Government Work Quotes

“When I started writing I wanted the best tools. I skipped right over chisels on rocks, stylus on wet clay plates, quills and fountain pens, even mechanical pencils, and went straight to one of the first popular spin-offs of the aerospace program: the ballpoint pen. They were developed for comber navigators in the war because fountain pens would squirt all over your leather bomber jacket at altitude. (I have a cherished example of the next generation ballpoint, a pressurized Space Pen cleverly designed to work in weightlessness, given to me by Spider Robinson. At least, I cherish it when I can find it. It is also cleverly designed to seek out the lowest point of your desk, roll off, then find the lowest point on the floor, under a heavy piece of furniture. That's because it is cylindrical and lacks a pocket clip to keep it from rolling. In space, I presume it would float out of your pocket and find a forgotten corner of your spacecraft to hide in. NASA spent $3 million developing it. Good job, guys. I'm sure it's around here somewhere.)”
― John Varley, The John Varley Reader

“With the Regional Office breathing down her neck... Corinne had wanted to keep the Drury case low-key, uncontroversial. since Craig's disappearance had set he alarm bells off, Anna was willing to be she'd change tactics, make a noisy show of taking command of the situation. For a while the name of the game at Guadalupe Mountains would be Cover Your Ass.”
― Nevada Barr , Track of the Cat

“Trying to second-guess lunatics, drunks, or the Office of Personnel Management was an exercise in frustration. The logic totally eluded her.”
― Nevada Barr , Track of the Cat

“Bureaucrats -- monkeys who hear no evil and see no evil -- are first in line for promotion.”
― Nevada Barr , Track of the Cat

“I wasn't used to seeing a lone wolf. I could've sword the FBI sent them out in identical pairs. This one even have that generic look about him, like God had rolled a lot of him off a belt thirty years ago, got 'em to quality control, gave 'em one good once over and said, 'Eh, good enough for government work.”
― K.M. Mayville, A Cult of Questionable Motives