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eb24103
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Violence is what people do when they run out of good ideas. It's attractive because it's simple, it's direct, it's almost always available as an option. When you can't think of a good rebuttal for your opponent's argument, you can always punch them in the face.
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James S.A. Corey |
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c3efc59
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You're making a mistake, shithead," Avasarala said, and dropped the connection."
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James S.A. Corey |
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9e5ecc6
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Well, that and a hundred or so gunships," Havelock said. "From what I hear," Miller said, "if you clap your hands and say you believe, they can't shoot you."
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James S.A. Corey |
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9261f43
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Sometimes you don't get redeemed... Not every stain comes out. Sometimes you do something bad enough that you carry the consequences for the rest of your life and take the regrets to the grave. That's your happy ending.
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James S.A. Corey |
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1db57c3
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He looked like a kid who just realized he'd jumped in the deep end of the pool and was trying to figure out whether he should embarrass himself by shouting for help or drown with a little dignity.
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James S.A. Corey |
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d08e2d3
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All of them do what they think is right, and tell themselves that they're moral people with the strength to do the necessary things, however terrible they seem at the time. Every atrocity that has been done to us had someone behind it who thought what they did was justified. And
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James S.A. Corey |
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5453f11
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Meditating deeply so that she could really, clearly experience being angry and lonesome and hurt and horror-struck never seemed as good as a strong gin and tonic and another hour of work.
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James S.A. Corey |
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0bc0b65
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Evolution was a paste-and-baling-wire process that came up with half-assed solutions like pushing teeth through babies' gums and menstruation. Survival of the fittest was a technical term that covered a lot more close-enough-is-close-enough than actual design.
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evolution
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James S.A. Corey |
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87d0cae
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What the Earthers had discovered is that when people have nothing else to do, they have babies.
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James S.A. Corey |
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bf06443
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See, this is why I can't ever be in command," she said. "Don't like making tough calls with incomplete information?" "More I'm not suicidally irresponsible," she replied,"
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James S.A. Corey |
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b48fb29
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Duty isn't a buffet where you pick what you want and ignore the rest.
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James S.A. Corey |
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410f778
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She tapped the red dot on the map that was the Tempest. "Anything you can do, I can do better."
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James S.A. Corey |
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9a20248
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But Holden suspected there was a lot more to Prax than that. There was a relentless forward motion to the man. The universe might knock him down over and over again, but unless he was dead, he'd just keep getting up and shuffling ahead toward his goal. Holden thought he had probably been a very good scientist. Thrilled by small victories, undeterred by setbacks. Plodding along until he got to where he needed to be.
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James S.A. Corey |
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04b8454
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The moral complexity of the situation had grown past his ability to process it, so he just relaxed in the warm glow of victory instead.
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willful-ignorance
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James S.A. Corey |
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ebf7793
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It is true that we do not feel the movement of the earth, but by admitting its immobility we arrive at absurdity, while by admitting its motion (which we do not feel) we arrive at laws," so also in history the new view says: "It is true that we are not conscious of our dependence, but by admitting our free will we arrive at absurdity, while by admitting our dependence on the external world, on time, and on cause, we arrive at laws."
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James S.A. Corey |
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d380fae
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Like a religious fanatic, the man really believed that everything he'd done was justified by his goal in doing it.
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James S.A. Corey |
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5d635bc
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That seemed to be the human pattern--reach out to the unknown and then make it into the sort of thing you left in the first place.
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James S.A. Corey |
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c831189
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I don't kill children," she said. "Not even when it's the right thing to do."
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death
killing-children
right-thing
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James S.A. Corey |
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e21eec8
|
In order to be heard by the oppressing class, one must speak as a member of it. Not only the language, but the diction. The accusation of tyranny, however well-founded in fact, is dismissed unless it is delivered in the manner that power recognizes as powerful.
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James S.A. Corey |
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70e1828
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Maybe it was a cumulative process, like smoking cigarettes. One didn't do much. Five didn't do much more. Every emotion he'd shut down, every human contact he'd spurned, every love and friendship and moment of compassion from which he'd turned had taken him a degree away from himself.
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James S.A. Corey |
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3b9e01d
|
You don't have a right thing, friend," Miller said. "You've got a whole plateful of maybe a little less wrong."
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James S.A. Corey |
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7546fb0
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Alex leaned forward, grabbing Basia's hands in his own. "It's still on you. I will never live down not being the person my wife needed after she spent twenty years waitin' for me. I can never make that right. Don't go feelin' sorry for yourself. You fucked up. You failed the people you love. They're payin' the price for it right now and you demean them every second you don't own that shit."
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James S.A. Corey |
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6752800
|
That seemed to be the human pattern--reach out to the unknown and then make it into the sort of thing you left in the first place. In Holden's experience, humanity's drive out into the universe was maybe one part hunger for adventure and exploration to two parts just wanting to get the hell away from each other.
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human-nature
solitude-and-companionship
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James S.A. Corey |
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0a995ba
|
Fred's vacuum-rated armor protected him from the smell of viscera, but it reported it to him as a slight increase in atmospheric methane levels. The stench of death reduced to a data point.
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data-point
death
methane
viscera
war
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James S.A. Corey |
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aa4239b
|
No one lived forever. But you fought for every minute you could get. Bought a little more with a lot of hard work.
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life
living-forever
time
work
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James S.A. Corey |
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e91472a
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So you're trying to get me prepared for one of my crew dying?" "Historically speaking, humans are pretty much at a hundred percent on that."
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James S.A. Corey |
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3658440
|
Yeah," Alex said in his drawling voice. "I mean, Naomi only got beat half to death. She can cut this Clarissa slack, it's no big deal. But the captain's girlfriend got hurt. He's the real victim here."
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James S.A. Corey |
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4e82ffe
|
Burton had sent Timmy to collect a debt, Timmy had killed the man instead, and Burton hadn't cut him loose. Two points defined a line, but three defined the playing field. Burton didn't always have need of boys like Timmy, but sometimes he did. Right now, he did. Lydia sighed. The churn was coming.
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James S.A. Corey |
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ddf95f5
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Water from Saturn, vegetables and beef from the big mirror-fed greenhouses on Ganymede and Europa, organics from Earth and Mars. Power cells from Io, Helium-3 from the refineries on Rhea and Iapetus. A river of wealth and power unrivaled in human history came through Ceres.
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James S.A. Corey |
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dd610b3
|
by not elaborating, he'd sort of told the truth. The fact was weirdly disturbing.
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James S.A. Corey |
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8bdd4f8
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Prepare us for what?" Holden asked. "To poke gods with a sharp stick?" "No, Captain Holden. No sticks," Duarte said. "When you fight gods, you storm heaven."
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James S.A. Corey |
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132902e
|
Then why do they act like they hate us?" David's father said with something like triumph. "Because that's what fear looks like when it needs someplace to go."
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James S.A. Corey |
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5691d01
|
and the Mark Watney, out of Mars.
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James S.A. Corey |
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6e5891a
|
Reputation never has very much to do with reality,
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James S.A. Corey |
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65af3d7
|
The others had been laughing until Bobbie reminded them that low-power radio wasn't radio silence and politely suggested they all shut the fuck up instead of getting the team killed.
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James S.A. Corey |
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284bfb1
|
Oh, I'm not dying out here," Amos said, and pointed toward the interior of the ship with his chin. "Worst-case scenario, I'm dying inside there."
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James S.A. Corey |
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1dc8d70
|
I thought if you told people facts, they'd draw their conclusions, and because the facts were true, the conclusions mostly would be too. But we don't run on facts. We run on stories about things.
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James S.A. Corey |
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b3aebf2
|
You all right?" He smiled. "Why do you ask?" "Because you're not all right," she said."
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James S.A. Corey |
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52eb465
|
I thought if you told people facts, they'd draw their conclusions, and because the facts were true, the conclusions mostly would be too. But we don't run on facts. We run on stories about things. About people. Naomi
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James S.A. Corey |
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c7e6bc1
|
Baltimore was Earth writ small, crowded and bored. Its citizens were caught between the dismal life of basic and the barriers of class, race, and opportunity, vicious competition and limited resources, that kept all but the most driven from a profession and actual currency.
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James S.A. Corey |
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93be2fa
|
Anyway, that's not what I meant when I said Marco decides when he wins. You don't understand how slippery he can be. Whatever happens, he'll shift so it was his plan all along. If he were the last person alive, he'd say we needed the apocalypse and declare victory. It's what he is.
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James S.A. Corey |
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84b54c2
|
Burton's misfortune was to be born where and when he was, in a city of scars and vice, in an age when the division in the popular mind was between living on government-funded basic support or having an actual profession and money of your own.
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James S.A. Corey |
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4643201
|
We're fine now," Sanjrani said. "We'll be fine for three years. Maybe three and a half. Then the recycling systems stop being able to meet demand. We won't have infrastructure in place to fill the gaps. And then we'll starve. Not just Earth. Not just Mars. The Belt too. And once we start, we'll have no way to stop." "All right," Michio said. "How do we fix it?" "I don't know," Sanjrani said."
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James S.A. Corey |
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35e367f
|
As long as you always see the next step, you can walk the whole way." She"
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James S.A. Corey |