Harry Turtledove Quotes

Won't it be fine, getting to spend Christmas somewhere near the edge of civilization?" "Yes, sir," his aide-de-camp agreed enthusiastically. "If El Paso isn't civilization, at least it's on the railroad line to it.

“You’re a Democrat, aren’t you general?” somebody asked.
“What sensible man isn’t?” Custer returned.

Anxious, he asked, “My dear, how are you?”
“As the good Lord meant me to be,” she answered, to which he found no response. She went on, “Pretty soon I’ll see Him face-to-face, and I intend to have a good long talk with Him about the way things do go on in this here world.”
“Good,” Douglass said. “I’m sure He could have made a much better job of things had He had you to advise Him.”

Longstreet, as far as Jackson was concerned, made a better politician than a soldier; he was full of the deviousness politics required.

Courage and the goodness of one’s cause, unfortunately, do not always go hand in hand.

When was the last time you heard a Republican speak up for a fair shake for the working man or for justice and equality for all men? Those are the ideals we espoused when we were young. Have they changed from boons to evils as we grew old?

Impasse. Stuart hated impasses. He hated ambiguity of any kind. The older he got, the more ambiguity he saw in the world. He hated that, too.

You done opened my eyes, and I reckon I can go and open some other folks' eyes my own self. You got yourself a—what's the Bible word?—A disciple, that's what it is." "Good luck to you, Mr. Blackford," Lincoln said. "Be the truth's disciple, not mine. Follow the truth, wherever it may lead you.

Give me two synonyms for 'idiots,'" Clemens said, and then gave them himself: "'Fools' and 'Republicans.'

We must deal with life as it is, not with life as we wish it were or as it may be ten years or fifty years from now.

Martyrdom was easier to contemplate in the abstract than to embrace in the flesh.

Apart from the Volunteer companies, a lot of men in San Francisco carried guns for self-protection—not least, for protection from other men carrying guns.

An army that was winning had little backbiting. When things went wrong, everyone was at pains to prove the misfortune could not possibly have been his fault.

The worst revolutionaries today are those reactionaries who do not see and will not admit that there is any need for change.

We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some, the word means for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and with the product of his labor. With others, the same word means for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor. The fullness of time, I am convinced, will prove to the world which is the true definition of the word, and my earnest hope remains that the United States of America show yet lead the way in the proving.