Lois’s answer to “Dear Ms Bujold: Do you have favorite lines in your own work, or in the writing of others? And, if s…” > Likes and Comments
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I’ve been remembering “I didn’t vote for him”
Definitely not the deepest one possible, but I always feel heartened by the dialogue between Miles and Ky Tung:
"You going to cover my funeral expenses, son?"
"Splendidly. Banners, dancing girls, and enough beer to float your coffin to Valhalla."
My favorite has always been the kitten tree from Cetaganda, the whole scene.
For me it was the disastrous dinner party in A Civil Campaign!
Ista's encounter with the Father of Winter in Paladin of Souls, and her subsequent passing of His message on to Arhys -- chokes me up every time.
Though I love all the above, especially the one about Freddy given the current world events, but I'm going to have stick with my old favorite: "I am the man who owns Vorkosigan Vashnoi." The whole scene is genius but the line delivers subtext and introspection by the truckload.
So, so, many, but my all time favorite isn't even in the books:
"Miles hits thirty, thirty hits back."
And I want to put "Well, that's a relief" on my tombstone, but my wife refuses.
The dirty little secret of democracy is that just because you get a vote, doesn't mean you get your choice
Who do you think you are, Lord Vorkosigan?
A humorous line in your work (if one knows Jackson's Whole): “…but they always beat the pants off me, unless I cheated. Though you’re allowed to cheat.”
And one from John Morressy: [They read] “the chronicle of Merlimor the Bewildered and his seven, or possibly nine, sons. Or daughters.”
Beautiful writing: “As Tanar turned away, his habitual smirk slipped into a smile of such surpassing tenderness that Nikys’s breath caught.
It was gone in a moment, the sardonic mask back in place. She might have thought she’d imagined it, except that she doubted she could ever forget it.”
And from Dorothy L. Sayers: “…she made up her face with just so much artful restraint as to suggest enormous experience aping an impossible innocence…”
“The really unforgivable acts are committed by calm men in beautiful green silk rooms, who deal death wholesale, by the shipload, without lust, or anger, or desire, or any redeeming emotion to excuse them but cold fear of some pretended future. But the crimes they hope to prevent in that future are imaginary. The ones they commit in the present — they are real.” (Shards of Honor)
I carefully looked up my favorite line from Memory and typed it here, but it seems to have been lost. I will try again, but don't have time to check to be sure I have it exactly right. "The only thing you can't give for your heart's desire is your heart." Spoken by Miles to Gregor when asked why he didn't accept the bribe of becoming the little Admiral again.
Favorite opening line by another author; "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."
"The one thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart" has always been one of my favorites too Jerri
"Count Vorkosigan, sir?" is the only closing line I will always remember of any book I've read. There was excellent foreshadowing leading up to it, including a rather facetious comment by Miles which turned true. To be honest, I'm a little sad no one mentioned it before me... but then, there are so *many* great lines to pick from. "The only thing you can't give for your heart's desire is your heart." will also always stand out.
Ok, this last one is iconic. They are too many, people. Can't pick one.
The Aftermath of Shards has many moving lines ""Certainly," said the medtech, moving aside. "An honor is not diminished for being shared." And so he did, as shy as an apprentice saint washing his first leper. "Don't be afraid," she said. "The dead cannot hurt you. They give you no pain, except that of seeing your own death in their faces. And one can face that, I find." Yes, he thought, the good face pain. But the great—they embrace it. "
My husband's favorite line is "Let's see what happens."
“Naturally not. Fountains keep nothing for themselves
I can't remember the exact words, but Miles correcting Mark(?) or maybe Galen about Cordelia, "She has always put people before principles."
This one always gets me in the feels: "And the Bastard grant us... in our direst need, the smallest gifts: the nail of the horseshoe, the pin of the axle, the feather at the pivot point, the pebble at the mountain's peak, the kiss in despair, the one right word."
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Kim
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Nov 04, 2020 02:40PM
I’ve been remembering “I didn’t vote for him”
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Definitely not the deepest one possible, but I always feel heartened by the dialogue between Miles and Ky Tung:"You going to cover my funeral expenses, son?"
"Splendidly. Banners, dancing girls, and enough beer to float your coffin to Valhalla."
My favorite has always been the kitten tree from Cetaganda, the whole scene.
For me it was the disastrous dinner party in A Civil Campaign!
Ista's encounter with the Father of Winter in Paladin of Souls, and her subsequent passing of His message on to Arhys -- chokes me up every time.
Though I love all the above, especially the one about Freddy given the current world events, but I'm going to have stick with my old favorite: "I am the man who owns Vorkosigan Vashnoi." The whole scene is genius but the line delivers subtext and introspection by the truckload.
So, so, many, but my all time favorite isn't even in the books:"Miles hits thirty, thirty hits back."
And I want to put "Well, that's a relief" on my tombstone, but my wife refuses.
The dirty little secret of democracy is that just because you get a vote, doesn't mean you get your choice
Who do you think you are, Lord Vorkosigan?
A humorous line in your work (if one knows Jackson's Whole): “…but they always beat the pants off me, unless I cheated. Though you’re allowed to cheat.”And one from John Morressy: [They read] “the chronicle of Merlimor the Bewildered and his seven, or possibly nine, sons. Or daughters.”
Beautiful writing: “As Tanar turned away, his habitual smirk slipped into a smile of such surpassing tenderness that Nikys’s breath caught.It was gone in a moment, the sardonic mask back in place. She might have thought she’d imagined it, except that she doubted she could ever forget it.”
And from Dorothy L. Sayers: “…she made up her face with just so much artful restraint as to suggest enormous experience aping an impossible innocence…”
“The really unforgivable acts are committed by calm men in beautiful green silk rooms, who deal death wholesale, by the shipload, without lust, or anger, or desire, or any redeeming emotion to excuse them but cold fear of some pretended future. But the crimes they hope to prevent in that future are imaginary. The ones they commit in the present — they are real.” (Shards of Honor)
I carefully looked up my favorite line from Memory and typed it here, but it seems to have been lost. I will try again, but don't have time to check to be sure I have it exactly right. "The only thing you can't give for your heart's desire is your heart." Spoken by Miles to Gregor when asked why he didn't accept the bribe of becoming the little Admiral again.Favorite opening line by another author; "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."
"The one thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart" has always been one of my favorites too Jerri
"Count Vorkosigan, sir?" is the only closing line I will always remember of any book I've read. There was excellent foreshadowing leading up to it, including a rather facetious comment by Miles which turned true. To be honest, I'm a little sad no one mentioned it before me... but then, there are so *many* great lines to pick from. "The only thing you can't give for your heart's desire is your heart." will also always stand out.
Ok, this last one is iconic. They are too many, people. Can't pick one.
The Aftermath of Shards has many moving lines ""Certainly," said the medtech, moving aside. "An honor is not diminished for being shared." And so he did, as shy as an apprentice saint washing his first leper. "Don't be afraid," she said. "The dead cannot hurt you. They give you no pain, except that of seeing your own death in their faces. And one can face that, I find." Yes, he thought, the good face pain. But the great—they embrace it. "
My husband's favorite line is "Let's see what happens."
“Naturally not. Fountains keep nothing for themselves
I can't remember the exact words, but Miles correcting Mark(?) or maybe Galen about Cordelia, "She has always put people before principles."
This one always gets me in the feels: "And the Bastard grant us... in our direst need, the smallest gifts: the nail of the horseshoe, the pin of the axle, the feather at the pivot point, the pebble at the mountain's peak, the kiss in despair, the one right word."
