Becky Chambers Quotes & Sayings

With a terrible silence, the sky ripped open.

It swallowed them.

Rosemary looked out the window, and realised that she'd never really seen the colour black before. — Becky Chambers

Humans wasted so much time by being redundant. — Becky Chambers

Brothers you can't get rid of. They get who you are, and what you like, and they don't care who you sleep with or what mistakes you make, because brothers aren't mixed up in that part of your life. They see you at your worst, and they don't care. — Becky Chambers

There are few things as unsettling as a lack of control in an unfamiliar situation. — Becky Chambers

He did not run from his grief, nor did he deny its existence. He could study his grief from a distance, like a scientist observing animals. He embraced it, accepted it, acknowledged that it would never go away. It was as much a part of him as any pleasant feeling. Perhaps even more so. — Becky Chambers

Even unpleasant bastards like us deserve company.' He smirked. 'That's a quote from my wife, by the way. — Becky Chambers

You Humans really do cripple yourselves with your belief that you all think in unique ways. — Becky Chambers

You are all desperate for purpose, even though you don't have one. You're animals, and animals don't have a purpose. Animals just are. And there are a lot of intelligent - sentient, maybe - animals out there who don't have a problem with that. They just go on breathing and mating and eating each other without a second thought. But the animals like you - the ones who make tools and build cities and itch to explore, you all share a need for purpose. For reason . That thinking worked well for you, once. — Becky Chambers

Incident report." That sounds so . . . I don't know.' 'Inadequate?' 'No kidding. I like what Kizzy called it better.' 'What was that?' 'A "monstro clusterfuck."' Ashby laughed dryly. 'I doubt they have a form for that,' he said. — Becky Chambers

There are few better ways to get to know how a species thinks than to learn their art. — Becky Chambers

The truth is, Rosemary, that you are capable of anything. Good or bad. You always have been, and you always will be. Given the right push, you, too, could do horrible things. That darkness exists within all of us. You think every soldier who picked up a cutter gun was a bad person? No. She was just doing what the soldier next to her was doing, who was doing what the soldier next to her was doing, and so on and so on. And I bet most of them - not all, but most - who made it through the war spent a long time after trying to understand what they'd done. Wondering how they ever could have done it in the first place. Wondering when killing became so comfortable. — Becky Chambers

In the space beyond was Hedra Ka. A cracking scab of a planet, choked with storms and veins of lava. A mist of rocks floated in orbit, a reminder of its recent formation. It was a young world, unwelcoming, resentful of its existence. 'That is the angriest looking thing I've ever seen,' Ashby said. — Becky Chambers

Change is always dangerous. — Becky Chambers

Humans wasted so much time being redundant. — Becky Chambers

That's such an incredibly organic bias, the idea that your squishy physical existence is some sort of pinnacle that all programs aspire to. — Becky Chambers

The laughing, snuggling heap on the ground was her baseline. — Becky Chambers

I love learning. I love history. But there's history in everything. Every building, everybody you talk to. It's not limited to libraries and museums. I think people who spend their lives in school forget that sometimes. -Tak — Becky Chambers

What do your crazy speciests do?" Kizzy asked.
Sissix shrugged. "Live on gated farms and have private orgies."
"How is that any different than what the rest of you do?"
"We don't have gates and anybody can come to our orgies. — Becky Chambers

No good can come from a species at war with itself. — Becky Chambers

There was organisation at work, but clutter, too. The mark of a logical mind that sometimes strayed. Pepper — Becky Chambers

We are all made from chromosomes and DNA, which themselves are made from a select handful of key elements. We all require a steady intake of water and oxygen to survive (though in varying quantities). We all need food. We all buckle under atmospheres too thick or gravitational fields too strong. We all die in freezing cold or burning heat. We all die, full stop. — Becky Chambers

Feelings are relative. And at the root, they're all the same, even if they grow from different experiences and exist on different scales. — Becky Chambers

Such a quintessentially Human thing, to express sorrow through apology. — Becky Chambers

The very fact we use the term "cold-blooded" as a synonym for "heartless" should tell you something about the innate bias we primates hold against reptiles. Do not judge other species by your own social norms. — Becky Chambers

Perhaps the most crucial stage is that of 'intraspecies chaos.' This is the proving ground, the awkward adolescence when a species either learns to come together on a global scale, or dissolves into squabbling factions doomed to extinction, whether through war or ecological disasters too great to tackle divided. — Becky Chambers

Most sapients confuse working hard with being miserable. — Becky Chambers

They figure that big, deep feelings are universal enough to be defined with just a flick of the hand — Becky Chambers

Tea was a moody drink. — Becky Chambers

You studied history. You know this. Everybody's history is one long slog of all the horrible shit we've done to each other.' 'It's — Becky Chambers

I cannot wait for her to stop being a teenager." "I can," Nib said. "Do you know how impossible it's going to be to boss her around when she's twenty? — Becky Chambers

I've never been good with people. I've always preferred my lab. I like data. Data is consistent, it's steady, it's easy to understand. With data, you always know what the answer is. — Becky Chambers

This is so fucking Human of you. Lie back and let the galaxy do whatever it wants, because you're too guilty about how badly you fucked up your own species to ever take initiative. — Becky Chambers

Nobody should be alone," Sissix said. "Being alone and untouched...there's no punishment worse than that. And she's done nothing wrong. She's just different. — Becky Chambers

A rack of mugs rested alongside. There were two hand-drawn labels affixed to the decanters. "Happy Tea!" read one, above a drawing of a wide-eyed, grinning Human with frizzy hair standing on end. "Boring Tea," read the other. The Human drawn there looked content, but indifferent. — Becky Chambers

There were two things about the plan that worried Sidra: the breach of Pepper's privacy, and the part that could kill Sidra if she did it wrong. The rest of it was easy. They — Becky Chambers

Um, right, okay. Have you taken any courses in interspatial manipulation? Probably not, huh?"
"Can't say that I have."
"Space-time topology?"
"Nope."
"Transdimensional theory?"
Rosemary made an apologetic face.
"Aww!" said Kizzy, clasping her hands over her heart. "You're a physics virgin! — Becky Chambers

Sometimes the very best thing we can do is walk away. — Becky Chambers

Perhaps the ache of homesickness was a fair price to pay for having so many good people in her life. — Becky Chambers

Life is terrifying. None of us have a rule book. None of us know what we're doing here. So, the easiest way to stare reality in the face and not utterly lose your shit is to believe that you have control over it. If you believe you have control, then you believe you're at the top. And if you're at the top, then people who aren't like you... well, they've got to be somewhere lower, right? Every species does this. Does it again and again and again. Doesn't matter if they do it to themselves, or another species, or someone they created. — Becky Chambers

That's not the same. What happened to you, to your species, it's... it doesn't even compare.'
'Why? Because it's worse?'
She nodded.
'But it still compares. If you have a fractured bone, and I've broken every bone in my body, does that make your fracture go away? Does it hurt you any less, knowing that I am in more pain?'
'No, but that's not-'
'Yes it is. Feelings are relative. — Becky Chambers

How else could you explain a sapient species that had overpopulated itself to the point of environmental collapse? This was a people that had coupled themselves stupid. — Becky Chambers

Ninety percent of all problems are caused by people being assholes."
"What causes the other ten percent?" asked Kizzy.
"Natural disasters," said Nib. — Becky Chambers

To some Humans, the promise of a patch land was worth any effort. It was an oddly predictable sort of behavior. Humans had a long, storied history of forcing their way into places where they didn't belong. — Becky Chambers

Time could crawl, it could fly, it could amble. Time was a slippery thing. — Becky Chambers

Want and intelligence,' the historian had written, 'is a dangerous combination. — Becky Chambers

It was hard to play it cool when you wore your heart on your face. — Becky Chambers

Tresha. It was the thankful, humble, vulnerable feeling that came after someone saw a truth in you, something they had discovered just by watching, something that you did not admit often to yourself. — Becky Chambers

Every sapient species has a long, messy history of powers that rise and fall. The people we remember are the ones who decided how our maps should be drawn. Nobody remembers who built the roads. — Becky Chambers

As you said, he had everything. That made him feel safe and powerful. People can do terrible things when they feel safe and powerful. — Becky Chambers

All the things I've done to my body, I've done out of love. — Becky Chambers

There was a nebula there, an explosion of dust and light, the fiery corpse of an ancient giant. Within the gaseous folds slept clusters of unborn stars, shining softly. She took inventory of her body. She felt her breath, her blood, the ties binding it together. Every piece, down to the last atom, had been made out here, flung through the open in a moment of violence, until they had swirled round and round, churning, and coalescing, becoming heavy, weighing each other down, but not any more. The pieces were floating free now. They had returned home. — Becky Chambers

She would never, ever understand the idea that a child, especially an infant, was of more value than an adult who had already gained all the skills needed to benefit the community. The death of potential was somehow worse than a loss of achievement and knowledge was something she had never been able to wrap her brain around. — Becky Chambers

Mistakes mean progress. — Becky Chambers

Despite the differences between our species and cultures, there is an order that we all share. The development of a civilization is a scripted event. Minds join together to create new technologies, on its own against threats from the outside, that civilization crumbles. — Becky Chambers

Because people are assholes," said Bear, dutifully keeping his head down. "Ninety percent of all problems are caused by people being assholes. — Becky Chambers

Harmagians had money. Aeluons had firepower. Aandrisks had diplomacy. Humans had arguments. — Becky Chambers

I can wait for the galaxy outside to get a little kinder. — Becky Chambers

After all, Humans reacted differently to coupling than she did. Didn't their brains get overloaded with chemicals afterward, way more than normal people? — Becky Chambers

No sapient could sustain happiness all of the time, just as no one could live permanently within anger, or boredom, or grief. — Becky Chambers

Do you know Aandrisk hand speak?' Rosemary asked. Kizzy glanced up from the lock of hair she was braiding. 'Not really. Sis taught me a couple of 'em. Just basic stuff. "Hello." "Thanks." "I enjoy your company but I don't want to have sex. — Becky Chambers

Perhaps stars were supposed to be viewed from the ground. — Becky Chambers

Scared means we want to live. — Becky Chambers

The Friends of Digital Sapients were one of those organisations that had their hearts in the right place but their heads firmly up their asses. — Becky Chambers

Tweaking your body , it's all about trying to make your physical self fit with who you are inside — Becky Chambers

These Humans, huh?' Sissix said to Dr Chef. 'I took some time to freak out. Didn't you?' 'I sure did,' Dr Chef said. He handed Rosemary a clean cloth. 'Once I'd medicated Ashby and got his bots going, I locked myself in my office and yelled for a good ten minutes.' 'That's what that was?' Ashby said. He had a dim memory of layers upon layers of haunting chords, cutting through the waves of pain. 'I thought you were singing. It was really pretty. — Becky Chambers

Owl had said it was important to know how swearing worked, and it was okay under the right circumstances, but that Jane shouldn't swear all the time. Jane definitely swore all the time. She didn't know why, but swearing felt fucking great. — Becky Chambers

She paused, realising that she was trying to make an AI feel better. It was a silly concept, but something about Lovey's demeanour made any other response feel a bit rude. Could AIs even take offence? Rosemary wasn't sure. — Becky Chambers