“You and I don’t actually need to be here for this,” I said to the goat. The goat didn’t respond, but I could… — John Scalzi

“That’s a nice speech, Trujillo,” Rybicki said. “It doesn’t make it true.”

“General, at the moment, I wouldn’t place you as an authority on truth.”

Empires of conquest don’t last, Administrator Perry. They hollow out from within, from the greed of rulers and the endless appetite for war.

“I don’t appreciate the suggestion that I’m acting irrationally,” he said.

“Then don’t act irrationally,” Jane said, “because there will be consequences.”