In an ally, considerations of house, clan, planet, race are insignificant beside two prime questions, which are: 1. Can he shoot? 2. Will he aim at your enemy?

Sharon Lee (b. 1952) American author

Local Custom, ch. 18, epigraph (2001) [with Steve Miller]
    (Source)

In the fiction, this is noted as "Excerpted from Cantra yos'Phelium's Log Book."The phrase has appeared in at least two other locations in the "Liaden Universe" series of books: Scout's Progress, ch. 25, epigraph (2001) [with Steve Miller] and I Dare, "Day 286 Standard Year 1392" (2002) [with Steve Miller]; in fiction, these are noted as Cantra yos'Phelium's words from the Diaries of Korval.