For me, writing is more a process of discovering the book than planning it.

How could you be a Great Man if history brought you no Great Events, or brought you to them at the wrong time, too young, too old?

This is important! But you have to stay absolutely cool. I may be completely off-base, and panicking prematurely." "I don't think so. I think you're panicking post-maturely. In fact, if you were panicking any later it would be practically posthumously. I've been panicking for days.

Utterly bleak and black is not the sum of realism. All the other colors are real, too.

Our children change us... whether they live or not.

If you make it plain you like people, it's hard for them to resist liking you back.

A true Vor, Miles told himself severely, does not bury his face in his liegewoman's breasts and cry--even if he is at a convenient height for it.