Karen Traviss Quotes

Why doesn't the fact that I'm human matter to human beings

It ain't what you say: it's how you say it.

The best way to stop worrying about your inevitable demise is to dwell on it morbidly until you're so bored that you forget it.

Humans would never tell the simple truth when a lie was available ...

It was as if the small differences mattered more than the really big ones - like you had to recognize something before you could hate it properly. No

Gar taldin ni jaonyc; gar sa buir, ori'wadaasla. (Nobody cares who your father was, only the father you'll be.) - Mandalorian saying

anything that was aware of its actions was capable of making choices about them.

Nobody touches my wife and kids. Han

Politics were the ultimate frustration.

That's how tyranny succeeds. When folks think it won't affect them until eventually it does.

In this job, you handpick your people. You need the best. You need the most loyal. You need the most ruthless.

Scorch: "I think Sev might have an anger problem."
Sev: "I think you have an intelligence problem.

It's okay to be scared as long as you use it.

If you can't beat them, divide them.

If you take a shot at someone, you keep firing until they can no longer return fire. Wound them, and you have an angry enemy who knows your position.

Humans have too many rights and not enough responsibilities.
-Aras

If we don't stand up for others, who will be left to stand up for us?

MARK DONALDSON WAY, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: AUSTRALIA DAY, TWO MONTHS AFTER THE BATTLE OF EARTH, JANUARY 26, 2553.

All ships ... we are now at battle stations. I expect this will now be known as the Second Battle of Fondor.

And the maximum number extracted. You know what your bosses say about attachment, littl'un. Don't get too attached to me.

And nobody has the right to judge a soldier from the warmth and safety of their armchair.

Success is everyone's child. Failure is an orphan." Omas smiled ruefully.

Family took a lot more than genes to hold it together

If you can't take a joke, you shouldn't have joined.

I wish you'd get one thing straight - I'm not a traitor. I was never on your side. I'm called the enemy.

I don't mind being shot at. It's having a government that lies to me that I hate.

Long memory, short fuse, big revenge.

I'm a visual person - when I write, my input is always visual. I worked in television for several years.

We're all going to die sometime, so you might as well die pushing the odds for something that matters.

Life was a trade-off between loneliness and inevitable peaks of joy or agony.

Ugliness is an illusion, gentlemen. Like beauty. Like color. All depends on the light. The only reality is action.

Covering his tracks by randomizing his route back to the apartment had become routine for Skirata now, which was a bizarre irony in itself.

When wars end, all the shit comes tumbling out. People talk, point fingers at each other, reveal things they've kept quiet for years.

Hatred can be pushed aside, but it will always whisper in your ear.

Diplomacy is about dealing with those you rather avoid.

I refuse to believe that gods want to make mortals unhappy and torment them. That's what humans do. And humans are very definitely not divine.

If you're not prepared to do something in public, don't do it at all.

And knowing my luck ... that'll be the Engineer sign for Your mom's a skank.

Hope was evil. It seduced you, then it dropped you on your ass so hard and so fast that you were worse off than when you started.

Writing is like a rollercoaster ride for me, an adventure. I love exploring the world through 'playing' people who are absolutely nothing like me.

I love being pushed out of my comfort zone.

Revenge might give you a warm feeling, but unless it delivers some lasting results you might as well have a nice cup of mocha instead.

I bet you were a Boy Scout."
"You are incomprehensible."
"It's just a compliment.

People who wouldn't dream of drowning a puppy in a barrel full of water think nothing of killing a fish the same slow way.

We have an understanding. I don't laugh at his skirt, and he doesn't rip my head off.
-Fi Skirata

It never ceased to amaze Skirata how much simpler it was to buy and sell death than it was to pay taxes.