Robinette Quotes & Sayings

I must not undervalue my work simply because I enjoy it. A working artist understands his worth and lives by it. — Mary Robinette Kowal

He thinks I should go." My chest hurt even considering it. But I couldn't stop thinking about the mission. "He knows it's the only way I'll get back into space. — Mary Robinette Kowal

As the family sat in the drawing room after their nuncheon, — Mary Robinette Kowal

Perfection is different to every viewer. — Mary Robinette Kowal

It's not publishing that matters; it's not writing that matters. What matters is feeling alive while writing, washing dishes, driving, etc. Writing just gives you a solid place to land some of that God energy that is already within you. — Barbara Robinette Moss

There's no present left. This is the problem for a novelist. [The problem] is the present is gone. We're all living in the future constantly ... Back in the day Leo Tolstoy
what a sweetheart of a count and of a writer
in the 1860's he wanted to write about the Napoleonic Campaign, about 1812. If you write about 1812 in 1860, a horse is still a horse. A carriage is still a carriage. Obviously, there are been some technological advancements, et cetera, but you don't have to worry about explaining the next killer [iPhone] app or the next Facebook because right now things are happening so quickly. ("Gary Shteyngart: Finding 'Love' In A Dismal Future", NPR interview, August 2, 2010) — Gary Shteyngart

If you don't know by now, you own me, heart, mind, body, and soul — Mary Robinette Kowal

Comedy is king. It has to be. — Steve Pink

There then passed a period of time in which Jane said many unutterable things. — Mary Robinette Kowal

Every symphony, for example, is a sonata for orchestra; every string quartet is a sonata for four strings; every concerto a sonata for a solo instrument and orchestra. — Aaron Copland

Nothing today had done her any real harm, yet she felt as though her nerves had been flayed and left out for the tanner. — Mary Robinette Kowal

...you must not depreciate the power of well-fitted breeches upon a lady's admiration. — Mary Robinette Kowal

The mind is a dynamo in the dark, an engine endlessly running, powering nothing. It thrashes in the night, seeking daylight, inventing its own. — John Jackson Miller

Fiction is people having extraordinary reactions to ordinary things, but in genre fiction, they have ordinary reactions to extraordinary things. — Mary Robinette Kowal

We don't have to make the bible relevant-it is-but we have to show its relevance. What is irrelevant, in my opinion, is our style of communicating it. We are tending to still use the style from 50 years back that doesn't match who we are trying to reach today. — Rick Warren

I wanted to. I wanted to get off the planet and back into space and not have to watch him die. Not have to watch him lose control of his body piece by piece.

And I wanted to stay here and be with him and steal every moment left that he had breath in his body. — Mary Robinette Kowal

What is the point of magic if we can't fix real problems? — Lev Grossman

Mama! They must take ship. It is an island. One does not simply walk into Murano. — Mary Robinette Kowal

One must not put trust in novelists, Beth; they create worlds to fit their own needs and drive their characters mad in doing it. — Mary Robinette Kowal

Writers fly with imaginary wings. — Melody Robinette

It's not about adding diversity for the sake of diversity, it's about subtracting homogeneity for the sake of realism. — Mary Robinette Kowal

I've left it unedited, which means you'll get to see the [brackets] I insert to remind myself to research things or fix things later. In this case, I fixed things by writing a different story. — Mary Robinette Kowal

I need to think about this."

"I know."

Then I closed my eyes and realized that I had to say no. It didn't matter how I felt about the trip or the chance to get back into space. The launch date he was talking about meant I'd have to go into training now. "I can't." I opened my eyes and stared at the wall where the publicity still of me and Nathaniel hung. "I have to turn it down."

"Talk to Nathaniel."

I grimaced. He would tell me to take it. "I can't. — Mary Robinette Kowal

My neighbours porch light flickered on. My eyes darted down the street.
"Can we go inside before someone calls the police?" I asked.
"I am the police," Nathan reminded me. — Elicia Hyder

Jane shared his sentiment, but was hard-pressed not to laugh at her husband's inventive turns of phrase - her favourite was "goat-licking amateur," followed closely by "mongrel's handmaiden. — Mary Robinette Kowal

It's a hard thing to look at something you want and to know that the right choice is to turn it down. — Mary Robinette Kowal

She sorted through the mail and held one elegant, hot-pressed envelope out to Jane. "Here is one for David. Would you prefer me to leave it here, or have it sent over to him? — Mary Robinette Kowal

Success isn't measured by money or power or social rank. Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. — Mike Ditka

She sighed to cover her agitation. "You are insufferable." "I prefer 'inscrutable.'" He smiled, softening a little at her teasing tone, and because she had allowed the change of topic. "Inexplicable would be more accurate." "Inconceivable!" She rested her hand on her ever-increasing stomach. "Not any longer." He laughed and kissed her on the forehead. "I do not think that word means what you think it means." "Humph!" But Jane was delighted that she had managed to make him laugh. — Mary Robinette Kowal

Then Sister Aquinata abandoned the nonviolent methods and produced a rolling pin from somewhere. — Mary Robinette Kowal

Writing fiction is one of the greatest forms of empathy. It's not enough to simply write from the perspective of your characters...you have to feel what they feel. — Melody Robinette

Everyone could have been pre-eminent at something, if they had been aware of their best quality. — Baltasar Gracian

The difference between fanfic and a "real" novel is that fanfic is honest about its inspiration. — Mary Robinette Kowal

Failure is that from which we learn, Successes are nothing more than a proper mixture of luck and timing. — Daniel Robinette