“Does the Convocation make the laws?" Erskyll asked. Hozhet was perplexed. "Make laws, Lord Proconsul? Oh, no. We have laws." There were planets, here and there through the Empire, where an attitude like that would have been distinctly beneficial; planets… — H. Beam Piper Copy Share Image
Keep a goverment poor and weak and it's your servant; when it is rich and powerful it becomes your master. — H. Beam Piper Copy Share Image
“What I object to is the way you're raiding the Sword-Worlds." "You're crazy!" Basil Gorram exploded. "Young man," Harkaman reproved, "the conversation was between… — H. Beam Piper Copy Share Image
English is the result of Norman men-at-arms attempting to pick up Saxon barmaids and is no more legitimate than any of the other results. — H. Beam Piper Copy Share Image
And when someone makes a statement you don't understand, don't tell him he's crazy. Ask him what he means. — H. Beam Piper Copy Share Image
“Simon, speaking as one sovereign prince to another, you have a lot to learn. You've learned one important lesson already, that a ruler must… — H. Beam Piper Copy Share Image
“On Aditya, such would be unthinkable; on Aditya, everybody respects authority. Whether it's respectable or not.” — H. Beam Piper Copy Share Image
Apparently, on New Texas, killing a politician was not malum in se, and was mallum prohibitorum only to the extent that what happened to… — H. Beam Piper Copy Share Image
Take a drink because you pity yourself, and then the drink pities you and has a drink, and then two good drinks get together… — H. Beam Piper Copy Share Image
Only the incompetent wait until the last extremity to use force, and by then, it is usually too late to use anything, even prayer. — H. Beam Piper Copy Share Image
“You mean, the people are armed?" Prince Bentrik was incredulous. "Great Satan, aren't yours?" Prince Trask was equally surprised. "Then your democracy's a farce,… — H. Beam Piper Copy Share Image
“It should belong to everybody. Let us call it the Commonwealth. That means something everybody owns in common." "Something everybody owns, nobody owns," Mykhyl… — H. Beam Piper Copy Share Image
