Galactic Heroes Quotes

it’s the ones who empower a dictator who deserve most of the blame. But the ones who don’t support him actively—who watch it happening without saying anything—they’re just as much to blame.

I guess it’s true what they say, that a child is as mature as his parents are incompetent.” Yang

Two things are essential for getting people to trust in the system: fair courts and equally fair taxation. Just these two.” In

In Trout's novel, The Pan-Galactic Memory Bank, the hero is on a space ship two hundred miles long and sixty-two miles in diameter. He gets a realistic novel out of the branch library in his neighborhood. He reads about sixty pages of it, and then he takes it back. The librarian asks him why he doesn't like it, and he says to her, 'I already know about human beings.

When political authority and journalism colluded with one another, democracy lost its ability to critique and cleanse itself, allowing a deadly infection to take root.

Zu jeder Zeit, an jedem Ort, bleibt das Tun der Menschen das Gleiche.

A wise man recognizes difficulty, but a fool sees nothing as impossible.

Why do dictators come to power? Because the people wanted to have an easy life. They did not want to solve their own problems by their own effort. They were all waiting for some saint or superman to show up from somewhere and shoulder all their troubles by himself. And that's what dictators took advantage of. It's the ones who empower a dictator who deserve most of the blame. But the ones who don't support him actively - who watch it happening without saying anything - they'e just as much to blame.

I've studied a little history. That's how I learned this: In human society, there are two main school of thought. One says there are things that are more valuable than life, and the other says that nothing is more important. When people go to war, they use the former as an excuse, and when they stop fighting , they give the latter as the reason.

Do you know the difference between a hero and a martyr?” Quentin shook his head. “A hero is alive,” Father Harry said. “A martyr is not.

Society gained more by not placing excessive power in the hands of mediocre politicians than it lost by limiting the power of great heroes and statesmen who might or might not appear once every few centuries.

The fundamental nature of combat hasn't changed at all since three, four thousand years ago. Before you get to the battlefield, resupply is what counts. And after you get there, it's the quality of the commanders. Victory or defeat hinges on these two things.

Choosing between a corrupt democracy or a virtuous dictatorship was one of the most difficult dilemmas faced by human society. The people of the Galactic Empire were fortunate in being delivered from what was inarguably the worst condition: a corrupt autocracy.

Want to die to atone for defeat in battle? Fine and dandy. But if you're gonna do that, why can't you just die alone? Why take your subordinates with you by force? It's because of men like this that the war can't end. I've had enough. Enough of dealing with men like this.

I agree with Kilgore Trout about realistic novels and their accumulations of nit-picking details. In Trout’s novel, The Pan-Galactic Memory Bank, the hero is on a space ship two hundred miles long and sixty-two miles in diameter. He gets a realistic novel out of the branch library in his neighborhood. He reads about sixty pages of it, and then he takes it back. The librarian asks him why he doesn’t like it, and he says to her, “I already know about human beings.

I could go on and on with the intimate details about the various lives of people on the super-ambulance, but what good is more information? I agree with Kilgore Trout about realistic novels and their accumulations of nit-picking details. In Trout's novel, 'The Pan-Galactic Memory Bank,' the hero is on a space ship two hundred miles long and sixty-two miles in diameter. He gets a realistic novel out of the branch library in his neighborhood. He reads about sixty pages of it, and then he takes it back. The librarian asks him why he doesn't like it, and he says to her, 'I already know about human beings.

want to do some kind of work within the range that I’m able and then live a relaxed, easygoing life—is that what they call lazy by nature?

fundamentally, people do not prefer independent thought and the accompanying responsibility, but rather orders, subordination, and the accompanying exemption from responsibility. In a popular democracy, the masses who elect unfit rulers are to blame for bad government, but that is not the case in a monarchy. Rather than reflecting upon their own mistakes, the people are free to enjoy speaking ill of leaders who are even more irresponsible than they.

Before you promise freedom and equality, can you promise bread and milk?

he felt like he had to do something. In addition to feeling depressed,

Although he wasn’t trying to disavow religion, there was something immoral about any religious organization desirous of political authority.

Where normally one car was standard, such protection increased in proportion to a decline in governability.

What’re politics to us?”—The very question proclaimed that its askers would be deprived of their rights. Politics always gets its revenge on those who scorn it. Anyone with the slightest imagination should understand as much.

Maybe Trünicht was to society what a cancer cell could be to the body—consuming the healthy cells’ nutrition so that it alone would multiply, grow stronger and bigger, and at last kill its host. Trünicht would agitate for war one day, insist on democracy the next, and steadily increase his power and influence while never taking responsibility for anything he said. Therefore, the stronger he got, the weaker society would become, until he would finally consume it.

You did a fine job with those science nerds over the course of this past year, John. Very fine job. Nothing but praise from the lot of them. Well done.” His thick English accent had a soothing effect every time he spoke. John remembered him fondly as a young man. His father and the Admiral had gone to the academy together and served side by side for many years before John’s father met an untimely death. Sitting here with him now and listening to him speak brought him back to those simpler times. “I was just doing my duty, Sir.” “Oh come now. You know and I know that there isn’t a bloody captain in this entire fleet that wanted that assignment. There isn’t a bit of action when you have the lot of them aboard. And on a bloody science mission besides. No, no, you are a real hero for saving all of us from having to do such a duty. And for a year! Bloody hell.” He opened up a drawer and pulled out two thick, stubby glasses, and then extracted a bottle of rum. Of course he brought out the rum. “I suppose you heard that we’ve been hard at work getting our first Deep Space Class starship ready to launch this year?” he asked as he filled both glasses half full with the amber liquid. He Offered one glass to John who took it with reluctance. He had never been one who liked liquor. “Heard she’s a beauty. The engine is something of a marvel as well?” “Damn straight,” he said as he downed his first glass in one pull. He filled his glass up half full for round two. “Currently our fastest ship will get you to the Wild Space region in twenty years. This buggers going to do it in six months and I’d like you to take her out on her maiden voyage.” John sat back in shock. The thought of taking out the prototype of the future… it was a great honor and one that hundreds of captains in star fleet would give anything for. He certainly wasn’t worthy of such an honor. He didn’t have nearly the amount of years as everyone else in the fleet. “I don’t think it’d be right to accept, would it? I mean… there are some captains who’ve…” “Bumshnickles!” he shouted. “Your father was the captain of the first Earth Starship Independence. It’s only right that the second to bear her name should have an Avery in the chair.

It was no fun at all watching events heading straight off in the direction of “Boy, I sure hope that doesn’t happen.” My

Faith is nothing more than a cosmetic used to cover up the blemishes of indiscretion and folly. The thicker the cosmetics, the more difficult it is to see the face underneath.

Killing someone in the name of faith is more vulgar than killing someone for money, for while money has common value to most people, the value of faith goes no further than those it concerns.

Reinhard von Lohengramm was a foe of republican democracy in the gravest sense—not because he was a cruel and stupid ruler, but because he was just the opposite. The polar opposite of democratic republicanism is the longing for a savior—the idea that, because the people lack the ability to reform society, right its wrongs, and resolve its inconsistencies, they must await the arrival of a transcendental “great man.

It is an attitude of dependency—a belief that even if one does nothing for oneself, a legendary hero will one day appear to slay the dragon—and it is entirely incompatible with what Ahle Heinessen taught, namely, self-determination, self-governance, self-control, and self-respect.

To be misunderstood by the older generation is the fate of every young revolutionary. Let us rise together, comrades, and sweep them into our memories of the past.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes:

Perhaps the Creator was evenhanded after all—in treating all his creations with equal malice.

Matching wits with a mighty commander is an honor for a warrior, but suppressing a popular uprising is work fit only for dogs.

those with designs on the future couldn’t get there without knowing the blueprints of the past.

He shook his head in exasperation. “You know, Julian, things don’t always go the way you’d like them to at first.” “But over time…?” “They usually get worse.” Poplin pointed to a group of imperial soldiers taking full advantage of their heavy artillery to barrel their way through the cross fire.

A capable man in times of peace reveals his true colors in times of crisis.

It’s true that I lost you. But compared to never having you at all, I was truly blessed. You might have killed millions, but you made me, at least, very happy.

Why had he accepted without hesitation that the word “future” contained a thousand possibilities, and that the fulfillment of ambition was synonymous with happiness?

looked down with supreme calm at the holes in his uniform, already splattered with blood. Then he turned his gaze to the men who had shot him and said, “Cut it out. Don’t you know that hurts?

This was the last thing the young admiral had wanted, and these days the brandy content of his tea was only increasing.

In turbulent times, the relationship between an ambitious lord and a capable minister is often as perilous as riding a unicycle along the blade of a sword.

Von Goldenbaum's ascension was striking historical evidence that, fundamentally, people do not prefer independent thought and the accompanying responsibility, but rather orders, aubordination, and the accompanying exemption from responsibility. In a popular democracy, the masses who elect unfit rulers are to blame for bad government, but that is not the case in a monarchy. Rather than reflecting upon their own mistakes, the people are free to enjoy speaking ill of leaders who are even more irresponsible than they.

Before you give us any kind of political rights, we'd appreciate it if you'd give us the right to live first. We've got no food here. There's no milk for our babies. The military took it all when they left. Before you promise freedom and equality, can you promise bread and milk?

In every time, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same.

People lost sight of their proper values and gave themselves over to drug abuse, alcoholism, promiscuity, and mysticism.

With one finger, Yang Wen-li was capable of mobilizing a giant fleet of tens of thousands of ships in battlespaces all across the universe. And yet, this young man, who had originally aspired to be a historian, wasn’t the main actor in every scene of this drama called life. In some, he was the ham actor who couldn’t wrap a tongue around his lines to save his life.

In the Troopers, it’s always Bowb Your Buddy Week.” Bill, the Galactic Hero

A mouse’s intellect cannot comprehend a lion’s heart.