Harry Turtledove Quotes

“I must conclude that my views on the subject are also the views of the large majority of the American people.”
That was probably true. Because of it, Flora did not have a good opinion of the political wisdom of the large majority of the American people. Nationalism kept too many from voting their class interests.

When he came up for air, he gasped, “You never kissed me like that before.”
“Well, you never asked me to marry you before, either,” Rita answered.
He laughed. They kissed again. Heart pounding, he asked, “What else don’t I know?”
“You’ll find out,” she said. “After the wedding.”

But no line of ferocious, lean-faced, swarthy Spaniards appeared. Shouts and cries and the harsh snarl of gunfire suggested the dons were busy, desperately busy, elsewhere in London. When chance swept Shakespeare and Richard Burbage together for a moment, the player said, "Belike they'll make a stand at the tower." "Likely so," Shakespeare agreed unhappily. Those frowning walls had been made to hold back an army, and this... thing he was a part of was anything but. Up Tower Hill, where he'd watched the auto de fe almost a year before. A great roar, a roar full of triumph, rose from the men in front of him as they passed the crest of the hill and swept on towards the Tower Ditch and the walls beyond. And when Shakespeare crested the hill himself, he looked ahead and roared too, in joy and amazement and suddenly flaring hope. Will Kemp had been right, right and more than right. All the gates to the Tower of London stood open.

Soldiers don’t make policy. We only carry it out, and get blamed when it goes wrong.

She knew the sea too well ever to trust it.

Still very erect, he saluted his men. Some of them cried out his name. Others let loose with what they still called the Rebel yell. Tears now streaming down his face, Patton waited for the tumult to die down a little. Then he stepped into the ragged ranks of the rest of the POWs. Defeated Confederate soldiers shook his hand and embraced him.

Foolishness," Ulric Skakki said. "Everything that goes on between men and women is full of foolishness.

The ability to see what is, sir, is essential for the leader of a great nation.

When war reached out its hand, what did wealth and power matter? A fool with a gun could take them away. A fool with a gun had just taken them away.

“God done made this happen. He kin make us come through it, too, so long as He take it in His mind He want to do dat.”
“Amen,” Athenaeus said. Scipio made himself nod. He didn’t want to seem out of place—seeming out of place was one of his greatest fears, because it was deadly dangerous. But if God had really wanted to do something about this disaster, couldn’t He have stopped it in the first place?

They eyed each other in perfect mutual incomprehension.

Fiction has to be plausible. All history has to do is happen.

How am I supposed to surprise you, Lucius?" He spread his hands and shrugged. "As long as we've been married, and you still expect to surprise me? You make me happy. That is enough, and more than enough. What do I need of surprises?

Early summer in Nashville made a good practice ground for hell.

Agnes might know what she was doing heading into this marriage, but he didn’t. He had no clue; marriage wasn’t part of the curriculum at West Point. Maybe it should be, he thought. It might not produce better officers, but was very likely to produce happier ones.