Humanity does not ask us to be happy. It merely asks us to be brilliant on its behalf.

At first he thought he felt bad because he was afraid of leading an army, but it wasn't true. He knew he'd make a good commander. He felt himself wanting to cry. He hadn't cried since the first few days of homesickness after he got here. He tried to put a name on the feeling that put a lump in his throat and made him sob silently, however much he tried to hold it down. He bit down on his hand to stop the feeling, to replace it with pain. It didn't help.

The best thing about my job, though, is stopping at the end of the day and rejoining the human universe.

I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one.

I will love you forever, he thought. I am lying, he thought, and this time he was right

Come in, Bean. Come in Julian Delphiki, longed-for child of good and loving parents. Come in, kidnapped child, hostage of fate. Come and talk to the Fates, who are playing such clever little games with your life.

It's called civilization. Women invented it, and every time you men blow it all to bits, we just invent it again.