Jesse > Jesse's Quotes

“TO BE HAPPY, BE VIRTUOUS. THERE ARE ONLY TWO REASONS TO EVER DO ANYTHING; TO BE HAPPY, AND TO HELP OTHER PEOPLE BE HAPPY. ALL VIRTUE LIES IN THE SECOND HALF OF THAT, IN WORKING FOR OTHERS, IN PROTECTING THE WEAK FROM THE STRONG.”
― Daniel Keys Moran, The A.I. War: The Big Boost

“Several years ago, I was getting drunk with four or five of the most powerful sorcerers in the Empire—like you do—when Daymar told a story.”
― Steven Brust, Hawk

“What are you working on?” “I’m trying to set up a store to sell baskets of none-of-your-fucking-business at wholesale prices.”
― Steven Brust, Hawk

“The creation of powerful magical tools, generally, is the result of one of three things: the desire to impress a lover; an accident while trying to create something else entirely; or a side project created to assist while working toward something considered more significant by the creator.”
― Steven Brust, Hawk

“Loving everyone,” said Jimmy, “is almost the same thing as loving nobody.” He paused. “You’re awfully hard on the people who love you.”
― Daniel Keys Moran, The A.I. War: The Big Boost

“Youse guys think this deleted outfit is a blankety-blank nursery. Well, it ain’t! See? —Remark attributed to a Hellenic corporal before the walls of Troy, 1194 B.C.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers

“What foul sorcery is this?” she said. “Pretty standard foul sorcery; nothing special.” “Okay,” she said. “Just checking.”
― Steven Brust, Hawk

“Captain,” said Khaavren, both by way of affirmation and correction, thus conveying the maximum amount of information in the fewest possible words; a custom of his, and one that this historian has, in fact, adopted for himself, holding efficiency of language to be a high virtue in all written works without exception.”
― Steven Brust, Tiassa

“Cole shrugged. "Maybe. But if Forrice had been in charge of the Quentin the way I planned it originally, there's a fifty-fifty chance it would have made it back."
"And a fifty-fifty chance the Kermit wouldn't have."
"True," he admitted. "But Mount Fuji sacrificed himself. It was a noble thing to do, but I was taught that it's never a good idea to die for your side. The object of the exercise is to make your enemy die for his side.”
― Mike Resnick, Starship: Mutiny

“It's just the nature of things. Every lawyer starts out seeking justice and winds up seeking victories. Every doctor want to save his patients and ends up wanting to save his investments. And every journalist starts out caring about the truth and ends up caring about circulation.”
― Mike Resnick, Starship: Mutiny

“Eenie, meenie, minie, mo” is based on a counting system that predates the Roman occupation of Britain, that may even be pre-Celtic.”
― Bill Bryson, Made in America

“Nor, strictly speaking, is it correct to call them Puritans. They were Separatists, so called because they had left the Church of England. Puritans were those who remained in the Anglican Church but wished to purify it.”
― Bill Bryson, Made in America

“The one word that Newfoundland has given the world is penguin. No one has any idea what inspired it.”
― Bill Bryson, Made in America

“Remember you don’t really own anything you can’t carry at a dead run.”
― Daniel Keys Moran, The A.I. War: The Big Boost

“I hate this plan,” I said. “Let’s do it.”
― Rick Riordan, The Sword of Summer

“It’s art. If you’re looking at it, it’s working.”
― Max Gladstone, Two Serpents Rise

“If you're dumb, surround yourself with smart people. If you're smart, surround yourself with smart people who disagree with you.

(Isaac Jaffe, Sports Night)”
― Aaron Sorkin

“History isn't like that. History unravels gently, like an old sweater. It has been patched and darned many times, reknitted to suit different people, shoved in a box under the sink of censorship to be cut up for the dusters of propaganda, yet it always - eventually - manages to spring back into its old familar shape. History has a habit of changing the people who think they are changing it. History always has a few tricks up its frayed sleeve. It's been around a long time.”
― Terry Pratchett, Mort

“The surest way to become Tense, Awkward, and Confused is to develop a mind that tries too hard - one that thinks too much.”
― Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh