He had no wish to be killed by a bogle in which he resolutely did not believe. - C. J. Cherryh

“You’ve behaved very highhandedly, Captain Mallory. Is that the custom out here?”
“The custom is, sir, that those who know a situation handle it and those who don’t watch and learn, or get out of the way.”

"Is that the end," asked Melein, "of all the races and the civilizations, and the dreams of the world, to be able to leave a few stones buried beneath the sands, to tell the Dark that we were here?"

A fine lady she weren't, oh, but a damn fine woman and a brave one....