Top 300 Martha Wells Quotes (2026 Update)
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251. “Let’s investigate the dark cave without that pesky SecUnit” group.”

— Martha Wells

252. “I am not meant to function without multiple simultaneous inputs. If this was what being a human was like, it sucked massively.”

— Martha Wells

253. “ART said, You are aboard the Perihelion, registered teaching and research vessel of the Pansystem University of Mihira and New Tideland. Then it added, I’m not going to hurt your humans, you little idiot.”

— Martha Wells

254. “Sekai made an “eep” noise. I wanted to make an “eep” noise too but I was busy.”

— Martha Wells

255. “But media would calm me down, and I wanted to stay angry.”

— Martha Wells

256. “He got the vehicle started again and we proceeded down the stupid tunnel, into the stupid danger.”

— Martha Wells

257. “That plan was easier plus 100 percent less murdery. And I liked it better.”

— Martha Wells

258. “Look, if there were space monsters, they probably wouldn’t need a pressurized environment, right?”

— Martha Wells

259. “The hostile that had just exploded up out of the ground had a really big mouth, so I felt I needed a really big gun.”

— Martha Wells

260. “Like so many aspects of mortal life, sleep was overrated.”

— Martha Wells

261. “And swimming back, since that was an ocean-sized body of water between the two points on the map. Or drown; I guess they could just drown.”

— Martha Wells

262. “Who knew being a heartless killing machine would present so many moral dilemmas.”

— Martha Wells

263. “I lack a sense of proportional response. I don’t advise engaging with me on any level.”

— Martha Wells

264. “His eyebrows were doing things that made him look angry, but from his tone and the read that threat assessment was getting off his body language, he was just concentrating. I knew from media that humans sometimes had the same problem with lack of control of their faces that I did.”

— Martha Wells

265. “Self-determination was a pain in the ass sometimes but it beat the alternative by a lot.”

— Martha Wells

266. “You should never refer to the clients as targets; you don’t want to get confused at the wrong moment.”

— Martha Wells

267. “If you’re not angry, then what’s wrong?” I was definitely glaring now. “How do you want the list sorted? By time stamp or degree of survivability?”

— Martha Wells

268. “Ship might be unresponsive but it was doing its best and I didn’t want it to hurt.”

— Martha Wells

269. “Technically the barge’s hull was only partly existent in reality and therefore couldn’t be torn open if it hit a rock. But Kai didn’t want to end up arguing with a barge determined that it had been hulled and needed to sink; the canal was too deep for that.”

— Martha Wells

270. “She knows SecUnit is not so much taunting her with its abilities as refusing to pretend to be anything other than it is. And that’s for the best, because being honest about that is the only way forward.”

— Martha Wells

271. “ART-drone said, Your attempts at emotional manipulation need work. But your point is taken.”

— Martha Wells

272. “Or drown; I guess they could just drown.”

— Martha Wells

273. “I liked humans, I liked watching them on the entertainment feed, where they couldn’t interact with me.”

— Martha Wells

274. “Note to self: shut up.”

— Martha Wells

275. “He looked up to see Ranea staring at him, her eyes brilliant with rage. She said, “You did this.” “No. I was here.” In hindsight, he probably shouldn’t have smiled when he said it.”

— Martha Wells

276. “Ugh, this was going to be fun, in the not at all fun sense.”

— Martha Wells

277. “It wasn’t a terrible plan. It probably wasn’t even in the top ten of terrible plans.”

— Martha Wells

278. “But since the thing that happened I don’t think I’ve had an emotion that wasn’t the visual equivalent of a wet blanket crumpled on the floor.”

— Martha Wells

279. “None of this would help the idea that crews for highlevel transports tended to be insular weirdos.”

— Martha Wells

280. “I got my helmet on and opaqued it. The relief was intense, about even with finding out that the combat override module had been removed. I love you, armor, and I’m never leaving you again.”

— Martha Wells

281. “Why does it look like a person?” I said, “I ask myself that sometimes.” Over the comm loudspeaker, Dr. Ratthi said, “It is a person!” In the background, I heard Overse whisper, “Ratthi, get off the comm!”

— Martha Wells

282. “I was also planning to use the time to watch some Sanctuary Moon and recharge my ability to cope with humans at close quarters without losing my mind.”

— Martha Wells

283. “TargetControlSystem hit me with everything it had. It told me I would never take the ship. I told it. “Okay you keep the ship. I’ll take the planet.”

— Martha Wells

284. “Can we hug you?” Maro let go of Tapan and faced me. “Uh.” I didn’t step back, but it must have been obvious the answer was no. Maro nodded. “Okay. This is for you.” She wrapped her arms around herself and squeezed.”

— Martha Wells

285. “If the humans see me actually doing my job, it helps keep suspicions from forming about faulty governor modules.”

— Martha Wells

286. “Kai groaned under his breath. He had been hoping for one dramatic masterstroke that would take down the whole bridge and maybe make him feel better about his continued existence.”

— Martha Wells

287. “I don’t like planets. There’s dust and weather, and something always wants to eat the humans.”

— Martha Wells

288. “Ratthi came to my cabin. I didn’t have to let him in, so I did.”

— Martha Wells

289. “I know, I said. And I did know, and now I was having an emotion. Like a big overwhelming emotion. It felt bad but good, a weird combination of happy and sad and relieved, like something had been stuck and it wasn’t stuck anymore.”

— Martha Wells

290. “You’re scaring Amena.” Ugh, I needed to be honest or this wouldn’t help. I added, “You’re scaring me.”

— Martha Wells

291. “Just clients. And if anyone or anything tried to hurt them, I would rip its intestines out.”

— Martha Wells

292. “Since I hacked my governor module, it’s not like I haven’t thought about killing the humans. But once I started exploring the company servers and found hundreds of hours of downloadable entertainment media, I just thought, there’s no hurry. I can always kill the humans later, after the next series drops.”

— Martha Wells

293. “Maybe I sounded like I knew what I was talking about.”

— Martha Wells

294. “I wanted to keep me the way I was.”

— Martha Wells

295. “I didn’t need as much air as humans did, but I needed some, and it was really cold out there, in the colony ship’s shadow. This meant that if the life-tender failed it would take me longer to die so I’d have longer to feel dumb about it than a human would.”

— Martha Wells

296. “I’m not the public library feed, Senior Officer, go do your own research. I said, “If I told you, then you might find all the bodies I’ve already disposed of.”

— Martha Wells

297. “Even before I hacked my governor module, I was upset when my coworkers shot me. I wasn’t surprised, but I was upset.”

— Martha Wells

298. “Danis and Variset were looking at her like she was going to suggest they all set themselves on fire for fun. More colonists had gathered in the doorways to listen or pretend to listen and then inevitably interject stupid comments. So, situation totally normal.”

— Martha Wells

299. “The Cordans believed the women needed men to provide for them; Moon had no idea why. He knew that Selis in particular was perfectly capable of chasing down any number of grasseaters and beating them to death with a club, so he didn’t see why she couldn’t hunt for herself.”

— Martha Wells

300. “At least I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know what I was doing.”

— Martha Wells