"His mother had often said, When you choose an action, you choose the consequences of that action. She had emphasized the corollary of this axiom even more vehemently: when you desired a consequence you had damned well better take the action that would create it."

Lois McMaster Bujold Literature See all quotes by Lois McMaster Bujold →

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“Men may move mountains, but ideas move men.”

“Permanent justice is well worth a temporary offended protest, I can assure you, Lieutenant.”

“I may be small, but I screw up big because I’m standing on the shoulders of GIANTS.”

“Realize this, though. Half my genes run through your body, and my selfish genome is heavily evolutionarily pre-programmed to look out for its copies. The other half is copied from the man I admire most in all the worlds and time, so my interest is doubly riveted. The artistic combination of the two, shall we say, arrests my attention.”

“I wanted to give you a victory. But by their essential nature triumphs can’t be given. They must be taken and the worse the odds and the fiercer the resistance, the greater the honor. Victories can’t be gifts.”

“I’ve always felt that theists were more ruthless than atheists.”

Resonant Thoughts

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— Annie Besant

Politics1847–1933

#justice

"There was no callousness in their faces, no cruelty. Death they knew, better than the law, and their memories were long. They sat ranked now, motionless, frozen, discussing nothing, without a word, tu…"

— Malcolm Lowry

Literature1909–1957

#death

"All these atrocities on Hindus and Sikhs brought no condemnation whatever from the Muslim League leaders. They either kept silent about them, or continued to trot out imaginary atrocities on Muslims. …"

— Gurbachan Singh Talib

Literature1911–1986

#leadership

"The piano players were very important in the early days, and the great piano players were always on the East Coast; there never was anybody in the West who could play two notes. , who was mainly a wri…"

— Duke Ellington

Music1899–1974

#education