Fields of Fire Quotes

“Is no such thing as overkill,” Dmitry replies. “Anything worth breaking is worth breaking a lot.”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“When I was young and impressionable, I thought of war as a sort of romantic crucible, a test of one’s manhood and mettle. In reality, it’s merely a challenge to one’s ability to stay sane.”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“Is Russian artillery,” he says. “Mostly hits right target. Mostly.”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“What a thoroughly fucked-up morning.”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“Not like United Nations,” Dmitry says. “We are not, how do you say, debate club?”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“I have grown fond of Dmitry, and I’m glad that he gets to go home and see his husband, Maksim, again, which makes the uncertainty about Halley’s fate even more painful than it is already.”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“Then he opens it and takes out a picture. I recognize it as the one he showed me last year on our trip back to Earth on the Indianapolis—it’s his husband, Maksim, a broad-faced, smiling guy in an SRA marine uniform, lizard-pattern camo and an undershirt with blue and white stripes. He looks at the picture for a little while and then kisses the first two fingers of his right glove and touches it gently. I feel vaguely like a voyeur watching him, but Dmitry doesn’t seem to mind. He looks over at me and holds up the picture before stowing it in his document pouch again.”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“As rock hard as Dmitry is, I feel that the loss of Maksim would wound him more than any Lanky ever could, and I hope the best for my new friend and his spouse.”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“Transportation into San Antonio is screened and controlled, and no penniless PRC rat would ever get within twenty kilometers of the outer ring of suburbs.”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“We finally have ourselves a bug war, and it turns out that we’re the bugs,”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“Can’t promise I’ll always take your side on everything,” she says, and kisses me. “But I can promise you that I’ll stand with you every time. Against anyone.”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“CO SOCOM DET”—commanding officer, special operations command detachment”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“If I get nothing else in this life, I got that at least, and it’s enough.”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“If this is the day you get to claim that seat at the table in Valhalla, make sure you arrive there with your magazine pouches and ammo racks empty, and a pile of dead Lankies behind you. Good hunting.”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“Nobody’s ever the bad guy in their own mind, Lieutenant. Sometimes you just have to pick between two bad choices and decide which one is a little less awful than the other. The one that’ll let you sleep a tiny bit better at night.”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“And as an attack-bird jock, let me add just one more thing. If this is the day you get to claim that seat at the table in Valhalla, make sure you arrive there with your magazine pouches and ammo racks empty, and a pile of dead Lankies behind you. Good hunting.”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“Nobody’s ever the bad guy in their own mind, Lieutenant. Sometimes you just have to pick between two bad choices and decide which one is a little less awful than the other.”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“We are like a formation of rabbits trying to stop a herd of charging bulls down here. “On”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“I don’t know what exactly it is about this moment that suddenly makes my heart hurt, and the pain I feel is far worse than the physical wounds I’ve collected in the service, because I know that there are no trauma packs for it. And I know that if I come back here without Halley, I’ll be broken in ways that no military surgeon will be able to fix.”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“When I was young and impressionable, I thought of war as a sort of romantic crucible, a test of one’s manhood and mettle. In reality, it’s merely a challenge to one’s ability to stay sane. But”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“I may have faced him in battle before on some colony moon somewhere. He may have killed some of my friends, and I may have killed some of his. I am once again struck by how much alike we are—how similar the grunts on both sides really are—and I know that when this battle is over, I don’t want to go on fighting him and his friends over dumb shit that could be settled at a table in one evening by half a dozen grunts from each side and a few bottles of booze between them.”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire

“Two megatons,” Lieutenant Stahl says, wonder and awe in his voice. “That’s a bit of overkill, is it not?” “Is no such thing as overkill,” Dmitry replies. “Anything worth breaking is worth breaking a lot.”
― Marko Kloos, Fields of Fire