“Now let’s 'port out of here and run like we stole something.”
“Historically, the most successful thieves depart at a moderate saunter, confident in the knowledge that the theft has gone undetected.”
…
“Pretend you’re a purse snatcher.”
To make a thief, make an owner; to create crime, create laws.
“Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death.”
Dad puts people like us in jail.
“I am going to lock you up for 200 years”
“That ought to be just about right.”
That’s the thing. You were out there for fifty-seven years. What happened was, you had drifted right through the core systems, and it’s really just blind luck that a deep salvage team found you when they did. It’s one in a thousand, really. I think you’re damn lucky to be alive, kiddo. You could be floating out there forever.
Gully Foyle is my name
And Terra is my nation
Deep space is my dwelling place
The stars my destination
Out ride the sons of Terra,
Far drives the thundering jet,
Up leaps a race of Earthmen,
Out, far, and onward yet —
We pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave us birth;
Let us rest our eyes on the fleecy skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.
I don’t like that. I don’t think I ever did, and now I’m sure!
“You say you want to go back to this planet of pain and suffering!”
"Well you guys don't have chocolate."It was not the site of the earth which surprised him – it was the smell. … This earth and air smelled alive. There was the odor of plants, of water, of things which he could not even guess. The air was coded with a million years of memory. In this air people had swum to manhood, before they conquered the stars. … It was the wild free moisture which came laden with the indications of things living, dying, sprawling, squirming, loving with an abundance which no Norstrilian could understand. No wonder the descriptions of the earth had always seemed fierce and exaggerated!
“Mostly harmless.”
“Shoot anything human, including flying humans.”
“What about amorphs, sir?”
“Shoo them away. The locals are harmless.”
"What about amorphs with plasma guns, sir? "
I know you gentlemen have been through a lot, but when you find the time, I’d rather not spend the rest of this winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!
Across from Tante Cordelia, an entirely new piece of furniture had been placed. Well, new was a misnomer; it was an elderly, shabby couch which had lived for at least the past fifteen years up in one of Vorkosigan House’s many attics.
For this, you can crash at my place.
I’m sorry, the crash caused too much damage.
“Damage - the game banned everywhere. Tonight, in that unprepossessing building across the square under the dome, they’ll gather: the Players on the Eve of Destruction … the most select group of rich psychotics in the human galaxy, here to play the game that is to real life what soap opera is to high tragedy.”
“Nukem.” Get them before they get you. Another quality home game from Butler Brothers.
I don’t care if I pass your test, I don’t care if I follow your rules. If you can cheat, so can I. I won’t let you beat me unfairly - I’ll beat you unfairly first.