Charles E. Gannon Quotes

But then again, discipline and its trappings—ranks, protocols, traditions—did not define the difference between a soldier and a civilian. The difference was in outlook. Brilliant civilian researcher Hirano Mizuki stared into the shadowy reaches of alien underbrush and saw no reason for caution. Caine, on the other hand, saw an unguarded perimeter in unexplored terrain that might conceal unknown threats.

And saying that doesn't get you in trouble, does it?
His smile broadened. "Nope. Not a bit." He straightened up, stuck out his hand. "I'm glad I was able to come and give you the inside scoop on—absolutely nothing. And on the people who have absolutely nothing to do with it."
Caine smiled. "Your failure to impart any information has been very illuminating.

Human, do you derive some strange pleasure by using different words to reiterate the same misperceptions?

I do not disagree with you, Bannor Rulaine. But in my culture, when tradition is challenged by law, the law is often twisted, construed, and reconstrued until it can be made to conform with tradition. I believe your word for this is teleology: where a result is decided before the process debate or discovery is initiated.
O'Garran snorted. "Fancy word for saying, 'they're going to have it their way, no matter what.'

You’re very cheery. Too cheery. So I’m guessing today’s news is bad.

I could offer considerable inducements. I can arrange for a new mate who is, in all meaningful measures, superior to the one you are currently pursuing. You look unimpressed. Ah, multiple mates, then? Within reason, I am quite certain I can procure—"
Riordan was careful to keep his interruption calm. "I am not interested in other mates."
"Ah. Well. I am also able to provide you with material riches. I believe your species persists in its obsession with gold? To use your idiom, I would pay you handsomely for any successful breeding activity. Even if you do not wish to stay afterward."
Riordan forced his molars to unclench.
Uinzleej moved on to his next offer. "What else—ah! Many of your species enjoy hunting. This world is full of creatures you may kill for your gratification.

Would anyone, even low-breeds, be so ingenuous to believe such a tale?
"Remarkably, yes. Their power to believe what they wish, if not given incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, is rather astonishing.

Nice bluff—but I was born on the planet that invented poker.

They still grumbled, of course, but never within his earshot. Besides, grumbling was the true anthem of every military unit that had ever existed. And their current grumbling was simply aimless grousing about the food, the cramped quarters, and anything else that struck them as modestly annoying. It was, in summary, both a harmless and timeless bonding ritual.

They are not speculating upon the mysteries behind us, only upon the possibilities before us.

A sense of humor—bitter or otherwise—is the hallmark of a survivor.

How would you answer their demand for justice and vengeance?
"I would begin by insisting that justice and vengeance are different. Vengeance is often blind to reason: all it can see is the object it hates. Conversely, justice is blind to our preferences and prejudices; all it may see are the deeds and the conditions under which they were carried out.

The reality, both now and historically, was that whatever the future held, change was always uneven in distribution and irregular in timing.

It was the oldest, most primal fear of humankind, inculcated by eons of brutal lessons which, titrated down into their purest form, became age’s invariable advice to youth: beware the things and places you do not know.Because out there, beyond the flickering ring of the tribal fire, on the unlit streets of concrete cities, in the unending depths of space—there lay an unquantifiable, unbounded potential for death.

No: the answer you like the most is the one you should trust the least. Go over the evidence one more time: be sure you haven’t missed something.