# Quote — James S. A. Corey, The Mercy of Gods

> In practice, “casual” included intricate and opaque rules of behavior and a rigidly enforced though ill-defined hierarchy of status. And one of many ironclad rules of etiquette was that people were to pretend there were no rules of etiquette. Who spoke to whom, who could make a joke and who was required to laugh, who could flirt and who must remain unreachable distant, all were unspoken and any mistake was noted by the community.

- Author: [James S. A. Corey](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey.md)
- Book: [The Mercy of Gods](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/the-mercy-of-gods.md)
- Page: 9
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_S._A._Corey#The_Mercy_of_Gods_(2024)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/the-mercy-of-gods/in-practice-casual

## More from this book

> He had a brief but vivid memory of being seven years old at his grandmother’s vineyard in Nortcoor, looking into the night sky and seeing it for the first time as infinity towering above him like God, only worse because it was real.

p. 60 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/the-mercy-of-gods/he-had-a-brief.md)

> The end-of-year celebration was different. It was a nested series of lies. A minefield scattered with gold nuggets, opportunity and disaster in visibly mingled.

p. 9 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/the-mercy-of-gods/the-end-of-year-celebration.md)

> “You know what this is. This is a sign.”
>
> “A sign,” he said.
>
> “The tools we needed to take on our new project, given to us exactly when we needed them. It’s the universe telling us that Ostencour’s plan is the right thing to do.”
>
> “Or the natural playing out of consequences,” Campar said, trying for lightness. “Hard to tell those apart sometimes.”

p. 342 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/the-mercy-of-gods/you-know-what.md)