Jack Campbell > Quotes

“I need to stop getting into situations where all my options are potentially bad.”
― Jack Campbell, Dauntless

“You can’t win unless you try to win, but you can lose by trying not to lose.”
― Jack Campbell, Relentless

“There are things we don't do. From this moment forth, let us all ensure our every action reflects well on us and our ancestors. Let us live to the highest standards, lest we win this war only to find ourselves staring in the mirror at the face of our late enemy.”
― Jack Campbell, Dauntless

“Humanity's gift to the universe. Duct Tape.”
― Jack Campbell, Invincible

“Desjani pulled out a ration bar. 'Hungry?' she asked Geary.

'I had something earlier. Is that a Yanika Babiya?'


'No. It’s . . .' She squinted at the label. 'Spicy chicken curry.'

'A chicken curry ration bar? How are they?'

Taking a small bite, Desjani chewed slowly, pretending not to be aware that everyone on the bridge was watching her instead of staring at the representation of the alien hypernet gate. 'It’s definitely got curry in it. Spicy, not so much. Some of the other stuff tastes like chicken.'

'That doesn’t narrow it down too much, does it?' Geary said.

'Every kind of meat in a ration bar tastes like chicken, Captain,' Lieutenant Castries suggested. 'Except the chicken.'

'You’re right, Lieutenant,' Desjani said. 'Real chicken in ration bars tastes like, what, mutton?'

'Ham,' Yuon tossed in. 'Bad ham.'

'So this can’t be chicken because it tastes like chicken,' Desjani concluded.”
― Jack Campbell, Dreadnaught

“From the stars we came, and to the stars we return.”
― Jack Campbell, Relentless

“He felt the comfort of being part of an eternal cycle symbolized by the gold strips on either side of the black mourning band he wore. Light, dark, light. The dark was just an interval.”
― Jack Campbell, Relentless

“Fast and stupid is still stupid. It just gets you to stupid a lot quicker than humans could on their own. Which, I admit, is an accomplishment," she added, "because we're pretty damn good at stupid.”
― Jack Campbell, Invincible

“Security is not a license for people in authority to hide the tactics they would never openly admit to using.”
― Jack Campbell, Invincible

“Her hand gripped his, and even amid the fear and danger he marveled at the feeling that came with the contact. If we die holding hands in this way, will we enter the next dream together?”
― Jack Campbell, The Dragons of Dorcastle

“What are you going to do for fun if you can't devastate planets anymore?"
"I'll have to find another hobby, I guess.”
― Jack Campbell, Victorious

“Deplorable practices adopted during the last century were repeatedly declared necessary if regrettable in order to win the war. Oddly enough, we've yet to win. You'd think somebody would have asked before this why the regrettable but necessary measures haven't actually produced the promised results.”
― Jack Campbell, Courageous

“Sagas wouldn't be interesting if terrible things didn't happen to the people in them.”
― Jack Campbell, Valiant

“Oh, by the way, you left out one step in the plan."
"What step was that?"
"The one where we pray this works, Admiral.”
― Jack Campbell, Invincible

“We should have suspected that nonhumans were involved right from the start when the activation process didn’t involve a lot of arcane commands that had to be done in just the right order, and the destination was displayed as a name rather than using some counterintuitive code. No human software engineer would produce a device that easy to use.”
― Jack Campbell, Victorious

“The longstanding thorn in your side Captain Numos is stupid. In fact, Numos is so dense that I’m surprised he doesn’t have his own event horizon.”
― Jack Campbell, Fearless

“Data that conflicts with beliefs is often ignored,”
― Jack Campbell, Guardian

“... people didn't fight for grand causes or great purposes, but for the closest and most personal of reasons. They might say the fought for high ideals, but in practice they fought for the comrades beside them and their loved ones at home.”
― Jack Campbell

“I respect you far too much to think that empty pride is the only motivator you could call on. I think what you call pride is something much more than that. Belief in yourselves, perhaps, or perseverance in the face of adversity. Those are things to be proud of. That’s not the same as being proud.”
― Jack Campbell, Dauntless

“I never liked cows,” General Carabali added. “I like heavily armed cows even less. And I like at least thirty billion heavily armed cows least of all.”
― Jack Campbell, Invincible

“How many dragons does a girl have to slay to get some respect around here?”
― Jack Campbell, The Hidden Masters of Marandur

“If the people of Old Earth, our ancestors and their descendants today who remain, could keep building, could keep trying, how can we do less? We are their children, and while we bought to the stars with us all the faults and the problems and the flaws of the past, we also bought the good things, the determination, and the willingness to help others, and the imagination to build things greater then every shortcoming humanity has ever known.”
― Jack Campbell, Steadfast

“I realized that success in most things depends on finding people stupid enough to volunteer to try doing them but smart enough to have a chance of succeeding.”
― Jack Campbell, Ascendant

“... anyone who really believed what they were saying could get it said in a lot fewer words.”
― Jack Campbell, Relentless

“What are you doing?" Alain asked.
"Starting a fire, of course." Mari held up the thing in her hand. "It's a fire-starter. A really simple device. Haven't you ever seen one?"
Alain shook his head. "Never. That thing seems very complicated. I do not understand how it can work."
"How do you start fires?"
That was a Guild secret. Or was it? The elders had told him that no Mechanic could understand how it worked. What would this Mechanic say if he told her? "I use my mind to channel power to create a place where it is hot, altering the nature of the illusion there," Alain explained, "and then use my mind to put that heat on what I want to burn."
"Oh," Mechanic Mari said. "Is that actually how you visualize the process?"
"That is how it is done," Alain said.
"That's...interesting." She grinned. "So, instead of making fire by doing something complicated or hard to understand like striking a flint, you just alter the nature of reality. That is a lot simpler.”
― Jack Campbell, The Dragons of Dorcastle

“Mari managed to fall asleep now and then, only to awaken with a start of fear that she had been making noise. "Do I snore when I'm sleeping?"she finally whispered to Alain.
He didn't answer.
"Alain? Are you awake?"
"Yes," he's reply finally came. "I just do not know which answer would be right."
"Just tell me!"
"Sometimes."
"Sometimes?" Mari moved her eyes enough to glance at Alain. "Loud or soft?"
"Sometimes."
"Does it ever bother you?"
Alain hesitated again. "Sometimes."
"Are you going to give me any plain yes or no answers to this?"
"Not if I can avoid doing so," he replied.”
― Jack Campbell, The Hidden Masters of Marandur

“Could you explain something for me, then?” She gestured around vaguely. “You gave orders in terms of ‘up’ and ‘down,’ ‘port’ and ‘starboard,’ yet the ships of your fleet are in a wide range of aspects. You are upside down relative to the ships in Captain Tulev’s force, for example. How do they know which way you mean?”
Desjani, unseen by Rione, rolled her eyes at the Co-President’s ignorance, but Geary just pointed at the display. “It’s a standard convention, Madam Co-President, one every sailor learns by heart. It had to be established to provide a common frame of reference in an unbounded three-dimensional environment.” He sketched the shape of Kaliban’s system. “Every star system has a plane in which its planets or other objects orbit. One side of that plane is labeled ‘up,’ and the other side ‘down.’ So up and down within the system doesn’t change regardless of how your ship is oriented. By the same token, the direction toward the star is ‘starboard’ while the direction away from the star is ‘port.’” Geary shrugged. “I’ve been told that early on they tried to use ‘starward’ instead of ‘starboard,’ but the older expression stuck.”
― Jack Campbell, Dauntless

“You know, like that old Catch 42 expression that stands for the meaning of life is that in the end you always get screwed.”
― Jack Campbell, Steadfast

“Sir, winning is usually a matter of making one less mistake than the enemy or just getting up one more time than you get knocked down.”
― Jack Campbell, Valiant

“Fine.” Desjani sighed. “Admiral, I recommend we get our intelligence officer up here to see if he can craft lovely poems for the singing spider wolves.”
― Jack Campbell, Leviathan