Ship Breaker Quotes

“Killing isn't free. It takes something out of you every time you do it. You get their life; they get a piece of your soul. It's always a trade.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“I'm a chess piece. A pawn,' she said. 'I can be sacrificed, but I cannot be captured. To be captured would be the end of the game.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“It’s human nature to tear one another apart. Be glad you come from such a successful line of killers.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“Crew up, Nailer!" Lucky Girl shouted. "You think I'm going to pull your ass up here like a damn swank?”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“Blood is not destiny.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“Family. It was just a word…Could see its letters all strung together. But it was a symbol, too. And people thought they knew what it meant…It was a thing everyone had an opinion about—that it was all you had when you didn’t have anything else, that family was there, that blood was thicker than water, whatever. But when Nailer thought about it, most of these words and ideas just seemed like good excuses for people to behave badly and get away with it. Family wasn’t more reliable than marriages or friendships…maybe less…The blood bond was nothing. It was the people that mattered. If they covered your back, and you covered theirs, then maybe that was worth calling family.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“She was too smart for his own good.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“You're afraid to gamble even when you're already dead”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“We waste all our money throwing dice, trying to get close to Luck, trying to get the big win... To help us find something we can keep for ourselves.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“Her whispering lips brushed his ear.
She was praying. Soft begging words to Ganesha and the Buddha, to Kali-Mary Mercy and the Christian God...she was praying to anything at all, begging the Fates to let her walk from the shadow of death. Pleas spilled from her lips, a desperate trickle. She was broken, soon to die, but still the words slipped out in a steady whisper. Tum Karuna ke saagar Tum palankarta hail Mary full of grace Ajahn Chan Bodhisattva, release me from suffering...
He drew away. Her fingers slipped from his cheek like orchid petals falling.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“Blood is not destiny, no matter what others may believe.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“Nailer smiled bitterly in the acrid wind. That was what thinking about clipper ships got you. A lungful of smoke because you weren't paying attention to what was around.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“It was one of those things everyone had an opinion about—that it was what you had when you didn’t have anything else, that family was always there, that blood was thicker than water, whatever. But when Nailer thought about it, most of those words and ideas just seemed like good excuses for people to behave badly and think they could get away with it. Family wasn’t any more reliable than marriages or friendships or blood-sworn crew, and maybe less.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“Why did they give up?” Nailer asked. “Sometimes people learn,” Tool said. From that, Nailer took him to be saying that mostly people didn’t. The wreckage of the twin dead cities was good evidence of just how slow the people of the Accelerated Age had been to accept their changing circumstances.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“A whole waterlogged world of optimism, torn down by the patient work of changing nature.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“The wealthy measure everything with the weight of their money.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“The only reason you think you’ve got morals is because you don’t need money the way regular people do.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“The man had become more unpredictable as he worked less on the crews and worked more in the shadow world of the beaches, as his drugs whittled him down to a burning core of violence and hungers.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“That’s what the pig in the pen says when his brother gets knifed for dinner.” He shrugged. “You’re still in the pen. Still gonna die.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“The blood bond was nothing. It was the people that mattered. If they covered your back, and you covered theirs, then maybe that was worth calling family. Everything else was just so much smoke and lies.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“Fates he was tired.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“now, suddenly, the two of them were on his mind, like spirit demons, plucking at guilt.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“I don't buy that." Pearly shook his head. "What have you got without your promises? You're nothing. Less than nothing.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“You should remember that, all of you. If you're just smart or just lucky, it's not worth a copper yard. You got to have both, or you're just like Sloth down at those bonfires, begging for someone to find a use for you.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“He was going to drown, but hey, he could read.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“Family wasn’t any more reliable than marriages or friendships or blood-sworn crew, and maybe less.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“Half-men don’t fight like people. More like hurricanes.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“Spending money on the poor is like throwing money into a fire. They’ll just consume it and never thank you,” Tool said.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker