traviss, Triple Zero

“Oh, you are a little ray of sunshine today, aren’t you? Now, look at your progesterone levels. Still higher than normal. Are you pregnant? Have you been throwing up?”
“No. But I get cravings. Will I get stretch marks?” said Fi.
Gilamar kept a straight face. “Yeah, say goodbye to your figure. Everything sags from now on.”
― Karen Traviss, Order 66

“Any sign of what killed him, Scorch?"
"Let's ask Sev. He's a dead-body-ologist."
[Sev examines the body and its arm falls off]
"Yep, he's dead alright.”
"Sure you don't want a second opinion, Doc?"
"Nah, I'm ready go out on a limb.”
― Karen Traviss, True Colors

“Touch me again, chakaar, and I’ll ram this into your carotid artery.”
“I haven’t got one.”
“Then I’ll have to keep stabbing you until I find somewhere else that bleeds copiously.”
― Karen Traviss, Sacrifice