The Quotable Lois McMaster Bujold

It was a slow day. I couldn't get a ride out of the Camp to inspect my projects. I haven't received paperwork that I need from my Iraqi contacts yet. So I ended up finding this.

• Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will.
  A Civil Campaign
  What others think of you may make your life easier or more challenging, but they can only judge what they see, and that imperfectly. What matters, in the end, is what you know of yourself, and what God knows.


• Any community's arm of force - military, police, security - needs people in it who can do necessary evil, and yet not be made evil by it. To do only the necessary and no more. To constantly question the assumptions, to stop the slide into atrocity.
  Barrayar
  This sounds like a highly paraphrased description of Captain Moroni.


• If you want to catch something, running after it isn't always the best way.
  Borders of Infinity
  No comment here. It just sounded like good advice.


• The will to be stupid is a very powerful force, but there are always alternatives.
  Brothers in Arms
  I thought this was a good warning to the partisans of this political season. To bad so few of them heed it.


• Some prices are just too high, no matter how much you may want the prize. The one thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart.
  Memory
  This is also a good warning in general, but particularly in politics, where it would be better rendered as "the one thing you shouldn't trade for the honors of men is your own honor."


• I don't confuse greatness with perfection. To be great anyhow is…the higher achievement.
  Mirror Dance
  I have never understood how some people can look at the giants of history and only see their flaws and failings. As if George Washington was nothing more than a slave owner, or Columbus did nothing but kill a lot of Indians.