“It may just be," he added, "that there is something fundamentally unworkable about government itself. As long as Homo sapiens terra is a wild animal, which he has always been and always will be until he evolves into something different… — 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 Lord Trask and myself. And when somebody makes a statement you don't understand, don't tell him he's crazy. Ask him what he means. What do you mean, Lord Trask?” — H. Beam Piper Copy Share
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
