C.S. Friedman Quotes

Civilized man longs for the illusion of barbarism. Either his culture fulfills this need by adopting its outer trappings, or he will be seduced by his first contact with a culture that does.

A man does not truly understand his limitations until he has tested them.

Tomorrow could not get better if one failed to survive today.

What is a child?" he asks her. The diamond gaze does not flinch. "Creatures that are sold on the street by their parents, to get the coin to make more children." She paused. "Adults sell themselves.

The more complex our security becomes, the more complex our enemy's efforts must be.The more we seek to shut him out, the better he must learn to become at breaking in.Each new level of security that we manage becomes no more than a stepping-stone for him who would surpass us, for he bases his next assault upon our best defenses.It is a ware that can never truly be won… but one we dare not lose.

I sold my soul for knowledge of the future, only to have that very pact render me forever ignorant (Gerald Tarrant).

In a world where data is coin of the realm, and transmissions are guarded by no better sentinels than man-made codes and corruptible devices, there is no such thing as a secret.

All about us were people. Perhaps a hundred. Men. Experience had taught me that humans were cruelest when segregated by sex, and the cold feeling in the pit of my stomach became led. What had I let myself in for?