Mackey Chandler > Quotes

“I screwed up so bad. Do you want to just fire me?” Meijer asked, resigned. “Fire you? You have fifteen years in this work. If I hire a twenty-something greenie to replace you, I get to watch him make all the stupid mistakes you’ve made over those years. You’ve moved on to learning from really colossal screw-ups. Surely you are within a decade or two of being a genuine expert who has made every mistake possible known to the trade.”
― Mackey Chandler, Who Can Own the Stars?

“The designers who had developed the modular concept of lunar construction never considered just how easy it made stealing an entire building, instead of some of the contents.”
― Mackey Chandler, The Middle of Nowhere

“So there are all sorts of people out here driving around on manual," April indicated with a broad sweep of her hand the chaotic mix of heavy traffic, "and all they had to do was get fifteen out of eighteen questions right, that a reasonably intelligent tomato could have answered?" "You got it," Lin answered.”
― Mackey Chandler, Down to Earth

“I have considerable latitude in how I discharge my assignments." Mostly 'cause I do as I damn well please, Eddie thought.”
― Mackey Chandler, April

“paradise,”
― Mackey Chandler, Family Law

“Well, the gods will hear what they wish when they spy on us mortals," Talker said. "I will bow to their wills.”
― Mackey Chandler, A Hop, Skip and a Jump

“the only option you really have is to get a job. Do you have any skills?" she worried. "I'm a bilingual weapons officer on a ship. I'm really good at killing people," he admitted. "Oh good, that's always in demand," Margaret said, relieved. Chapter”
― Mackey Chandler, A Depth of Understanding

“Why would it seem dangerous to you?” “What if the Moon came along with you?” April asked. Jeff looked horrified, but said nothing. “I mean, sure you should be able to get it back the same way if you could jockey it around enough, but back exactly where it was supposed to go?” April asked. “You’d never get it just right and all the years and years of predictions of the astronomers and data for navigation… even the tides would be screwed up and one has to assume people would notice no matter how fast you got it back. Sure as anything, somebody would figure out who was to blame too.”
― Mackey Chandler, Been There, Done That

“when you use your limited powers to inflict petty punishments you demonstrate your weakness to the world. It just tells everyone you are unable to do the real harm you desire instead of showing true power.”
― Mackey Chandler, Secrets in the Stars

“You’d think it was their own home paid for out of their purse when you bust something and ask for a repair. They act like we are renters. They’re liable to tell us our experiments are too dangerous to run in this building and cause all kinds of trouble with the administration. They just have no sense of humor if you catch the place on fire, blow out a wall or,” he said, looking up at the hole, “something.”
― Mackey Chandler, Friends in the Stars

“It's even worse than you think. They have three sexes and lay eggs, but we've been trading dirty jokes and they're funny.”
― Mackey Chandler, Secrets in the Stars

“I think I see their burn coming in," Lee said. "Unless it's just a flaming meteor dropping on us. It's been that kind of day.”
― Mackey Chandler, Secrets in the Stars

“When you steal and murder and try to enslave people, you can have no complaint if it comes back on you.”
― Mackey Chandler, A Different Perspective

“Leges Humanae Nascuntur, Vivunt, Et Moriuntur”
― Mackey Chandler, Been There, Done That

“Are you up to a little eyelash fluttering and coy smiles? Pour the feminine charm on and get the fellow to babble everything?" "Probably not," Lee said. "I suspect my efforts might make Gabriel rupture something from the spasms of laughter, not babble secrets. I'll keep that in mind as a needed skill set.”
― Mackey Chandler, Secrets in the Stars

“Jefferson Hobart of suburban Barberton was diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Syndrome”
― Mackey Chandler, And What Goes Around

“Indeed, by the most amazing coincidence, there does seem to be a history of expensive damage, death and destruction, strewn closely behind when you get rolling. If it isn't by your own hand, you can't blame people if they think you must at least be an inspiration to this crew who seem to run with you.”
― Mackey Chandler, Down to Earth

“Some people would jump at the opportunity to wield such power," Heather told her. "Some people would juggle hand grenades as a hobby," Dakota said. "A poor simile," Heather said. "A grenade has a much smaller lethal radius than a government official in full plumage." Chapter”
― Mackey Chandler, It's Always Something

“They minded their own business to the point of nodding hello as if you didn’t have a huge taloned alien walking with you, or politely asking your friend’s acquaintance while ignoring the unimportant detail he had feathers.”
― Mackey Chandler, Common Ground and Other Stories

“take years just to figure out what to do. And it has to be a solution that uplifts everybody," she decided, "not just changes the winners. I don't think”
― Mackey Chandler, The Long Voyage of the Little Fleet

“Women and cats choose whom they please, but expect you to know it’s a favor granted.”
― Mackey Chandler, Neither Here nor There

“That rattled Lindsey. At home a teacher who used that dirty word would be suspended. One who repeated it could be fired. and besides revolution she'd said hell…”
― Mackey Chandler, A Different Perspective

“Not to say they make the right decision," Gordon admitted, "but they can go wrong very quickly and efficiently.”
― Mackey Chandler, The Long Voyage of the Little Fleet

“Simon’s cat”
― Mackey Chandler, Been There, Done That

“She had some really good news,” Lee said. “The Deep Space Explorer Early Bird out of Fargone has made Derfhome orbit and is inquiring how to register a world claim from their voyage on our list instead of proceeding to Earth.” “Was she off in the beyond away from Earth?” Jeff wondered. He privately hoped they hadn’t named the world Worm…”
― Mackey Chandler, Friends in the Stars

“Go, and sin no more,” Muños projected in a deep theatrical voice and gesture.”
― Mackey Chandler, A Reluctant Sovereign

“It's an old New England style pie. You make a single baked crust. Then pour the crust full of berries to measure them and set aside. You put about a third as many more berries in a pan, with a quarter cup of water and boil a sauce up, with a half cup of sugar or a bit more, and a maybe a quarter teaspoon of nutmeg,” Jay told him. The cook nodded like he had been wondering about that last. “You add a bit of water if you need to thin the sauce, and then you dump in the raw berries and mix it up gently, so you don't bust up all the berries, and pour it in the shell to chill. The sauce blanches the berries just a bit, and they firm it up. My aunt would put a bit of gelatin in the sauce, but my mom didn't. That's all. It's pretty simple,” Jay said.”
― Mackey Chandler, Neither Here nor There

“dressed… oddly. He nodded hello but pecked at a terminal behind the counter like he was wrapping something up. Jason examined Pierre with an eagerness that matched Pierre’s inspection of him, once he turned his full attention away from the terminal. He looked so pleased to see Pierre that for the first time he regretted dressing up to travel. He hadn’t considered that an affluent appearance might hamper his ability to negotiate terms of a financial transaction. Most of the time dressing well led to a degree of deference and better treatment. Jason however was regarding him like a prize steer that would soon be select cuts of beef. “Good day,” Pierre said, and tried to keep a pleasant face and made an attempt at humor. “Are you the Jason of fame, heralded by your establishment’s signage?” “I wouldn’t hire another Jason,” the fellow said bluntly. “If one wanted to hire on I suppose I might, if he let me call him George. Life’s perplexing enough without feeling like I’ve slipped into speaking in the third person every day. Fortunately there’s little enough to distract me on ISSII to make it a burden to keep the doors open without help. It’s like a very quiet little town.” “Indeed, I noticed the lack of a crowd in the corridor,” Pierre agreed. “Been that way since the war, and it’s been slow to come back all the way. But I figure in another five years, maybe six years it’ll be hopping again.” Pierre nodded politely. He’d really like to know why the fellow thought so, but he’d leave it for another time rather than neglect his business. “I wonder, if you might do currency exchanges among your services? I find the shuttle service I wish to take to Home doesn’t take EuroMarks. I’d like something they take, preferably Solars to facilitate other payments when I reach Home or beyond.” “I wouldn’t mind a bucket of them myself,” Jason allowed. “But for most transactions they’re a bit unwieldy. A full Solar is twenty five grams of gold or platinum. Most folks use the smaller coins and bits or a credit card that can shave transactions down to the milligram.” “What would you suggest? I have EuroMark credit, banknotes, and a small amount of Suisse Credit bars. What would be easiest?” “Not that I don’t want the business, but I’m too little a fish to risk handling a large sum of EuroMarks with currency fluctuations being what they are. EMs are depreciating assets anyway. Now, I’d take your gold if you were staying here, but the banks on Home will give you a much better conversion rate, and I’d rather you not be pissed off at me and tell everybody to avoid the scoundrel on ISSII after you found that out. I know the exchange rate looks bad but go back to the Russians and tell them you want to convert your EuroMarks to Australian dollars - they’ll do that. The gold, it don’t matter, it’s not going to fluctuate in value very much. If you finish up your business and want to take any of it back to France you can’t take it as Solars and you’d have to pay for a second exchange.” “I never said I was French, nor did I mention speaking with the Russians.” “I hear your vowels and can place your province if not your town under that fancy Parisian accent. It’s five hundred and twenty of my steps from here to the bank and Peter called and told me you were on your way. As I said, it’s like a small town here. If you sneeze”
― Mackey Chandler, Been There, Done That

“Grandchildren are a greater joy as an occasional treat than every day.”
― Mackey Chandler, A Hop, Skip and a Jump

“Another chapter,” Otis said and went back to his pad as the acceleration eased on. April imagined if they had a missile homing on them Otis would want to read a couple more paragraphs before the potential intercept.”
― Mackey Chandler, Who Can Own the Stars?