On Basilisk Station Quotes

“WAGs... That's a technical term we engineers use. It means 'Wild-Assed Guess'.”
― David Weber, On Basilisk Station

“The bigger the lie, apparently, the more likely the uninformed were to accept it, simply because they couldn't believe any government would tell such an absurd story unless it were true.”
― David Weber, On Basilisk Station

“Let's be about it, people.”
― David Weber, On Basilisk Station

“I am an officer of the Royal Manticoran Navy, Sir—" Venizelos felt an undeniable rush of adrenaline and pleasure as he faced the burly captain squarely "—and the Royal Manticoran Navy does not 'bluff.”
― David Weber, On Basilisk Station

“Fail not in this charge at your peril.”
― David Weber, On Basilisk Station

“McKeon: “You know Hauptman is going to deny they had anything to do with it [smuggling].”

“Forty-three million in illegal peltries? Of course they will, just as Mondragon's captain insists the space fairies must have brought them,” Honor said ironically.”
― David Weber, On Basilisk Station

“They could hate her guts all they liked as long as they did their duty.”
― David Weber, On Basilisk Station

“But when they arrived, Honor reached out and pressed the override button, holding the lift doors closed, and turned to him.

"Mr. Hauptman," she said in a vioce of frozen helium, "you've seen fit to insult me and my officers and to threaten my parents. In fact, you have descended to the tactics of gutter scum, and that, in my opinion, Sir, is precisely what you have proven yourself to be." Hauptman's nostrils flared in a congested face, but she continued in that same ice-cold voice.

"I am fully aware that you have no intention of forgetting this incident. Neither, I assure you, have I. I am a Queen's officer. As such, I will react to any personal attack upon me only if and as it arises, and for myself, both personally and as a Queen's officer, I dislike the custom of dueling. But, Mr. Hauptman, should you ever attempt to carry through your threat against my parents-" her eyes were leveled missile batteries and the tic at the corner of her mouth jerked like a living thing "-I will denounce you publicly for your contemptible actions and demand satisfaction. And when you accept my challenge, Mr. Hauptman, I will kill you like the scum you are."

Hauptman stepped back against the wall of the lift, staring at her in shocked disbelief.

"Believe it, Mr. Hauptman," she said very, very softly, and let the lift door open at last.”
― David Weber, On Basilisk Station

“one of the first signs of a self-destructing aboriginal culture always seems to be an increase in the use of drugs and intoxicants,”
― David Weber, On Basilisk Station

“Fat flakes of snow fell like silent, feathery ghosts in the windless sub-arctic night beyond the window.”
― David Weber, On Basilisk Station

“The message she'd just ordered Webster to send and Venizelos to relay to Manticore was never sent in drills, not even in the most intense or realistic Fleet maneuvers. Case Zulu had one meaning, and one only: "Invasion Imminent.”
― David Weber, On Basilisk Station

“The bigger the lie, apparently, the more likely the uninformed were to accept it,”
― David Weber, On Basilisk Station

“Manticore System's G0 primary and its G2 companion were dim behind her, reduced to two more stars amid millions, for the Junction lay almost seven light-hours from them.”
― David Weber, On Basilisk Station

“Roaring Deeps,”
― David Weber, On Basilisk Station

“kinesthetic”
― David Weber, On Basilisk Station

“penaids.”
― David Weber, On Basilisk Station