James S. A. Corey Quotes

Nothing humans can touch goes unmodified.

“Optimism is for assholes,” Miller said with a laugh.

You mean what did you let yourself in for?
Yeah.
Too late to turn back now.
I know. I'm just not feeling great.
You want bullshit happy mouth noises, or the truth.
Bullshit happy mouth noises.
It's great," Miller said without missing a beat. "It's having a long restful sleep full of interesting, vivid dreams.
A cramp ran through Jim's gut, sharp as a screwdriver. "You're right. That does sound great," he said through clenched teeth. "I really think I'm going to like that.

“No, that was real,” Miller said. “Just a little reminder that we’re out of our depth here.”
“Didn’t need it. Was clear,” Jim said.

You make it sound like there's a later in the game.
Miller's smile was enigmatic, and it looked a little like sorrow by the time it reached his eyes. "Until death all is life.

Portraits of great war leaders or critical battles that looked flattering, well composed, and balanced always felt like propaganda. Tanaka had spent a lot of time in the halls of power. She’d seen many paintings of great men in uniform staring eagle-eyed into the distance where their future glory lay. She’d seen very few paintings of soldiers with only a ragged tent and a dying fire to hold back the cold nights before some stranger tried to bayonet them in the morning.

There's sensor data already? I mean, I figured there'd be a few hours at least before they gathered enough to have a meeting about.
When people don't know anything," Amos said, "they love having meetings to talk about it.

Are you sure it was him?" Teresa asked.
Provable? No. Silly to assume anything different? Yes. At this point I'd need evidence that it wasn't Duarte before I'd entertain it seriously. I hear hoofbeats, I'm still thinking horses at this point.

It would have worked," she said. "If we'd cooperated, it would have worked.
It would have been better.
I think about all the things we could have done, all the miracles we could have achieved, if we were all just a little bit better than it turns out we are.

Your Dad's going to be different. But if anything about him is what it used to be? That part'll be how he felt about you.
That's sweet," Teresa said. "And complete bullshit.
You don't know. Until you have a kid, you won't. I will plant my flag on that one. The love of a parent for their kid is the last thing to go.

She was reaching for supernatural answers when memory and mundanity were enough.

Jim’s sigh was soft, gentle. It would have been less devastating if she hadn’t heard the despair under it. “Detective Miller once told me, ‘We don’t have a right thing, just a plateful of a little less wrong.’”
“Yeah, but he was an asshole.”

Instead of actual experiential reports, Tanaka and her team gave versions of their own. Elvi had been in academics long enough to recognize when someone was glossing over data and skipping straight to interpretation. It almost always meant they were avoiding something they found unpalatable.

This was a new variation, but that was all. She wanted to believe that, and like anything she fund herself wanting to be true, she forced herself to double-check it.

They're people," Naomi said, exhaustion in her tone. "We're trying to do all of this with humans. Shortsightedness is coded in our DNA.