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<Subjects: T-W>
Page numbers in parentheses are for the rereleased editions.
- “Well, I’m guessing that in about two centuries or so, humans will discover zero space and make transponders. Whatever they are. But in the meantime, I’m going to have a sandwich.” ~ Marco, Book #5 pg. 61
- Warning: Spoilers for rerelease from this point to the next section.
- “Books are an amazing human invention. They allow instant access to information simply by turning pieces of paper. They are much faster to use than computers. Surprisingly, humans invented books before computers. They do many things backward.” ~ Ax, Book #8 pg. 67
- “I’d love to tell you how it works, but it’s the very height of human technology, so it’s secret. Primitive races could get hold of Big Wheels, and then who knows what might happen?” ~ Marco, Book #8 pg. 64
- “Radar. Is that the human tool that bounces radio beams off objects? I don’t mean to offend, but any Andalite child could build a radar-cloak from the pieces of his toys.” ~ Ax, Book #14 pg. 121
- “Did you know that humans invented books before computers? Because of this they believe computers to be superior, despite the very obvious fact that it takes one of their computers as much as thirty seconds to ‘load’ a page, while a book page can be accessed with zero effective delay.” ~ Ax, Book #18 pg. 37
- “Do not attempt to fly a ship undergoing maintenance. Something is bound to go wrong.” ~ Ax, Book #45 pg. 109
Page numbers in parentheses are for the rereleased editions.
- Warning: Spoilers for rerelease from this point to the next section.
- “From the water that gave birth to us. From the grass that feeds us. For the freedom that unites us. We rise to the stars. Freedom is my only cause. Duty to the people, my only guide. Obedience to my prince, my only glory. The destruction of my enemies, my most solemn vow. I, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, Andalite warrior-cadet, offer my life.” ~ Ax, Book #8 pg. 33
- “Oh, good. Another rushed, unplanned, last-minute mission. Those always turn out so well.” ~ Marco, Book #11 pg. 24
- “Hork-Bajir have no enemy. No prey. Hork-Bajir not kill. Yeerk kill. Yeerk kill Andalite. Andalite kill Yeerk. Hork-Bajir die.” ~ Jara Hamee, Book #13 pg. 94
- “Even those who return from war may never really come home.” ~ Alloran, AC pg. 54
- “War is not about striking brave poses and playing the hero. War is about killing.” ~ Alloran, AC pg. 79
- “I guess sometimes even good people do bad things. I mean, that’s what war is all about, isn’t it?” ~ Loren, AC pg. 297
- “War does terrible things to people. Some it raises to greatness. Others it destroys.” ~ Captain Feyorn, AC pg. 321
- “Battles that involve oatmeal are just never going to end up being historic, you know? Gettysburg? No major oatmeal involvement. The Battle of Midway? Neither side used oatmeal. Desert Storm? No oatmeal.” ~ Jake, Book #17 pg. 104
- “To be killed is a sadness. To kill is a sin.” ~ Mercora pilot, MM #2 pg. 205
- “You put your wars on television for people to watch? Humans!” ~ Ax, Book #21 pg. 59
- “We may be simple people. But we don’t use biology to invent monsters. And we don’t enslave other species. And we don’t unleash a plague of parasites on the galaxy, endangering every other free species, and then go swaggering around like the lords of the universe. No, we’re too simple for all that. We’re too stupid to lie and manipulate. We’re too stupid to be ruthless. We’re too stupid to know how to build powerful weapons designed to annihilate our enemies. Until you came, Andalite, we were too stupid to know how to kill.” ~ Dak Hamee, HBC pg. 172
- “You can’t be in a war and think about all the stuff that happens. You can’t keep all the fear and all the pain right there in the front part of your brain, you know? You go nuts like that.” ~ Marco, Book #25 pg. 144
- “War is obscene, the worst thing humans do. But warriors, the individual men, are the very best of humanity. Not because they are willing to kill. But because they are willing to risk death, to sacrifice themselves for others.” ~ Rachel, MM#3 pg. 181
- “In war any time you wake up to see the sunrise it’s a victory.” ~ Jake, Book #31 pg. 137
- “Let us agree, then, that all civilized species must share a hatred of war.” ~ Ax, Book #34 pg. 138
- “War is irrational. Though it is sometimes necessary.” ~ Ax, Book #46 pg. 23
- “Ah, the glamorous life of a soldier,” Marco said, keeping an eye on the door.
<Not so much worse than the lives of some of the crew on board this carrier,> Tobias said. <Guys who work flight deck get hazardous duty pay on top of their regular sea pay.>
<You see, that’s what I’m saying,> Marco pressed. <What do we get for risking our butts? Nothing. Nada.>
<What about the satisfaction of knowing you’re protecting the freedom of all human beings?> Cassie asked.
<Huh. Well, there is that.>
[Book #46 pg. 54]
- “Battling aliens every day of my life has fine-tuned my already rampant paranoia.” ~ Marco, Book #51 pg. 2
- “It is the willingness to take orders from your superiors and then to obey them that keeps an army from becoming a mob.” ~ Ax, Book #52 pg. 109
- I took her in my arms. The anaconda’s habitat was probably not the most romantic place on Earth, but it felt safe. “You know I love you.”
“I love you, too, Jake,” she said, and put her head on my shoulder.
“I guess if we win, if we survive, maybe we should, you know, get married and all. I mean, eventually. I know we’re young, but man, we’ve been through enough that it should count for a few extra years, shouldn’t it?”
I don’t know what I expected her answer to be, but I didn’t expect her to start crying. And not tears of joy, either.
“I would like that...eventually,” she said.
“But. But what?”
She sighed. “But, Jake, what are you going to be? What are you going to do?”
“Guess I thought I’d go to college,” I said.
“And study what, Jake? Me, I’ll go to college, I’ll become a doctor. I’ll never forget what’s happened, I’ll never even try, but I’ll be able to slip back into a normal life. But you, Jake?”
I shrugged and released her and stood away a bit. “I’m not Rachel, you know. I didn’t fall in love with the fight. I don’t need it like she does. I do it, I try and do it well, but it’s just a job, a duty.” I tried to make a joke out of it. “I mean, what do you think? The Pentagon is going to call me and make me Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff? I’m not even old enough to enlist as a private.”
She didn’t laugh. She just looked at me.
“Look, Cassie, when this is over I’ll be done with it forever. I’ll go back to school, get an education, go to basketball games, get a driver’s license, go to college, figure out what it is I really want to do. And be with you. You and me.”
She forced a smile. “A year after it ends, if it ends, if we win, a year afterward if you want to be with me, we’ll talk about that again, okay?”
“I have to wait a year? Kind of harsh, isn’t it?”
“Hey, if we get married, Marco isn’t going to live with us, is he?” Cassie said, trying her best to jolly us both out of our dark moods.
It didn’t work.
[Book #53 pg. 75]
Page numbers in parentheses are for the rereleased editions.
- Warning: Spoilers for rerelease from this point to the next section.
- “Marco, why are you screaming? It hurts my head.” ~ Ax, MM#1 pg. 196
- “That’s the plan. Whine the whole way.” ~ Marco, Book #13 pg. 113
- “Yes. I am going to be sarcastic the rest of the day. I nearly drowned. Now I’m going to go become the thing that nearly drowned me. I will be sarcastic until further notice.” ~ Tobias, Book #15 pg. 40
- “Just tell me this. When do we get a vacation? I mean, Ben-Hur rowing that Roman galley while the guy whipped him and the other guy banged on that big drum got more downtime than we do.” ~ Marco, Book #23 pg. 46
- “Okay. I’ll be there, but I promise to complain the entire time.” ~ Marco, Book #25 pg. 18
- “Do you know how seriously annoying it is to quote someone’s words back at them?” ~ Marco, Book #46 pg. 14
Page numbers in parentheses are for the rereleased editions.
- “If I have to lose, I’d rather lose fighting than let him catch us one by one.” ~ Jake, Book #4 pg. 137 (139)
- Warning: Spoilers for rerelease from this point to the next section.
- “What’s the point of winning, if by winning you lose what you were fighting for.” ~ Loren, AC pg. 297
- “Maybe we’ll lose, maybe we’ll win. But if we win and someday it’s all over, you’d better hope there are still plenty of Cassies in the world. You’d better hope that not everyone has decided it’s okay to do whatever it takes to win.” ~ Jake, Book #19 pg. 128
- “Every now and then, we actually win one.” ~ Cassie, Book #29 pg. 152
- “I’m a loser. They called me a brilliant loser, all winners, all winners but me: loser. But only a loser can sing the azures. Only a loser truly sees.” ~ Ellimist, EC pg. 128
- “The saddest thing is that this is our greatest victory. And I’ve never felt more depressed in my entire life.” ~ Marco, Book #52 pg. 149
Page numbers in parentheses are for the rereleased editions.
- “It’s better to laugh than to cry, don’t you think?” ~ Marco, Book #5 pg. 149 (151)
- Warning: Spoilers for rerelease from this point to the next section.
- “You can look at the world and say, ‘Oh, isn’t it all so tragic, so grim, so awful.’ Or you can look at the world and decide that it’s mostly funny.” ~ Marco, Book #15 pg. 22
- “If you step back far enough from the details, everything gets funny. You say war is tragic. I say, isn’t it crazy the way people will fight over nothing? People fight wars to control crappy little patches of empty desert, for crying out loud. It’s like fighting over an empty soda can. It’s not so much tragic as it is ridiculous. Asinine! Stupid!” ~ Marco, Book #15 pg. 22
- “You have to decide whether you think life is tragedy or comedy. I long ago decided to look for the joke in life.” ~ Marco, Book #15 pg. 163
- “I’ve always said you make a choice in this world. You can see the world as being tragic, or you can see it as being funny. Some things just flat-out aren’t funny, of course. But with very few exceptions, you can usually find the humor in life and in people. I guess if you want to see the world as being sad, terrible, unfair, boo-hoo boo-hoo, that’s fine. But man, what kind of life is that?” ~ Marco, MM#2 pg. 114
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