Dauntless Quotes

“I need to stop getting into situations where all my options are potentially bad.”
― Jack Campbell, Dauntless

“There are things we don't do. From this moment forth, let us all ensure our every action reflects well on us and our ancestors. Let us live to the highest standards, lest we win this war only to find ourselves staring in the mirror at the face of our late enemy.”
― Jack Campbell, Dauntless

“I respect you far too much to think that empty pride is the only motivator you could call on. I think what you call pride is something much more than that. Belief in yourselves, perhaps, or perseverance in the face of adversity. Those are things to be proud of. That’s not the same as being proud.”
― Jack Campbell, Dauntless

“Could you explain something for me, then?” She gestured around vaguely. “You gave orders in terms of ‘up’ and ‘down,’ ‘port’ and ‘starboard,’ yet the ships of your fleet are in a wide range of aspects. You are upside down relative to the ships in Captain Tulev’s force, for example. How do they know which way you mean?”
Desjani, unseen by Rione, rolled her eyes at the Co-President’s ignorance, but Geary just pointed at the display. “It’s a standard convention, Madam Co-President, one every sailor learns by heart. It had to be established to provide a common frame of reference in an unbounded three-dimensional environment.” He sketched the shape of Kaliban’s system. “Every star system has a plane in which its planets or other objects orbit. One side of that plane is labeled ‘up,’ and the other side ‘down.’ So up and down within the system doesn’t change regardless of how your ship is oriented. By the same token, the direction toward the star is ‘starboard’ while the direction away from the star is ‘port.’” Geary shrugged. “I’ve been told that early on they tried to use ‘starward’ instead of ‘starboard,’ but the older expression stuck.”
― Jack Campbell, Dauntless

“most having reached the places they needed to be and devoted themselves to what needed to be done.”
― Jack Campbell, Dauntless

“If an artificial intelligence isn’t smart enough to employ a weapon all by itself, you can’t trust it very much in battle. If the AI is smart enough to employ a weapon all by itself, you can’t trust it at all.”
― Jack Campbell, Dauntless

“Let us live to the highest standards, lest we win this war only to find ourselves staring in the mirror at the face of our late enemy.”
― Jack Campbell, Dauntless

“We have honor. If we hold to that, we will win. If we don’t hold to it…we don’t deserve to win.”
― Jack Campbell, Dauntless

“A corporate state run by dictators who call themselves servants of the people they enslave.”
― Jack Campbell, Dauntless