Honorverse favorite one-liners

KNick wrote:

cthia wrote:

I simply must read Crown Of Slaves!

OK cthia. Here's another one from Crown of Slaves.

Michael Oversteegen says to Countess Fraser:

"Because if Anton Zilwiki decides you were responsible for his daughter's death, I can assure you that the man won't be in the least impressed by your official lack of responsibility."[/quote]

Yep, definitely must read it!

cthia wrote:

KNick wrote:
OK cthia. Here's another one from Crown of Slaves.

Michael Oversteegen says to Countess Fraser:

"Because if Anton Zilwiki decides you were responsible for his daughter's death, I can assure you that the man won't be in the least impressed by your official lack of responsibility."

Yep, definitely must read it!

Ah, but let us not forget the immortal, "Get screwed, Deborah."

Or: "...so consider us havin' 'coordinated' - you are a cretin and I told you so - and I will attend t' the Queen's business."

Or... basically every word out of Michael Oversteegen's mouth, actually.

I love that man. If Khumalo were suddenly unavailable courtesy of a particular Imperial Governor I would absolutely marry him.

"as he looked into the unyielding flint of his wife's beloved, almond eyes, he knew he met the Salamander at last"

" he knew now that there was no fire in Hell.There was only the handmaiden of death, and ice, and purpose, and a determination which would not - could not- relent or rest."

Hamish Alexander in Mission of Honor seeing his wife Honor as the Salamander. I think that next few books are going to be really exciting.

Admiral Hamish reflecting on his fleets capabilities to himself before battle at Barnett System. “Thank you, Vice Admiral Adcock, he thought quietly, thinking about those numbers. And you, too, I suppose, Sonja. Thank you very, very much".

I like this one because of all the hard work despite the years of loss of face those two endured is acknowledge by one of their doctrinal rivals who masters their jeune ecole.

Wow, roseandheather, your not so much a shipper as a shipping agency

roseandheather wrote:I love that man. If Khumalo were suddenly unavailable courtesy of a particular Imperial Governor I would absolutely marry him.

Invictus wrote:Wow, roseandheather, your not so much a shipper as a shipping agency

roseandheather wrote:I love that man. If Khumalo were suddenly unavailable courtesy of a particular Imperial Governor I would absolutely marry him.

It may have been bandied about that I will ship anything with a pulse, a working brain, and so much as a line of shared screen time. (Line of shared screen time not required.)

This is, of course, absurd slander.

I will only ship anything with a pulse, a working brain, and a legitimate reason for the shipping. (Line of shared screen time still not required.)

*nose in air*

"I see." LaFollet took two or three more strides, then grinned wryly. "In case I've never mentioned it before, My Lady, you're not very much like a typical Grayson lady. Guns, unarmed combat. . . . Maybe I should hide behind you the next time it hits the fan." "

Honor Among Enemies.

"I may not be devious, Citizen Chairman, but I hope you'll forgive me for saying that everyone knows you are."

(Ernest Takahashi's innocent suggestion that if the Captain objected to "Commanding Officer, LACs," they might try "Commanding Officer, Wing" instead had been rejected with astonishing speed. Even more astonishingly, the lieutenant had survived making it.)

I've been scouring the books for some of my favorites (and I don't think I repeated any from previous posts). Deep breath. Here we go:

1) "Ha! What kind of wuss Marine needs a butter knife to take one miserable bunker? That's what God gave us teeth and fingernails for!"
-- Mateo Gutierrez, SoS

2) "Perhaps our time will be short, but oh, how we shall blaze against the night!"
-- Seeker of Dreams aka Dianchect, "What Price Dreams?" Worlds of Honor

3) "We...are...engineers!"
-- Adam Gerrick, FiE

4) "Your grace, my lords and ladies, ladies and gentlemen all, I give you Steadholder Harrington...and damnation to the Peeps!"
-- Admiral Judah Yanakov, EoH

5) "If you ever mention my uncle to me again, I will personally push your face through the top of this table."
-- Elizabeth Winton, AoV

6) "Ma'am, the Alpha Arrays are reporting—sweet Jesus!" and a bit later in the conversation...
"Ma'am, according to the Alpha Arrays, three hundred-plus unidentified ships just made their alpha translations right on the limit."
-- Chief Petty Officer Bryant Hellerstein, AAC

7) And from the same timeframe (i.e. The First Battle of Manticore)
"It hasn't been declared yet, but we have damned sure got ourselves a Case Zulu, people."

"You bastards just go right ahead and come in on us. Come right ahead. We've got something for you."

-- Admiral Stephania Grimm, Royal Astrogation Control Service, AAC (because Grimm is one of my favorite secondary characters and she doesn't get nearly enough love!)

8) "Let’s do some math here, Brigadier. If two of our ships can kill seventy of yours, and we’ve got five hundred of them, that means we can kill every superdreadnought in Battle Fleet, including the Reserve, about three times each."
-- Commodore Sir Aivars Aleksovitch Terekhov, SoF

9) "You shall winnow them, the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them."

But all she said aloud was—

"Target destroyed, Ma'am."

-- Lieutenant Abigail Hearns, SFtS

And more Abigail because she's awesome...

Abigail Hearns had always preferred the love and gentleness of the New Testament, but this was an Old Testament moment, and her eyes were intent and her hands steady on her tactical console.

-- During the engagement at Saltash in the same book

10) "At least, Sir, the uniform of the Queen of Manticore has never been sold t' the service of whoremasters, murderers, pedophiles, sadists, and perverts. I suppose, however, that those of you who choose t' serve in the navy of Mesa feel comfortable amid such company."
-- Rear Admiral Michael Oversteegen, CoS

11) “Her main objective is going to be the Madras Sector,” he continued, blithely ignoring the fact that Gold Peak almost certainly wasn’t going to do anything of the sort.
-- Damien Harahap aka Firebrand, talking about Mike Henke's probable movements to Indiana and Mackenzie Graham, SoF (the irony in his assuming that Mike wouldn't be near crazy enough to attack the Meyers system and her doing exactly that is perfect)

12) “Hey, it’s not the end of the world, Victor. Like I said, the system’s still here. For that matter, I’m picking up Capital Fleet’s transponder beacons. If the talks had come apart spectacularly, there’d be a lot fewer ships and a lot more wreckage.”

-- Captain Anton Zilwicki, ART

13) And lastly, although they're the bad guys I've always thought the Masadans' signing-off phrase was neat: "This world is God's"