Last Man Out Quotes

“The ones who did lose someone may need help. It’s hard to think straight when you’re scared and hurt, y’know? Hard to do simple stuff. That’s why it’s important to help. That and because helping makes some of the fear go away. You think less about yourself and less about being scared.”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“You mean besides a full day of inspections and demonstrations and guest speeches onboard Beowulf tomorrow?” Branch shrugged. “I dunno. Pirates and nonsense everywhere, we’re fresh out of a war, and we’re on the border lookin’ for trouble. I’m sure we’ll find it somehow.”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“You don’t beat an insurgency with guns and intimidation. Not really. You beat insurgencies with jobs and civil rights. You beat them with progress. Naturally, big money types find that galling. They don’t want to do that kind of hard work. They’d rather pay someone to stomp on the insurgents. It doesn’t work. It only keeps the people with guns in business.” --“Lessons of a Corporate Soldier,” Bill Hathaway, August 2280”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“Tanner looked in the mirror, twenty-three years old and a civilian again. A civilian for life, as far as he was concerned. Hopefully someday he’d figure out how to handle it.”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“So what do I do about it?” “You get help,” grumbled the mercenary in the back seat. “Drugs and therapy and shit, like he said before. It’s not weird.” Tanner looked back to Solanke, unable to smother a grin. “Thank you,” he said.”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“We’re going to have uneven ranks in formation?”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“First you thought I was ridiculous for doing this and now it’s not ridiculous enough for you?”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“Tell me this isn’t the craziest shit you’ve ever done,” said Andrade. Tanner stood upright and looked at him blankly. “Is that rhetorical?” “What?” “Seriously. ‘Ever’ is a broad context.”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“All the people with the biggest microphones never listen. It’s the crazy thing about fame. Some people don’t give a fuck who you are or what you want. They only care about who they want you to be. Or what will make them money.”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“Bridge, this is guns,” came Val’s insufferably satisfied voice. “Target is fucked.”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“None of this military stuff is ever as precise as they want the public to believe. You train for that, but in practice combat is a lot of stumbling and flopping and improvisation. I’m starting to think a lot of other jobs are like that, too.” --Crewman Tanner Malone, Unused Interview Video, January 2276”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“four million people live on that planet and I’m not of a mind to talk to anyone until I’m sure they’re okay. Especially not when the lights are blacked out and the front porch is covered in bloodstains.” The XO’s brow knit together. “Did we slip into a folksy crime scene metaphor there?” “Little bit.”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“Talk fast. I’m gonna punch you every time I feel like you’re being sarcastic or smug.” Then it was Malone’s turn to sigh. “Fuck.”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“Honestly, those ‘work with your enemy’ moments are never as fulfilling as the movies make out. You still wanna punch ‘em and they still have it coming.”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“I don’t have a problem with anyone building a big business or getting rich, Sanjay. I’d like to be rich, too. It’s only a problem when the rich people start being assholes.”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“As always, money tends to follow money.”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“You don’t beat an insurgency with guns and intimidation. Not really. You beat insurgencies with jobs and civil rights. You beat them with progress. Naturally, big money types find that galling. They don’t want to do that kind of hard work. They’d rather pay someone to stomp on the insurgents. It doesn’t work. It only keeps the people with guns in business.”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“The mercenaries were legitimate infantrymen, at least: not only could they keep up the pace on an uphill climb, they could bitch endlessly while they were at it.”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“I feel like an asshole,” Nigel admitted. “You’re not, but I can relate.”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out

“I’m not some preternatural bad ass. The whole reason I’m still alive is because I read all the manuals, not because I have magic murder powers.”
― Elliott Kay, Last Man Out