AoC

“The Catmaster stepped forward and extended his hand. Man and underman, they faced each other with a kindness and gratitude which was so poignant as to be very close to grief.

Neither of them wept. Neither.

They shook hands without speaking or spieking.”
― Cordwainer Smith, Norstrilia

“Those who survive in this business develop an intuition for when to argue and when not to argue. Smart guys have figured out that you don’t talk back to stormwardens, warlocks, sorcerers, and witches. The place for reservations is tucked neatly behind the teeth.”
― Glen Cook, Bitter Gold Hearts

“Why axes? Why not Lewistons, or rifles, or pistols? Because the space armor of that day could withstand almost indefinitely the output of two or three hand-held projectors; because the resistance of its defensive fields varied directly as the cube of the velocity of any material projectile encountering them. Thus, and strangely enough, the advance of science had forced the re-adoption of that long-extinct weapon.”
― E.E. "Doc" Smith, First Lensman

“What the water-carrier had actually said literally translated as, The Primordial Annihilator immolate your living soul.”
― Dan Abnett, Legion