James S.A. Corey Quotes & Sayings
Enjoy the top 100 famous quotes, sayings and quotations by James S.A. Corey.
Famous Quotes By James S.A. Corey
What your opponent wants you to think is useful data in figuring out what they think. So get the early draft, okay? — James S.A. Corey
As soon as we get the place secure, I'll get in touch," Miller said. "Okay, but don't take too long. If Thoth Station has a whorehouse left standing, I'm going to need help prying Amos out of it. — James S.A. Corey
But it is only a machine. It doesn't think. It follows instructions. If we learn how to alter that programming, then we become the architects of that change. — James S.A. Corey
Time took her strength but it gave her power in exchange. It was a fair trade. She — James S.A. Corey
I've got a bunch of plumbers with rifles I could put on a shuttle. The bridge went quiet. — James S.A. Corey
The millions of skin-bound complications of salt water and minerals that were human bodies scattered throughout the Belt still needed food and air and clean water, energy and shelter. — James S.A. Corey
What are they going to do about it?"
"So far? Get drunk. Yell at each other or at us. Design theoretical judicial systems. Most of them seem to want the whole thing to just go away sot hey can get on with their research."
Murtry chuckled. "God bless the eggheads. — James S.A. Corey
The elegance and functionality of the structure lay out before him, as beautiful and simple and effective as a leaf or a root cluster. To have something so much like the fruits of evolution, but designed by human minds, was — James S.A. Corey
There were children playing on the commons. He thought of them as children, though he remembered thinking of himself as an adult at that age. Fifteen, sixteen years old. — James S.A. Corey
Russian," she replied with a nod. "Born in Kimry. But a Muscovite for most of my adult life. North American?" "Montana. Farming collective." "I hear Montana is nice. — James S.A. Corey
If you don't have the data you need, play with the data you have, see if something comes out of it. — James S.A. Corey
Figure two-, three-hundred-kilometer-an-hour winds, lightning, torrential rains. You're far enough inland to avoid the three-kilometer-high tsunami." "Basic wrath of God package, minus drowning, — James S.A. Corey
Io, this is Admiral Muhan of the Martian Congressional Republic Navy. You fire anything bigger than a bottle rocket and we will glass the whole fucking moon. Do you read me? — James S.A. Corey
There aren't any new starts," Bobbie said. "All the new ones pack the old ones along with them. If we ever really started fresh, it'd mean not having a history anymore. I don't know how to do that. — James S.A. Corey
Probably the most common last words that day were going to be Huh, that's weird. That or Oh shit. — James S.A. Corey
Mentally filed the thought under horrifically inappropriate given the circumstances. — James S.A. Corey
It's what he does. Finds someone who has a sense of ethics and follows their lead," Naomi said. "It's how he tries not to be a monster." "Why would he try not to be a monster?" The sleep-slurred words were like a blanket. "Because he is one," Naomi said, her consciousness flickering across the line. It's why we get along. — James S.A. Corey
You want a beer?" Amos asked. "You're having beer for breakfast?" "Figure it's dinner for you," Amos said. The man was right. Miller needed sleep. He hadn't managed more than a catnap since they'd scuttled the stealth ship, and that had been plagued by strange dreams. He yawned at the thought of yawning, but the tension in his gut said he was more likely to spend the day watching newsfeeds than resting. "It's probably breakfast again," Miller said. "Want some beer for breakfast?" Amos asked. "Sure. — James S.A. Corey
For a moment there, he'd had a vision of the two of them staggering back to the room together, then falling into bed. He'd have hated himself in the morning for taking advantage, but he'd still have done it. — James S.A. Corey
Holden thought he had probably been a very good scientist. Thrilled by small victories, undeterred by setbacks. — James S.A. Corey
Tilly screamed. Anna's shocked brain only registered annoyance at the sound. Really, when had someone screaming ever solved a problem? She recognized her fixation on this irritation as her own way of avoiding the horror in front of her, but only in a distant and dreamy sort of way. — James S.A. Corey
What kind of half-assed apocalypse are they running down there?" Amos said. "Give 'em a break. It's their first. — James S.A. Corey
It's a war. Wars aren't like that." "Aren't like what?" Roberts said. "Aren't like stories about wars," Vandercaust answered solemnly. "Stories about wars come after. — James S.A. Corey
There was an old joke. Miller didn't remember where he'd heard it. Girl's at her own father's funeral, meets this really cute guy. They talk, hit it off, but he leaves before she can get his number. Girl doesn't know how to track the guy down. So a week later, she kills her mom. Big laugh. — James S.A. Corey
Have you ever known anyone this wealthy to go to jail? Or even be prosecuted? This guy could probably walk in here and shoot you in the face on a live newsfeed and get away with it. — James S.A. Corey
Well", Holden said, his voice grim, "we have a major problem. We're out of coffee."
"We still got beer," Amos said.
"Yes," Holden said. "But beer is not coffee. — James S.A. Corey
In her prison gown, she looked like a ghost. Something already dead that hadn't stopped moving yet. Which, he figured, might be accurate. — James S.A. Corey
Like any other ship that flew the space lanes, the Knight was hardened against radiation. You couldn't get anywhere near Jupiter's massive radiation belt unless you were. — James S.A. Corey
To be monitoring anything we fucking say. If you wanted to discuss menstruation at great length and detail, this is probably our best chance. He's always been squeamish about women, and no one likes a Peeping Tom, even if he is prime minister. — James S.A. Corey
Shit," Amos said. "And here I was enjoying being so absolutely thumb-up-the-ass useless." "You — James S.A. Corey
The advantage of being in command of all the guns was that no matter how nicely you asked for something, it was still an order. — James S.A. Corey
epicanthic fold. — James S.A. Corey
You think somebody built those towers and structures and then just left? This whole planet is a murder scene. An empty apartment with warm food on the table and all the clothes still in the closets. This is some Croatoan shit." "The — James S.A. Corey
You want a shadow, you got to have light and something to get in its way. — James S.A. Corey
She had seen Holden on the newsfeeds and reports. At the beginning of the war between Mars and the Belt, he had been the most important man in the solar system, and the celebrity, while it had waxed and waned over the years, had never gone away. James Holden was an icon. For some, he was the symbol of the triumph of the single ship over governments and corporations. For others, he was an agent of chaos who started wars and threatened stability in the name of ideological purity. But whatever people thought he meant, there was no question that he was important. He was the man who'd saved Earth from the protomolecule. He was the man who'd brought down Mao-Kwikowski. Who'd made the first contact with the alien artifact and opened the gates that led to a thousand different worlds. In person, he looked different — James S.A. Corey
He remembered the old-timers from his navy days. Grizzled lifers who could soundly sleep while two meters away their shipmates played a raucous game of poker or watched the vids with the volume all the way up. Back then he'd assumed it was just learned behavior, the body adapting so it could get enough rest in an environment that never really had downtime. Now he wondered if those vets found the constant noise preferable. A way to keep their lost shipmates away. They probably went home after their twenty and never slept again. — James S.A. Corey
Hopefully a preacher didn't need anyone murdered. — James S.A. Corey
When you got right down to it, humans were still just curious monkeys. They still had to poke everything they found with a stick to see what it did. The — James S.A. Corey
All beautiful things should have just a little sorrow about them. Made them seem real. — James S.A. Corey
They say revenge is empty." "This is my first try at it," Holden said. "Forgive me if my opinions on it are fairly unformed. — James S.A. Corey
Generation ship," Holden said. "Something like that will give us the stars." "Or a lonely death on a long trip to nowhere," Miller replied. "You — James S.A. Corey
But, Bobbie? Really, really don't die out there." "No one lives forever, sir," Bobbie said, "but as long as it doesn't compromise the mission, I'll try to live through it." "Thanks. — James S.A. Corey
Fayez whistled low. That is not dead which can eternal lie. Or, y'know, whatever. — James S.A. Corey
I love the period of rotation. Thirty hours. You can get in a full day's work, stay up getting drunk at the saloon, and still get a full night's sleep. I don't know why we didn't think of this back home. — James S.A. Corey
The man starts wars all the fucking time, only this time, when I needed a little conflict? Now he's the fucking peacemaker. — James S.A. Corey
The keel-mounted rail gun pushed the whole ship backward in a solid mathematical relationship to the mass of the two-kilo tungsten round moving at a measurable fraction of c. Newton's third law expressed as violence. Holden's — James S.A. Corey
My love is a pure love," Alex said with a grin. "I wouldn't sully it by actually, you know, doin' anything about it." "The kind poets write about, then. — James S.A. Corey
Jim, they make these things not to be fiddled with. The civilian version of this device fuses itself into a solid lump of silicon if it thinks it's being tampered with. Who knows what the military version of the fail-safe is? Drop the magnetic bottle in the reactor? Turn us into a supernova? — James S.A. Corey
Miller and the new man nodded to each other. The girl tugged at her father's sleeve, demanding his attention. Miller looked at her - dark eyes, pale hair, smooth skin. She was already too tall to be mistaken for an Earth child, her limbs longer and thinner. Her skin had the pink flush of Belter babies, which came with the pharmaceutical cocktail that assured that their muscles and bones would grow strong. Miller saw the father notice his attention. Miller smiled and nodded toward the kid. How — James S.A. Corey
Under the best conditions, disasters and plagues did that. It wasn't universally true. There would always be hoarders and price gouging, people who closed their doors to refugees and left them freezing and starving. But the impulse to help was there too. To carry a burden together, even if it meant having less for yourself. — James S.A. Corey
Everyone's got history," Baasen said amiably. "Man still has to work, whatever's in his past, eh? — James S.A. Corey
I don't understand," Holden said. "If you didn't do this, then who did?"
"See now, that's a good question, on several levels. Depending on what you mean by 'this. — James S.A. Corey
Your fancy alien train is broken?"
"My fancy alien material transfer system has been sitting unused for over a billion years and half the planet just exploded. Your ship was built less than a decade ago and you can barely keep the coffee pot running."
"You are a sad, bitter little man. — James S.A. Corey
Acceleration is pressing his eyeballs out of their right shape. High tech astigmatism. — James S.A. Corey
There is a civilization out there that built the protomolecule and hurled it at us over two billion years ago. They were already gods at that point. — James S.A. Corey
Seemed like a fact of the universe that the closer you got to anything, the worse it looked. Take the most beautiful person in the solar system, zoom in on them at the right magnification and they were an apocalyptic cratered landscape crawling with horrors. That's what the Earth was. A shining jewel from space, up close a blasted landscape covered with mites living by devouring the dying. "One ticket to New York," he said to the automated kiosk. — James S.A. Corey
But Basia had come to view power as a precious and irreplaceable resource. Not something he'd ever needed to do in the age of readily available fusion. — James S.A. Corey
So how did you wind up joining the Rebellion?"
"An old guy and a kid were looking for a ride and I needed the money," Han said. "After that, it was just bad luck. — James S.A. Corey
Maybe he should have rallied, risen to the occasion like the rest of them. The truth was the thought made him tired. Shaddid — James S.A. Corey
I'll go be a revolutionary for a while, I guess." "Earthman's — James S.A. Corey
There was something liberating and terrifying about the first day on a new job. In any new assignment, Bobbie had always had the unsettling feeling that she was in over her head, that she wouldn't know how to do any of the things they would ask her to do, that she would dress wrong or say the wrong thing, or that everyone would hate her. But no matter how strong that feeling was, it was overshadowed by the sense that with a new job came the chance to totally recreate herself in whatever image she chose, that - at least for a little while - her options were infinite. — James S.A. Corey
Fred's vacuum-rated armor protected him from the smell of viscera, but it reported it to him as a slight increase in atmospheric methane levels. The stench of death reduced to a data point. — James S.A. Corey
Catastrophe was just one part of what always happened. It was a prelude to what came next. — James S.A. Corey
Maybe one sad detective pulling a nuclear weapon on a wagon would slip through their defenses. — James S.A. Corey
Cioran, bureaucratic heart of the Empire. Or if not heart, kidney. Maybe small bowel. — James S.A. Corey
But, like so many things in life, when you come to the spot where you're supposed to do the rituals, you do them. — James S.A. Corey
Don't think about the odds," Bobbie said. "Think about the stakes. Think how much we lose if we take the risk and it goes wrong. — James S.A. Corey
No one lived forever. But you fought for every minute you could get. Bought a little more with a lot of hard work. — James S.A. Corey
Amos and Naomi were at a table in a corner. No sign of Alex. No sign of Holden. That made it easier. Not easy, but closer. He made his way toward them. Naomi saw him first, and Miller read the discomfort in her expression, covered over as quickly as it appeared. Amos turned to see what she'd been reacting to, and the corners of his mouth and eyes didn't shift into a frown or a smile. Miller scratched his arm even though it didn't itch. — James S.A. Corey
Sure, boss," Havelock said. "Cool as November, smooth as China silk. — James S.A. Corey
Knowing that all you can give isn't enough is its own burden. — James S.A. Corey
The dog-faced, small-cocked, hypocrite bastard son of a weasel and a whore bowed and escorted his wife from the house. — James S.A. Corey
now he was about to be killed because of yet another petty human with more power than sense. It didn't seem fair. — James S.A. Corey
And the moral high ground is a lovely place," Marwick said, as if he were agreeing. "It won't stop a missile, though. — James S.A. Corey
How the fuck do you keep your hair like that? I look like a hedgehog's been humping my skull. — James S.A. Corey
Realizing you've got shit on your fingers is the first step toward washing your hands. — James S.A. Corey
We're not making any official statements, especially when James Holden's in the room. No offense, but your track record for blurting information at inopportune moments is the stuff of legend. — James S.A. Corey
People want Inaros to be a hero, and so what he does, they interpret as heroism." "Even — James S.A. Corey
There's another mess of legal crap just came through from the UN for you." Holden sighed. "Am I supposed to read it?" "Don't see how they can make you," Amos said. "Just thought you'd want to ignore it intentionally." "Thank you. Sort of," Holden — James S.A. Corey
So that was the story of who she was. The one who'd been too sensitive. Too weak. — James S.A. Corey
If we accept the premise that we're always wrong, it really removes the incentive to spend a lot of time trying to make good guesses because even the good guesses turn out to be wrong. So, make plausible guesses ... and tell a good story. — James S.A. Corey
Because we can't just blow up enough things that this becomes a good situation. — James S.A. Corey
Why should going into a firefight, charging into an enemy station filled with people and automatic systems built to kill you, seem less frightening than talking to people who you shipped with for weeks? — James S.A. Corey
Sure," Holden said. "I just needed to feel sorry for myself for a minute. Let's go get killed by the mafia." He — James S.A. Corey
Gah, Prax said, and curled up into a floating fetal ball. — James S.A. Corey
Meditating deeply so that she could really, clearly experience being angry and lonesome and hurt and horror-struck never seemed as good as a strong gin and tonic and another hour of work. — James S.A. Corey
The tube station that arrived from the port had six wide doors, which emptied to the casino floor. Miller accepted a drink from a tired-looking woman in a G-string and bared breasts and found a screen to stand at that afforded him a view of all six doors. — James S.A. Corey
He saw his coming death, and wasn't afraid of it anymore. He'd miss all the good stuff to follow, but he'd help make it happen. And a very good person loved him. It was more than most people got in a lifetime. — James S.A. Corey
The man he'd once been wasn't a collection of personality traits. He was the things he knew, the desires of his heart, the skills he had. — James S.A. Corey
A near-fatal case of scurvy being the only reason I can imagine drinking something with grapefruit juice in it. — James S.A. Corey