Quotations by:
    Brust, Steven


I’d rather go through trauma than discomfort, which may be my whole problem.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
“A Dream of Passion” (1986)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 1-Feb-04
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Brust, Steven

All the pieces wish to be, if not a player, at least the piece the players are most concerned with.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Dragon (1998)
 
Added on 15-Jul-16 | Last updated 15-Jul-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

You judge a war according to who is in the right as long as you have no interest in the outcome; if you’re one of the participants, or if the result is going to have a major effect on you, then you have to create the moral principles that put you in the right — that’s nothing new, everyone knows it.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Dragon (1998)
 
Added on 5-Aug-16 | Last updated 5-Aug-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

Kragar made a sound I won’t attempt to describe. I could sense Loiosh holding back several remarks. It seems I surround myself with people who think I’m an idiot, which probably says something deep and profound about me.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Dragon (1998)
 
Added on 12-Aug-16 | Last updated 12-Aug-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

It’s one thing to be aware of complex strategies and lies that might be going on around you. It’s another to let yourself become so worried about deception that you become paralyzed.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Dragon (1998)
 
Added on 19-Aug-16 | Last updated 19-Aug-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

“Well?” said Greycat. “Does fortune smile upon us?”
“She smiles,” said Dunaan. “And she frowns.”
“How, at the same time?”
“Yes.”
“Fortune has a very flexible countenance.”
“That is well known.”

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Five Hundred Years After (1994)
 
Added on 24-Feb-17 | Last updated 24-Feb-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

Maybe there really is no satisfaction in revenge, but I can tell you one thing for sure: There’s no satisfaction in letting someone get away with ruining your life, either.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Good Guys (2018)
    (Source)
 
Added on 18-May-22 | Last updated 13-Jun-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

What’s old age for if not dispensing bullshit and calling it wisdom?

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Good Guys (2018)
    (Source)
 
Added on 22-Jun-22 | Last updated 22-Jun-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

We are what we worry about, maybe that’s the lesson of the whole thing.

brust-we-are-what-we-worry-about-wist_info-quote

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Iorich (2010)
 
Added on 9-Oct-16 | Last updated 9-Oct-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

Categories, if you’ll excuse a brief digression, are a useful way to get a handle on things you don’t understand, as long as you don’t get too attached to them and forget that things like to pop out of one category and into another, and that sometimes the whole category turns itself inside out and becomes something different. It’s useful, for example, to categorize your target as a sorcerer, if he is one; but if you get too attached to your category it’ll leave you embarrassed when he suddenly pulls a knife on you.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Issola (2001)
 
Added on 26-Aug-16 | Last updated 26-Aug-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

So I didn’t have a plan. I did, as I stood there, start to get seeds of what might, sometime, become a vague step generally in the direction of an intention. I may be stating that too strongly.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Issola (2001)
 
Added on 2-Sep-16 | Last updated 2-Sep-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

“Simple things are never problems,” I told her. “Unfortunate, maybe, but if it isn’t complicated, it isn’t really a problem.”

The Goddess nodded. “Very good, Vlad; I didn’t expect such wisdom from you.”

I grunted and didn’t tell her I was quoting my grandfather; I’d rather she stayed impressed.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Issola (2001)
 
Added on 9-Sep-16 | Last updated 9-Sep-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

“Okay,” I said to Teldra. “Look. I’ll concede that, over the years, I’ve learned that there’s no point in making a bad situation worse, and that it’s less work to talk yourself out of a tough spot than to slice your way out, and that words, while potentially deadly, are less deadly than Morganti daggers. But I don’t think that is quite the same thing as being courteous.”

“I believe, Lord Taltos, that it is very much the same thing.”

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Issola (2001)
 
Added on 16-Sep-16 | Last updated 16-Sep-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

Most people seem to take pleasure in feeling superior to someone. I’m not like that, which pleases me because it makes me feel superior.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Jhegaala (2008)
 
Added on 30-Sep-16 | Last updated 30-Sep-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

LEFITT: Well, that didn’t work either.
BORAAN: It most certainly did not.
LEFITT: So, your next idea?
BORAAN: A drink, of course. Maize-oishka and water. Six parts water.
LEFITT: That seems rather weak.
BORAAN: Well, but one hundred parts oishka, do you see?
LEFITT: Ah. Yes, it is all clear to me now.

— Miersen, Six Parts Water, Day Two, Act I, Scene 5

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Jhegaala, epigram (2008)
 
Added on 23-Sep-16 | Last updated 23-Sep-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Jhereg (1983)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 1-Feb-04
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Brust, Steven

I should mention that there had been many floating castles before the Interregnum. I guess the spell isn’t all that difficult, if you care to put enough work into it in the first place. The reason that they are currently out of vogue is the Interregnum itself. One day, over four hundred years ago now, sorcery stopped working … just like that. If you look around in the right places in the countryside you will still find broken husks and shattered remnants of what were once floating castles.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Jhereg, ch. 7 (1983)
 
Added on 25-Aug-14 | Last updated 25-Aug-14
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

He’s a good person, you know. In spite of many things, including his own opinion, he’s a good person. Maybe a bit conceited, overbearing, and arrogant, but then, people without a trace of these diseases aren’t usually worth one’s time.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Orca [Kiera] (1996)
 
Added on 1-Jul-16 | Last updated 1-Jul-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

That is what trust is, you know: if we never had secrets from our friends and loved ones, there would never be any need for them to trust us.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Orca [Kiera] (1996)
 
Added on 30-Jul-16 | Last updated 30-Jul-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

I collected my thoughts. Someday I hope to have them all.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Orca [Vlad] (1996)
 
Added on 8-Jul-16 | Last updated 8-Jul-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

I sometimes wonder if my entire adult life has been spent in an effort to avoid dirty dishes. One could, I suppose, have worse goals.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Teckla (1987)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 1-Feb-04
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Brust, Steven

Everything is normal. It’s just that some normal things are weirder than other normal things.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Teckla (1987)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 1-Feb-04
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Brust, Steven

“Why now,” said Tazendra. “There is an idea. What do you think of Kytraan’s idea, Piro?”
“It is one I had not thought of,” admitted Piro.
“And do you think it a good one?” said Kytraan.
“I must consider it.”
“Oh,” said Tazendra, “we have nothing against considering.”
“No, indeed,” said Kytraan. “I, myself, have been known to consider on occasion, and would scarcely begrudge another’s chance to consider.”
“That is good, then; I will do so.”
“And will you do so now?” said Tazendra.
“I am considering this very instant,” said Piro. .
“That is good,” said Kytraan.
“Yes. I could not tell, or I should not have asked,” said Tazendra.
“Then it is right that you asked.”
“Do you think so?”
“I am certain of it.”
“Well, then I am pleased.”
“And you should be. But, your pardon, I am considering.”
“Of course,” said Tazendra, falling silent.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
The Lord of Castle Black (2003)
 
Added on 24-Mar-17 | Last updated 24-Mar-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

“My lord,” said Lar, falling back upon the single statement that a servant may always rely upon when any other response is fraught with peril.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
The Lord of Castle Black (2003)
 
Added on 31-Mar-17 | Last updated 31-Mar-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

Ryunac, notwithstanding the bow, appeared unhappy with the answer. “You perceive,” he said, “that this answer is not likely to make me love you.”

“Well, but it is the truth, and I have been told that the truth has always some value.”

“Indeed it has value. So much so, that it should not be squandered uselessly; especially when doing so can be dangerous.”

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
The Paths of the Dead (2002)
 
Added on 3-Mar-17 | Last updated 3-Mar-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

The Cool Stuff Theory of Literature is as follows: All literature consists of whatever the writer thinks is cool. The reader will like the book to the degree that he agrees with the writer about what’s cool. And that works all the way from the external trappings to the level of metaphor, subtext, and the way one uses words. In other words, I happen not to think that full-plate armor and great big honking greatswords are cool. I don’t like ’em. I like cloaks and rapiers. So I write stories with a lot of cloaks and rapiers in ’em, ’cause that’s cool.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
The Paths of the Dead (2002)

In the essay "Some Notes Toward Two Analyses of Auctorial Method and Voice" by Teresa Nielsen Hayden.
 
Added on 17-Mar-17 | Last updated 17-Mar-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

It must be added, lest we be reproached for leaving out details important to our readers’ understanding of subsequent events, that the lady seemed to have all the attributes of beauty, grace and charm that make a young man’s heart beat faster and cause his eyes to widen, lest they miss the least nuance of expression or gesture. It need hardly be added that Khaavren was just of the type to appreciate all of these qualities; that is to say, he was young and a man, and had, moreover, a vivid imagination which allowed his thoughts to penetrate, if not the mind of the lady opposite him, at least the folds and angles of her gown.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
The Phoenix Guards (1991)
 
Added on 21-Oct-16 | Last updated 21-Oct-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

Chapter the Eleventh: In Which the Plot, Behaving in Much the Manner Of a Soup to which Corn Starch Has been Added, Begins, at Last, to Thicken

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
The Phoenix Guards (1991)
 
Added on 28-Oct-16 | Last updated 28-Oct-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

It remains true, however, that an inconveniently placed railing or sharp corner will not remove itself from the path of a drunkard, even if that drunkard is unaware of the obstacles on the path he has set for himself; in other words, no matter to what degree we are oblivious to the world, it makes its own choices as to how oblivious it will be to us.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
The Phoenix Guards (1991)
 
Added on 23-Nov-16 | Last updated 23-Nov-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

A sacrifice, if we may say so, to the god Brevity, whom all historians, indeed, all who work with the written word, ought to worship.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
The Phoenix Guards (1991)
 
Added on 30-Dec-16 | Last updated 30-Dec-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

The seed had sprouted into that most wonderful and horrible of fruits: doubt, which, like the strawberry, has a succulent taste, but has also a tendency to spread and spread, until it dominates whatever garden it has taken root in.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
The Phoenix Guards (1991)
 
Added on 20-Jan-17 | Last updated 20-Jan-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven

Khaavren stood. “I will go now.”

“If you don’t mind, I shall await you here.”

“Certainly,” said Khaavren, smiling. “That will make it easier for you to look through my files.”

“Now my friend, have you ever known me to do anything so obvious?”

“Never.” Khaavren stood and strode to the door. “Which is exactly what makes it subtle.”

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Tiassa (2011)
 
Added on 14-Oct-16 | Last updated 14-Oct-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Brust, Steven