History Quotes / VorkosiganSaga

--> '''Captain Tung''' on Miles as a strategist. ''The Vor Game''

--> -- A very bemused '''Elena''' on Miles negotiations. ''The Vor Game''

--> '''Gregor''' explaining Cavilo's mistake to her. ''The Vor Game''

-> "Both my parents die in political intrgue before I turned five years old. A fact you might have researched. Did you think you were dealing with an ''amateur''?"

-> "You're a Betan! [[FamousLastWords You can't do—]]"

-> "You're a Betan! [[FamousLastWords You can't do--]]"

--> -- ''Elena Bothari-Jezak'' as Captain Ungari (the third superior officer that Miles has had thrown in the brig in that novel) is dragged away. ''The Vor Game''

--> -- Arde Mayhew learns an awful truth about his new liege lord. ''Warrior's Apprentice''

--> '''Tej''' on her cryogenically frozen elder brother who turns out to have been TheMole. ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance''

--> '''Byerly Vorrutyer''' on being informed of his new assignment. ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance''

--> On the relative ruthlessness of Jackson's Whole and Barrayar, ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance''

--> ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance''

--> -- '''Tej''' learning she is out of her league.

-> '''I'm engaged, to be married, to this woman here. Isn't she pretty? Mine, Mine, Mine. She's smart too. She asked me! I'm engaged to be married, to this woman!"

-> "Did you think you were dealing with an ''amateur''?"

'''Miles''': I'm just... wrestling with temptation.
'''Simon''': Who's winning?
'''Miles''': I think... I think I'm going for the best two falls out of three.

..

"The real unforgivable acts are committed by calm men in beautiful green silk rooms, who deal death wholesale, by the shipload, without lust, without anger, or desire, or any redeeming emotion to excuse them but cold fear of some pretended future.

But the crimes they hope to prevent in that future are imaginary. The ones they commit in the present - they are real."

---> -- '''Cordelia''' thinks this after seeing Aral smile for the first time.

--> '''The [[CoolOldLady Professora]]''' demonstrates how it does not pay to rationalize in front of a historian. ''Komarr''

-> '''Miles''': No? You've succeeded in terrifying ''me''.

-> '''Gregor''': Oh, it took both hands.

-> '''Miles on fast-penta:''' That's out of character.

-> '''Emperor Gregor''': I know. Honorable, but stupid. You may fit right in here yet.

-> '''Miles''': Mm... no, truthfully. It was more like terror at first sight. Falling in love took, oh, an hour or so.

-> '''Miles:''' Do you consider yourself an innocent bystander?\\
-> '''Ivan:''' God knows I try to be.

-> '''Miles''': They'd have to catch 'em first.

-> "Shopping? That's an offer seldom made to the son of my mother...."

-> '''Miles''': Madame Vorsoisson, has it ever occurred to you that you may be just a touch oversocialized?

-> '''The Professora''': Remembering my grandmother, it's possible.

-> '''Professora Vorthys''': Ah, I see. So the difference between a criminal and a hero is the order in which their vile crimes are committed. And justice comes with a sell-by date. In that case, you'd better hurry. You wouldn't want your heroism to spoil.

-> '''Desplains''': Actually he trains interrogators.

-> '''Rish''': Only if I can watch.

->'''Aral''': You pour out honor all around you, like a fountain.
->'''Cordelia''': That's funny. I don't feel full of honor, or anything else.
->'''Aral''': Naturally. Fountains keep nothing for themselves.

-> "- unless you happen to be carrying two pairs of swords and are prepared to, say, offer an insult to Pilot Officer Mayhew's mother, you will simply have to -ah- contain yourself."

-> "Being Vor is-is like wearing an invisible uniform you can never take off."

-> "Accident? Maybe.... Your 'accidents,' I once noticed, have ways of entangling your enemies that are the green envy of mature and careful strategists."

-> '''Miles''': "You realize, Gregor, you did this? Sabotaged the Cetagandan invasion singlehandedly?"
-> '''Gregor''': "Oh, it took both hands."

-> ''A Degtiar empress named Lisbet/ Trapped a satrap lord neatly in his net/ Enticed into treason/ For all the wrong reasons' He'll soon have a crash with his kismet.''

-> ''Stop it. These women are users, you know that. Oh, God, Let me be used...''

-> "-it's not how much force you use. It's where you apply it."

-> '''Mark to Ser Galen:''' "No. I'm not talking much."
-> '''Miles on fast-penta:''' "That's out of character."

->"[[FamousLastWords Wait, I haven't--]]"

-> '''Lord Mark''': "I haven't asked for anything."
-> '''Emperor Gregor''': "I know. Honorable, but stupid. You may fit right in here yet."

-> '''Taura''': "Was it love at first sight, for you?"
-> '''Miles''': "Mm... no, truthfully. It was more like terror at first sight. Falling in love took, oh, an hour or so."

-> "It's said that [Imperial Auditors] used to be able to ride the countryside with bags of gold hanging off their saddles and almost no guards, and the bandits would secretly ride point to clear their paths,"

-> '''Ivan:''' "You're acting just like you do when you play Admiral Naismith, except without the Betan accent. Full tilt forward, no inhibitions, innocent bystanders scramble for their lives. I suppose you'll say terror is good for me, clears the arteries or something."
-> '''Miles:''' "Do you consider yourself an innocent bystander?"
-> '''Ivan:''' "God knows I try to be."

-> '''Simon''': "Do you suppose all the fish in your lake have been stolen?"
-> '''Miles''': "They'd have to catch 'em first."

-> '''Ekaterin''': "Oh. Drat."
-> '''Miles''': "Madame Vorsoisson, has it ever occurred to you that you may be just a touch oversocialized?"

-> '''Ekaterin''' "Were the Vor lords afraid of their wives getting the drop on them?"
-> '''The Professora''': "Remembering my grandmother, it's possible."

-> '''Foscol''': That was longer ago.

-> '''Foscol''': "We are not terrorists."
-> '''Miles''': "No? You've succeeded in terrifying ''me''."

-> '''Tej''': "Has Morozov much special training in interrogation?"
-> '''Desplains''': "Actually he trains interrogators."

-> ''Gregor'', he’d said. As if it might be just any Gregor off the street, and not, say, ''the absolute ruler of three worlds'', as far above a Great House baron as a baron was above a gutter grubber.

-> '''Tej''' (''to Ivan''): "I don't suppose ''you'' could sleep with Byerly...."
-> '''Rish''': "Only if I can watch."

-->-- '''Miles'''' thoughts on his fellow Imperial War College graduates.

-->''I'm afraid even [=ImpSec=] has no explanation for women's taste in men''
-->Barrayaran agent on the ancestry of House Cordonah in ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance''

--> -- A question more people should have asked. ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance''.

--> -- ImpSec humor at its best(?), ''Memory''

--> -- Miles' ImpSec guard to his kid brother just hired on as Miles' driver, ''Memory''

-> "It's rumored that all of House Ryoval was taken down by a single ImpSec agent, after the old baron pissed Barrayar off somehow."
--> -- '''Tej''' explaining to '''Rish''' why they have to be careful of ImpSec. ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance''

--> -- '''Ivan''' annoyed with an intimidated Byerley. ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance''.

-> "Guy, has Imp Sec HQ always been sort of....tilted up on one side?"

-->''I'm afraid even Imp Sec has no explanation for women's taste in men''

->"He becomes whatever is required of him. Not a conscious process, I don't think. Piotr expects a loyal retainer, and Bothari plays the part, deadpan as you please. Vorrutyer wanted a monster, and Bothari became his torturer. And victim. I demanded a good soldier, and he became one for me. You . . ." his voice softened, "you are the only person I know who looks at Bothari and sees a hero. So he becomes one for you. He clings to you because you create him a greater man than he ever dreamed of being."

-> A True Vor does not bury his face in his liegewoman's breast and cry - even if he is at a convenient height for it.

-> He had not demanded the Sergeant's nocturnal company of the grounds that there were Things in his closet since he was four.

--> -- '''Miles''' on his compatriots dubious sanity. ''Warrior's Apprentice''

--> -- ''Elena Bothari-Jezak'' as Captain Ungari (The third superior officer that Miles has had thrown in the brig in that novel) is dragged away. ''The Vor Game''

-> "...am I reading too much into all that innuendo, or did you in fact just connive to assassinate Gregor in one breath, offer to cuckhold him in the next, accuse your father of homosexuality, suggest a patricidal plot against him, and league yourself with Cavilo... what are you going to do for an encore?"

-> "His meds must be further off-dose than I thought,"

-> "All diplomacy is a continuation of war by others means. Chou En Lai, Twentieth Century, Earth"

-> "Try not to start a war single...mouthed, eh?"

-> "If I knew how the haut women do it I'd bottle it and sell it. NO, better - I think I'd keep it for myself."

--> -- '''Miles''' having an attack of limricks. ''Cetaganda''

-> ''Trapped in Ryoval's basement with a sex-starved teenage wereworlf.''

-> "He had an aura... I don't know how to describe it. Except...I could picture large thugs in dark alleyways scrambling to get out of his way."

-> "[Illyan] does acerb almost better than anyone I know."

-> '''Miles''': "Mm... no, truthfully. It was more like terror at first sight. Falling in love took. oh, an hour or so."

-> "I once slept for six weeks on bare dirt. With tenthousand extremely grubby Marilacans, many of whom snored."

-> '' Thank God you're safe'' and ''I'm going to strangle you with my bare hands.''

-> [Miles] eloquence had inspired his soldiers to face death, in the past or so he dimly recalled. ''Now let's try something really hard.''
--> -- Like talking a scared nine year old into going to school. Of course '''Miles''' succeeds. ''Komarr''

-> '''The Professora''': Remembering my grandmother, it's possible."

--> -- '''Miles''' explaining why holding Ekaterin and the Professor hostage won't work, ''Komarr''

-> '''Foscol''':That was longer ago.
-> '''Professora Vorthys''': Ah, I see. So the difference between a criminal and a hero is the order in which their vile crimes are committed, And justice comes with a sell-by date. In that case, you’d better hurry. You wouldn’t want your heroism to spoil.

--> -- '''Ekaterin Vorsoisson's''' opinion of Miles. ''Komar''

--> -- '''Ekaterin''' after Miles' lists his former romantic interests.

-> "It's rumored That all of House Ryoval was taken down by a single ImpSec agent, after the old baron pissed Barrayar off somehow."

-> "The Vorkosigan family motto might a well be, ''Anything worth achieving is worth overachieving''".

-> "So Byerly, who came to warn us, and the Immigration officers, and those Dome cops who were trying to arrest Ivan Xav for kidnapping me, which he ''didn't'', all arrived at once before anyone had drunk any coffee,"