Favorite Quotes

[Bob Schroeck]

Godhood is more than a name. It is a condition of being.... Being a god is the quality of being able to be yourself to such an extent that your passions correspond with the forces of the universe, so that those who look upon you know this without hearing your name spoken.... One rules through one's ruling passion. Those who look upon gods then say, without even knowing their names, "He is Fire. She is Dance. He is Destruction. She is Love." -- Roger Zelazny, Lord of Light
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

[Jeanne Hedge]

I'm going to stick to some personal anime favorites:
"We're brother and sister?!"
-Miki and Yuu, Marmalade Boy
"Please! Kazumi! Fight!"
-first no-prize to whoever figures out which anime that's from
"Just when I thought I've seen everything in this life time. I sit here and watch a cyborg go diving in her spare time."
-Batou, Ghost in the Shell
"I want you to be my girlfriend forever!"
-Morisato Keiichi, Oh My Goddess
"Nice valley. Think I'll keep it."
-Princess Kushana, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
stuck on the first one (or not)? here's a hint:
"When you return, I shall say "welcome home!""
"I, Kasuga Kyosuke, am living the best years of my life"
-Kasuga Kyosuke, Kimagure Orange Road
"ICE CREAM!"
-Skuld, Oh My Goddess
"You'd think they'd never seen a girl and a cat on a broom before."
-Jiji, Kiki's Delivery Service
still stuck on that first one? (or not). another clue:
"Oneesan!"
"In the latter half of the Twentieth Century, rapid technological advancements finally succeeded in developing artificial substitutes for human beings. A synthesis of mechatronics, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology, they freed people from all kinds of menial labor. People called these symbols of the era, "boomers, assemblers of prosperity."
-Sylia Stingray, Bubblegum Crash opening introduction
And I can't resist a pop culture quote. It's in my sig.

Jeanne Hedge
www.jhedge.com

"Believe me, if I have to go the rest of my life without companionship, knowing myself won't be a problem."
-- Gabrielle of Potadeia

[drakensis]

...By having all members operate under the esplendent Destiny of the Pop Star. They are The Boy Band, the one you always hear about but never remember except for snippets of melody inexplicably stuck in your head. They perform, and are loved, until they finally become TOO popular, at which point they drop their guise and fade from memory long enough to don another such Destiny and begin again.
You think there are too many boy bands? The truth is that THERE'S ONLY ONE, and you've been listening to them for the last 2,000 years.
- Kai Tave, on Exalted, the Boy Bands.

The Prehistory of Exalted
"Know, O Reader, that between the years when the underworld disgorged Atlanta and its filthy beltway and the years of the rise of the son or Grabowski, there was a time unchronicled, when shining manuscripts lay spread across the office like white moths beneath the moon Charnel Houses with its horrifying images and its stark portrait of human frailty, Abberant [sic] with its heroism, Kindred of the East that defined the lotus-haunted gardens of the Kuei-Jin, Nosferatu in its shadow-guarded tomb, Tzimisce whose children wore coats and dresses of human flesh. But the greatest manuscript in the world was Exalted, reigning supreme among the games in development. Hither came Rob Hatch, dark-haired, sullen, pen in hand, a thief, a writer, a dreamer with gigantic melancholies, to tread the paltry games of the Industry under his be-Nike'd feet."
an excerpt from THE SOLAR CHRONICLES
For a thousand years, Neo-Empress Scarlet stood astride the tide of history, directing Creation from the Scarlet Throne through her mastery of the Scarlet Crystal which gave her command over Area 51 (which was, amazingly enough, not actually Scarlet, but more of an off-mauve), the ancient defense system created by the now long-fallen Bishonen and their allies in the First Age, the Age of Harems, when the Bishonen constantly tried to date too many supernatually powerful women at once. (It's no surprise, really, that the whole thing blew up on them, leading to their overthrow.)
But now, she has vanished, and Creation is falling into Chaos as its enemies rise up, and its defenders, the Magical Girls, turn on each other. It is a time that cries out for cute and cuddly heroes.
- Exalted: Kawaii Edition
The latter is an alternate setting for Exalted written by none other than John Biles. (I wrote a few small sections as well). It fuses even more anime in with the concept, naturally, that where Exalted is cool, Exalted: Kawaii is cute and funny.
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[Kheram Coldstar]

I'll take a stab at getting that no-prize. The quotes are from Gunbuster.

Kheram

[ECSNorway]

I warned Geoff. Really I did. The minute I saw the Sidereals material in the original core book, I warned him that I was going to have to hunt him down and hit him over the head with a pint of beer some day.
And then he came to my con, and I did.--
"I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Rieverre]

---

The latter is an alternate setting for Exalted written by none other than John Biles. (I wrote a few small sections as well). It fuses even more anime in with the concept, naturally, that where Exalted is cool, Exalted: Kawaii is cute and funny.

---

*reads 'bishonen' intro*
*shatters*
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[CattyNebulart]

ah yes Exalted Kawaii. I would love to run or be in a game of that but I don't think I could handle it.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[Ebony]

---

ah yes Exalted Kawaii. I would love to run or be in a game of that but I don't think I could handle it.

---

I'm going to be violently ill all over the next cute, fuzzy animal I see. Bastards.Ebony the Black Dragon
Senior Editor, Living Room Games
http://www.lrgames.com
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

[Jeanne Hedge]

---

I'll take a stab at getting that no-prize. The quotes are from Gunbuster.

---

You win the no-prize!
I read not too many months back that someone had acquired the Region 1 DVD rights for Gunbuster. Anyone know anything about that?

Jeanne Hedge
www.jhedge.com

"Believe me, if I have to go the rest of my life without companionship, knowing myself won't be a problem."
-- Gabrielle of Potadeia

[katreus]

Who ranks way up there among my favorite characters.
On Basilisk Station:

---

Manticore-B's single habitable planet was the least hospitable and last settled of the Manticore System's three Earth-like worlds, and native Manticorans and Sphinxians argued that Gryphons only joined the Navy to escape Gryphon's weather. For their own part, the Queen's Gryphon-born subjects seemed to feel a sort of divine mission to keep the sissies of Manticore-A in shape.

---

The Honor of the Queen:

---

"If Captain Harrington is as outstanding an officer as you believeas I believeshe invalidates all our concepts of womanhood. She means we're wrong, that our religion is wrong. She means we've spent nine centuries being wrong."

---

---

A man ought to be able to feel his country was worth fighting for, but Haven wasn't, and it wouldn't be. Not in his lifetime, anyway. Yet corrupt and cynical or not, it was his country. He hadn't asked for it, but it was the one he'd drawn, and he would serve it to the best of his ability because it was the only game in town.

---

---

"They've already got a military crisis. I suppose we might as well give them a constitutional one to go with it. The Foreign Minister will be horrified when he hears we've been issuing ultimata to friendly heads of state, but I think Her Majesty will forgive us."

---

---

"Yes, Ma'am. And I just want to say, Captain, that knowing you figured I'd go along with this makes me feel all warm and tingly inside. It must mean you think I'm almost as crazy as you are."

---

---

It wasn't patriotism or nobility or dedication that kept men and women on their feet when they wanted to die. Those things might have sent them into uniform, might even keep them there in the times between, when they knew what could happen but it hadn't happened yet. But what kept them on their feet when there was no sane reason for hope were the bonds between them, loyalty to one another, the knowledge others depended on them even as they depended on those others. And sometimes, all too rarely, it came down to a single person it was simply unthinkable to fail. Someone they knew would never quit on them, never leave them in the lurch. Alice Truman had always known there were people like that, but she'd never actually met one. Now she had, and she felt like a traitor for having no choice but to leave when Honor needed her.

---

-The above is quite possibly my favorite - although long - quote
The Short Victorious War:

---

"What we need is a short, victorious war . . . and I think we all know where we can find one, don't we?"

---

-Someone who hasn't studied the Russo-Japanese War enough.

---

"The Exec is one of those barbarian coffee-drinkers, Mac. Could you get her a cup?"

---

---

"More sims," Honor replied, accepting the change of subject with a small, grateful smile. "A convoy exercise. First we get to defend it against 'raiders operating in unknown strength,' then we get to turn around and attack itagainst a dreadnought division escort."
"Ouch! I hope this 'convoy's' going to be carrying something to make our lumps worthwhile."
"Ours not to reason why," Honor said solemnly, and Henke chuckled.

---

---

"The Peeps won't get us, baby," he whispered. "We're safe now." He drew a ragged breath. "Mommy made it safe."

---

[ECSNorway]

---

"The Peeps won't get us, baby," he whispered. "We're safe now." He drew a ragged breath. "Mommy made it safe."

---

Bastard.
That one always gets me. Right in the heart. Especially since I just started re-reading Shadow of Saganami.--
"I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Bob Schroeck]

---

"The Peeps won't get us, baby," he whispered. "We're safe now." He drew a ragged breath. "Mommy made it safe."

---

The chocolate bunnies, however...

-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

[zojojojo]

From If Wishes Were Thestrals, We'd All Run Screaming, a prophecy given after Xander takes the place of the BWL...
"WOE UNTO THE DARK LORD. THE POWER HE KNOWS NOT, THE WHITE KNIGHT, HAS ARRIVED. EXPERIENCE AND INNOCENCE IN ONE HE WILL PROVE THE BETRAYED INNOCENT AND PROVE THE BETRAYOR GUILTY. THE LIGHT IS STRENGTHENED WITH KNOWLEDGE. THE DARK IS WEAKENED WITH REASON. WOE UNTO THE DARK LORD FOR THE WHITE KNIGHT HAS ARRIVED AND HE WILL SURELY KICK. HIS. ASS."-Z, Post-reader at Medium
----
If architects built buildings the way programmers write programs, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization.
-Z, Post-reader at Medium
----
If architects built buildings the way programmers write programs, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization.

[DHBirr]

"Life, after all, is a place where we steal for pleasure and profit, each in our own way; and we, of course, are but shadows who have stolen a little of light..."
-- "Shadowjack", Roger Zelazny
Not Thou Shalt Not. Say I Will Not.
-- Feet of Clay, Terry Pratchett
Words In The Heart Can Not Be Taken.
-- Feet of Clay, Terry Pratchett
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

[drakensis]

Grayson's lost its champion; to God she has returned,
To stand before the Tester, in the state her rank has earned.
Our Lady needs an honor guard, an escort, and a crew,
And if you're the best available, I guess you'll have to do.
No Quarter, NO QUARTER! You damn well earned your fate.
Give Harrington our compliments; we're sorry you are late.
- No Quarter, Echoes Children
Don't call my name in battle - it's not wise.
Do not distract me when you see a new soul in these eyes.
For when the War-God fills this flesh I'm in,
I am no more your friend - I am the fury of the Wind.
- Don't Call My Name in Battle, Heather Alexander
My brothers all are traitors, and my sisters all are crazy
With no consciences to speak of and with morals vague and hazy
But, then, who am I to try to put their actions to the test,
When I have done the same and am no better than the rest?
- Patterns in Amber, Heather Alexander
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[DHBirr]

---

For when the War-God fills this flesh I'm in,
I am no more your friend - I am the fury of the Wind.

---

Interesting. The version on the tape I have uses the words:
For when the War-God fills this flesh I wear,
I am no more your friend -- I am the Spirit of the Bear.
I wonder which version was written first?
Oh, and Heather Alexander sang "Patterns in Amber," but Mercedes Lackey wrote the lyrics and Leslie Fish composed the music.
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

[drakensis]

That's the same version that I have, but the other lyrics were listed as alternatives on a lyrics site and I prefer them.
I yield your point on the others. I list music by performer generally, rather than composer.
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[ECSNorway]

Echo's Children, Columbia

She was first among our shuttles, and we watched her from afar:
Liftoff's soaring angel-plume, re-entry's falling star.
She carried hope and knowledge on that flying fortnight run
Crewed by warriors and healers, and sometimes both in one.
Sixteen minutes out from home she faltered in her flight,
Lost communication, and broke up in beads of light
And my heart is soaked in sorrow as it slowly understands
That Columbia, sky-strider, is fallen... with all hands.
As a people and a nation we have paid a price to learn
That in any exploration, there are some who don't return.
We are neither fools nor cowards, to be shaken now to know
What our founders could have told us, twice a hundred years ago.
Pictures stark before us, spelled out the flyers' fates.
A hundred miles of wreckage lay strewn across two states:
Scraps of twisted metal, a helmet grey with char,
Across the fields of mem'ry, a black and smoking scar.
Across a waking nation the shock and sorrow ran
From sunny Amarillo to the forests of Spokane.
From India to Israel the mourners claim their own;
A nation grieves its heroes, but we do not grieve alone.
Columbia is fallen, yet her journey isn't done;
The secrets of the universe are dear--and dearly won.
In every generation we find some dreamers rise
And set their lives at hazard to give us all the skies.
--
"I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[katreus]

---

Bastard.
That one always gets me. Right in the heart. Especially since I just started re-reading Shadow of Saganami.

---

Yeah. :/ I've been rereading the entire series from the start.
Book 4: Field of Dishonor

---

His was the task group's brain, Cordwainer thought, but Harrington was its soul, and something deep inside her was amazed by her own thoughts. Such dramatic metaphors were alien to her, clashed with all her jurist's cold, analytical training, yet they were the only ones that fit.

---

---

"I'm not saying he deserves sympathy, only that whether he deserves it or not shouldn't affect whether or not I feel any." She looked away. "He's a human being, not just a piece of machinery, and I don't want to hate anyone so much that I don't even care if the Fleet executes him."

---

---

Elizabeth III was the woman to whom she'd sworn her loyalty as an officer and her fealty as a countess. She was the Star Kingdom of Manticore to Honor Harrington. Not an infallible, superior being to be venerated, but a living, sometimes quirky, occasionally exasperating human being who nonetheless represented all Honor insisted her kingdom be. Honor was sworn to lay down her life in the Crown's service, and while she had no particular inclination toward martyrdom, it was a vast relief to know Elizabeth Adrienne Samantha Annette Winton was worthy of that oath.

---

---

"With all due respect, Sir, that's a load of, um, unfounded prejudice. We younger, fitter types have the metabolism to handle alcohol without impairing our faculties. Unlike," the sandy-haired lieutenant added, "some oldI mean, certain distinguished senior officers."

---

---

Tremaine considered gum-chewing one of humanity's more disgusting vices, but he made allowances for the major. He'd known her quite a while and seen her do some very good things during the Blackbird Raid. Besides, it wasn't her fault she spent so much of her time inside a suit of battle armor. That was probably enough to warp anyone a little, and there weren't a lot of other things a person could do for relaxation with the equivalent of a pre-space main battle tank wrapped around her. There were, after all, only so many targets one could blow up, shoot into very tiny pieces, or tear apart by brute strength.

---

And the quote that sums up the entire book:

---

"All I ask of my Queen and my Kingdomall I've ever askedis justice, My Lord. That's all I have a right to ask for, but I have a right to it. Isn't that what's supposed to separate us from the Peeps?" He winced, and she went on in that soft, pleading voice. "I don't understand politics, Sir. I don't understand what gives a Pavel Young the right to destroy everything he touches and hide behind the importance of compromise and political consensus. But I understand duty and common decency. I understand justice, and if no one else can give it to me, then just this once I'll take it for myself, whatever it costs."

---

--

[ECSNorway]

You've reminded me of another one... Heather Alexander's March of Cambreadth.

---

Axes flash, broadswords swing
Shining armors piercing ring
Horses run with polished shield
Fight those bastards til they yield
Midnight mare and blood red roan
Fight to keep this land your own
Sound the horn and call the cry
How many of them can we make die?
How many of them can we make die?
How many of them can we make die?

---

--
"I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[katreus]

Ohhh! I saw that one in the Kris Longknife series of books. I didn't know it was by Heather though.
--

[ECSNorway]

While I'm on a filk jag, some Duane Elms:

---

It was late in Sixty-nine,
When we landed that first time.
Man, I still remember how it felt to see it.
And it wasn't that long then,
We were on the moon again,
And you could feel yourself beginning to believe it.
Then once more and then again
We pushed out the reach of man.
Each time up another set of hero's footprints.
But those short trips were all we made,
Somehow our dream it got waylaid,
And not a person, live or dead has been up there since.
And what was so hard won has been abandoned.
Our journey to the stars got off the track,
But we'll return some day to claim
What we once won as our domain,
We're goin' back, I swear to God, we're goin' back!
One small step was all we took;
Just enough to have a look,
A beginning, just a glimmer of man's powers,
But our first step on that road
Has been our last and it has showed
That we are governed by the weak kneed and the cowards.
Nothing much up there they say
Don't know how we'll make it pay.
We could use that dough to help us stay elected.
But as the billions waste away
We all come nearer to the day
When there won't be enough resources to correct it.
We must get us off this fragile little planet.
Before we blow ourselves to hell and back.
We're gonna make it plain,
We'll no more play this waiting game,
We're goin' back, I swear to God we're goin' back!
Instrumental:
Well, we're still not out in space,
And the whole damn human race,
Sits and dawdles with our eggs all in one basket.
We've already bought the tools,
How long will we stay Earthbound fools?
That is the question and I think it's time we ask it.
Yes we still haven't lost that sense of wonder.
This won't become a human cul-de-sac.
We will see that nothing mars
Our rightful place among the stars,
We're goin' back, I swear to God we're goin' back!
For this adventure never will be finished.
We'll make up for the spine the others lack.
Take it money, lives, or pain,
What we once lost we will regain,
We're goin' back, I swear to God we're goin' back!

---

--
"I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[DHBirr]

All of these are from Rudyard Kipling:
"Captain, they cry, the fight is done,
"They bid you send your sword."
And he answered, "Grapple her stern and bow.
"They have asked for the steel. They shall have it now;
"Out cutlasses and board!"
-- The Ballad of the "Clampherdown" (ironically, Kipling later admitted he was being sarcastic when he wrote this poem)
"Whether ye rise for the sake of a creed,
Or riot in hope of spoil,
Equally will I punish the deed,
Equally check the broil;
Nowise permitting injustice at all
From whatever doctrine it springs --
But -- whether ye follow Priapus or Paul,
I care for none of these things!"
-- Gallio's Song
Ever 'neath high Valhalla Hall the well-tuned horns begin,
When the swords are out in the underworld, and the weary Gods come in.
Ever through high Valhalla Gate the Patient Angel goes.
He opens the eyes that are blind with hate--he joins the hands of foes.
-- The Sack of the Gods
He never wasted a leaf or a tree. Do you think He would squander souls?
-- The Sack of the Gods
Is the torrent in spate? He must ford it or swim.
Has the rain wrecked the road? He must climb by the cliff.
Does the tempest cry halt? What are tempests to him?
The service admits not a "but" or an "if."
While the breath's in his mouth, he must bear without fail,
In the Name of the Empress, the Overland Mail.
-- The Overland Mail
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

[Norgarth]

I can't recall exactly which one it's from, but in one of the UF stories I recall Gryphon standing in front of a crowd at somesort and giving a speech.
I'm probably butchering the quote, but he said something along the lines of "They say evil triumphs when good men stand by and do nothing. Lets go out and do something."__________________
We are not ninjas, we are a hedge. Please move along.
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin

[ECSNorway]

"Loyalty happens to be the only virtue I have. Kindly stop throwing it back in my face." -- Jamethial of Knorth.--
"I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.