One maneuvers to the limit, but the golden moment demands action. If you miss it, the gods damn you forever. and vice versa. - Lois McMaster Bujold

“Don’t be afraid,” she said. “The dead cannot hurt you. They give you no pain, except that of seeing your own death in their faces. And one can face that, I find.”
Yes, he thought, the good face pain. But the great—they embrace it.

“Suffering bastard.”
“I thought you saw meaning in that sort of thing,” said Vorkosigan.
“In the abstract. Most days it’s just stumbling around in the dark with the rest of creation, smashing into things and wondering why it hurts.”

“Power is safety.”
“Let me give you a hint,” said Miles. “There is no safety. Only varying states of risk. And failure.”