Top 500 James S.A. Corey Quotes (2026 Update)
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351. “It was intentional and inhuman. It was like seeing the face of God and finding no compassion there.”

— James S.A. Corey

352. “Wars never ended because one side was defeated. They ended because the enemies were reconciled. Anything else was just a postponement of the next round of violence.”

— James S.A. Corey

353. “All this has happened because someone saw an opportunity that no one else did. They had the audacity to strike where no one else would even have considered an attack. That’s the power of audacity, and if a general is lucky and strong-minded, they can take that advantage and keep the enemy on their back foot forever.”

— James S.A. Corey

354. “I could kill you with my hands, Marcus thought, and it was enough to evoke the smile that etiquette called for.”

— James S.A. Corey

355. “Well, mostly I’m a mechanic. But the idea that the UN has a file on me somewhere that lists me as the Rocinante’s killer? That’s kind of awesome.”

— James S.A. Corey

356. “Fred’s vacuum-rated armor protected him from the smell of viscera, but it reported it to him as a slight increase in atmospheric methane levels. The stench of death reduced to a data point.”

— James S.A. Corey

357. “Only here on Earth, where food grew on its own, where air was just a by-product of random untended plants, where resources lay thick on the ground, could a person actually choose not to do anything at all. There was enough extra created by those who felt the need to work that the surplus could feed the rest. A world no longer of the haves and the have-nots, but of the engaged and the apathetic.”

— James S.A. Corey

358. “If someone is ready to accept Christ, it doesn’t take much effort on my part to help them. If they aren’t, no amount of hectoring them does any good. So why try?”

— James S.A. Corey

359. “Alex’s experience of real family – of blood relations – was more like having a lot of people who had all wound up on the same mailing list without knowing quite why they signed up for it.”

— James S.A. Corey

360. “There was justice to be had. He just couldn’t afford it.”

— James S.A. Corey

361. “He was in ruins, but it was okay, because he was dying.”

— James S.A. Corey

362. “You all right?” He smiled. “Why do you ask?” “Because you’re not all right,” she said.”

— James S.A. Corey

363. “This isn’t about good guys and bad guys,” Anna said. “Yes, we’ve picked sides now, because some of the actions they are about to take will have serious consequences for us, and we’re going to try to stop them. But what you’re doing is demonizing them, making them the enemy. The problem with that is that once we’ve stopped them and they can’t hurt us anymore, they’re still demons. Still the enemy.”

— James S.A. Corey

364. “He’s young. He still sleeps sometimes. It’s a weakness.”

— James S.A. Corey

365. “He’d been driven by his fear to become someone else. Someone who handled fear by turning it into violence.”

— James S.A. Corey

366. “After dinner, Holden took a long, slow tour of his new ship. He opened every door, looked in every closet, turned on every panel, and read every readout. He stood in engineering next to the fusion reactor and closed his eyes, getting used to the almost subliminal vibration she made. If something ever went wrong with it, he wanted to feel it in his bones before any warning ever sounded.”

— James S.A. Corey

367. “Humanity had come as far as it had in a haze of war, sickness, violence, and genocide. History was drenched in blood. But it also had cooperation and kindness, generosity, intermarriage. The one didn’t come without the other, and Holden had to take comfort in that. The sense that however terrible humanity’s failings were, there was still a little more in them worth admiring.”

— James S.A. Corey

368. “We keep acting without thinking and you think the solution is to do it one more time. You have allied yourself with stupid, violent men, and you are trying to convince yourself that being stupid and violent will work. That makes you stupid too.”

— James S.A. Corey

369. “History was drenched in blood.”

— James S.A. Corey

370. “When people don’t know anything,” Amos said, “they love having meetings to talk about it.”

— James S.A. Corey

371. “The man he’d once been wasn’t a collection of personality traits. He was the things he knew, the desires of his heart, the skills he had.”

— James S.A. Corey

372. “In Amos’ experience the more dangerous any two people were, the more carefully polite their social interactions tended to be.”

— James S.A. Corey

373. “Everything changed, and it went right on changing. A terrible thought when things were good, a comforting one now. Whatever happened, she could be certain that things wouldn’t stay the way they were now. And if she stayed smart and clever and lucky, she’d be able to affect how the next change came. Or take advantage of it.”

— James S.A. Corey

374. “Well, you’ve got a full load of torpedoes and bullets, three Martian warships trailing you, one angry old lady in tea withdrawal, and a Martian Marine who could probably kill you with your own teeth. What do you do?”

— James S.A. Corey

375. “The velocities and forces involved in anything at orbital altitudes were enough to kill a human with just the rounding error. At their speeds, the friction from air too thin to breathe would set them on fire.”

— James S.A. Corey

376. “That was the danger of being old and a politician. Habits outlived the situations that created them. Policies remained in place after the situations that inspired them had changed.”

— James S.A. Corey

377. “Reputation never has very much to do with reality,” she said. “I could name half a dozen paragons of virtue that are horrible, small-souled, evil people. And some of the best men I know, you’d walk out of the room if you heard their names. No one on the screen is who they are when you breathe their air.”

— James S.A. Corey

378. “Tilly screamed. Anna’s shocked brain only registered annoyance at the sound. Really, when had someone screaming ever solved a problem?”

— James S.A. Corey

379. “Science had given mankind many gifts, and she valued it. But the one important thing it had taken away was the value of subjective, personal experience. That had been replaced with the idea that only measurable and testable concepts had value. But humans didn’t work that way...”

— James S.A. Corey

380. “Part of his mind was screaming, but it was a distant one and easy to ignore.”

— James S.A. Corey

381. “You killed Dresden,” Fred said. “That’s a problem.” “It needed to happen.” “I’m not sure it did,” Fred replied, but his voice was careful. Testing. Miller smiled, a little sadly. “That’s why it needed to happen,” he said. The small, coughing laugh told Miller that Fred understood him.”

— James S.A. Corey

382. “People like us? We aren’t righteous. But we can pretend to be, if we want, and that’s almost the same as if it were true.”

— James S.A. Corey

383. “I actually read history. It’s like reading prophecy, you know.”

— James S.A. Corey

384. “As soon as we get the place secure, I’ll get in touch,” Miller said. “Okay, but don’t take too long. If Thoth Station has a whorehouse left standing, I’m going to need help prying Amos out of it.”

— James S.A. Corey

385. “Things change,” Alex said. “And they don’t change back,” she.”

— James S.A. Corey

386. “What I want is Ceres Station or Earth or Mars. You know what they have in New York? All-night diners with greasy food and crap coffee. I want to live on a world with all-night diners. And racetracks. And instant-delivery Thai food made from something I haven’t already eaten seven times in the last month.”

— James S.A. Corey

387. “You’re making a mistake, shithead,” Avasarala said, and dropped the connection.”

— James S.A. Corey

388. “You ever wondered why I leave as soon as anyone else shows up?” “I’m special?” “Yeah, I wouldn’t go that far.”

— James S.A. Corey

389. “Captain,” Amos said with mock surprise. “Have you actually learned from your past? Is this a new thing you do now?”

— James S.A. Corey

390. “Meditating deeply so that she could really, clearly experience being angry and lonesome and hurt and horror-struck never seemed as good as a strong gin and tonic and another hour of work.”

— James S.A. Corey

391. “The seas had been around longer than humans, had helped create them, and then when they were all dead, it’d take their water back without a thought.”

— James S.A. Corey

392. “The bartender – Chip – said, “Had a few too many of my margaritas?” “The first one was too many,” Holden replied, then climbed under the booth looking for the terminal. “And calling that a margarita should be illegal.”

— James S.A. Corey

393. “We’re fine now,” Sanjrani said. “We’ll be fine for three years. Maybe three and a half. Then the recycling systems stop being able to meet demand. We won’t have infrastructure in place to fill the gaps. And then we’ll starve. Not just Earth. Not just Mars. The Belt too. And once we start, we’ll have no way to stop.” “All right,” Michio said. “How do we fix it?” “I don’t know,” Sanjrani said.”

— James S.A. Corey

394. “Jim, they make these things not to be fiddled with. The civilian version of this device fuses itself into a solid lump of silicon if it thinks it’s being tampered with. Who knows what the military version of the fail-safe is? Drop the magnetic bottle in the reactor? Turn us into a supernova?”

— James S.A. Corey

395. “A few generations living and dying without a sky, and enclosed spaces lost the atavistic terror of premature burial.”

— James S.A. Corey

396. “He looked at the cop. He’d known the man less than a day, didn’t trust him, and wasn’t sure he much liked him. And this was who he’d die with.”

— James S.A. Corey

397. “The ocean, just outside, seeped into everything. An olfactory reminder to everyone passing through the Ellis Island of the space age that Earth was absolutely unique to the human race. The birthplace of everything. The salt water flowing in everyone’s veins first pulled from the same oceans right outside the building. The seas had been around longer than humans, had helped create them, and then when they were all dead, it’d take their water back without a thought.”

— James S.A. Corey

398. “Shouldn’t let go of being educated,” he said. “Universe spent a lot of time telling you something. Now you’re second-guessing it. Maybe all those other things were getting you ready for this.” Something.”

— James S.A. Corey

399. “Holden considered ordering her to button up her helmet, then shrugged. She was old enough to decide for herself the relative risks and rewards of eating during a battle.”

— James S.A. Corey

400. “The usual state of nature is recovering from the last disaster,” she said. It was a truism of ecological biologists, and she said it the way a religious person might pray.”

— James S.A. Corey