It still felt like hauling buckets from a well of memory with a rope that burned his hands. - Lois McMaster Bujold

All the worry people expend over not existing after they die, yet nary a one ever seems to spare a moment to worry about not having existed before they were conceived. Or at all. After all, one sperm over and we would have been our sisters, and we’d never have been missed.

Government by thugs in the Bloody Centuries gave Barrayar many colorful historical incidents, suitable for high drama. I don’t think it’s a drama we wish to return to in real life.

It didn’t seem wise to assume all had gone as planned.