Joe Abercrombie quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Joe Abercrombie

Joe Abercrombie Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Joe Abercrombie on Wise Famous Quotes.

Ninefingers had been so very fond of saying: it was better to do it, than to live with the fear of it. He

We all got our reasons ... good men and bad men. It's all a matter of where you stand.

You make yourself too hard, you make yourself brittle too. Crack once, crack all to pieces.

The Bloody-Nine opened his mouth, and shrieked out all of his bottomless love and his endless hate in one long wail.

Well, that's the end of that, I reckon. You know what, Furious?" And he grinned sideways at West. "I'm getting to like you, boy.

The lowly have small ambitions, and are satisfied with small indulgences. They need not get fair treatment. They need only think that they do ...

She narrowed her eyes. "You lost the collar I gave you."
It chafed. And I wasn't born to be a slave.

Maybe there are only so many faces in the world. You get old enough, you start seeing 'em used again. Craw

Get what you can with words, because words are free, but the words of an armed man ring that much sweeter.

Loyalty's a dangerous foundation. Tends to wash away in a storm. Self-interest stands in any weather.

The faster you run from the past, the faster it catches you. All you can do is turn to face it. Embrace it. Try and meet the future wiser for it.

Take everything as a compliment, you can never be insulted.

Some things have to be done. It's better to do them, than to live with the fear of them.

Fools boast of what they will do. Heroes do it.

Why do I do it, when it always hurts me? Why must we test the pain? Tongue the ulcer, rub the blister, pick the scab?

Mason had just pulled his own knife out, a monster of a thing you could've called a sword without much fear of correction.

And now the King is dead. Who knows who will replace him? Voting for a monarch! Have you ever heard of such a thing?

He thinks before he speaks, then says no more than he has to.

Being in charge can seem like a thing iron-forged, but in the end it's just an idea everyone agrees to.

When you're down to small stakes, you have to play long odds.

It was what you gave out that made a man, not what you got back.

It is easy to speak of the past, impossible to go there.

Once you've got a task to do, it's better to do it than live with the fear of it.

A bitter ending' said Yarvi.
'Many sweet stories have them', said Jaud.

A good thief goes unseen. A truly great one merely goes unnoticed. She

One need not love one's enemy, or even fear him, to desire peace. One need only love oneself.

Fine lies beat tedious truths every time.

Didn't seem likely, but what's the point of likely fantasies?

A choice between killing and dying is no choice at all. You have to be realistic about these things. b

Body found floating by the docks...

As a writer, you have to first of all write what you want to. Listen to advice, by all means, but don't get bogged down in it.

Look of fury, a look of pain, a look of hatred you can trust. A smile can hide anything.

No one gets what they deserve.

They say the seed you scatter will be the seed you harvest,

Shock and surprise, my little beauties, and quickness to strike, and lack of pity. These are the things that make a killer.

An open mind is like to an open wound. Vulnerable to poison. Liable to fester. Apt to give its owner only pain.

...Chief without soldiers is just a very lonely man in a big bloody field

There can be a greater power in words than in all the steel within the Circle of the World.

I never saw men act with such ignorance, violence and self-serving malice as when energised by a just cause.

The more you give a man, the more he demands, and the less happy he becomes. No one ever appreciates what he gets for nothing.

Memories sharp enough to cut himself on - the smells, the sounds, the feel of the air on his skin, the desperate hope and mad anger.

It's hard to stay calm when you're terrified, helpless, alone, at the mercy of men with no mercy at all.

Always more enemies, and fewer friends. Blood gets you nothing but more blood.

That was an age of great men doing what was right ... This is an age of little men doing what they must.

One cannot grow without pain. One cannot improve without it. Suffering drives us to achieve great things.

These are dangerous times alright, and yet danger and opportunity often walk hand in hand.

That was the age of great men, doing what was right.

Gratitude and resentment are brothers eternal, after all.

You can always make enemies of your friends,' said Sumael. 'Making friends of your enemies is harder labor.

It was difficult to maintain any sense of superiority in the face of his utter dependence on other people.

You want to be merciful. To stand in the light. I understand it. I admire it. But, my queen ... Only the victors can be merciful.

You'd have to be a bold man to bet your life on what I'd dare. How bold are you? -Sand dan Glokta

Some men are made for doing violence. Some are meant for planning it. Then there are a special few whose talent is for taking the credit.

No one cares about the past any more," he whispered. "They don't see that you can't have a future without a past.

Prickomo fucking cocksca. That bastard old arsehole-fucker.

If the measure of a man was the size of his hat, these were great men indeed.

A King must win. The rest is dust.

It can be a fearsome weapon, patience. One that few men ever learn to use.

I hope this is a lesson to you. Never take eggs from a metal-eyed man.

There can be no peace with the damn Vanstermen,

Gold and silver is everything to everyone. Some of us have enough of it to pretend otherwise.

Water dripping from his slapping fruits

Strange how, as long as the hardship lasts, we can stand it. As soon as the crisis is over, the strength all leeches away in an instant.

It was like staring at a whitewashed wall, but without all the emotion

A man doesn't put on a mask unless he's got some dark work in mind.

A man lost in the desert must take such water as he is offered, no matter who it comes from.

Say one thing for Logen Ninefingers, say he's a lover.

This was a place of learning, and wonder, and great beauty.'
'Time has not been kind to the place.'
'Time is never kind.

Well don't just hit 'em, you lazy bastards!" he shouted in a broken voice. "Pull 'em!

King Uthil says steel is the answer. I say his sight is short. Dust is the last answer to every question, now and always.

Treat a man like a dog and sooner or later he'll bite you,

A whore with a veil is mysterious. God's ways appear to be ... insane.

The general with the smallest numbers should remain always on the offensive.

A few glasses of wine can be the difference between finding a man a hilarious companion or an insufferable moron.

Plans have a way of coming apart when you lean om 'em

They say a man lost in the desert must take such water as he is offered, no matter who it comes from. I

I don't see what I want to see, I see what I need to see. If you don't like it, see something else

Power makes all things right. That is my first law, and my last. That is the only law that I acknowledge.

How dare you presume to be devoted to me, peasant? You're like a tick devoted to a tiger!

The world is full of monsters, after all. Perhaps the best one can hope for is to have the most terrible on your side.

Power is a bloody mirage. The closer you seem to get the further away it is

Rare luck. Perhaps Shadikshirram couldn't convince the Banyas to follow us.

Patience is the parent of success, Stolicus wrote.

You don't pick your family, you take what you're given and you make the best of it.

Worry less about what the gods might do and more about what you can,

The least a leader can do is to share the burdens of his people. I have little other comfort to give them.

If life has taught me one thing, it's that there are no villains. Only people, doing their best.

You can never have too many knives, his father had told him. Unless they're pointed at you, and by people who don't like you much.

People love to see death. It reminds them that however mean, however low, however horrible their lives become ... at least they have one.

Good steel bends, but never breaks. Good steel stays always sharp and ready. Good steel feels no pain, no pity, and above all, no remorse

A dark-skinned young woman sat on the roof of the aftcastle, one leg swinging as she watched the new slaves shuffle across.

Welcome to my life of constant doubt, anxiety and occasional sudden and unpredictable horror, Javre. I hope you enjoy your fucking visit.

Now go, and if I hear of more fighting, let it be of how the two of you beat someone else together.

Recklessness didn't work out for me in the end."
- Sand dan Glokta

The most civilized place in the world," murmured Father Yarvi. "Though that mostly means folk prefer to stab each other in the back than in the front.

Why the mad hair, girl?"
"Because damn you," growled Thorn, "that's why.

The stench of self-satisfaction is becoming quite suffocating. If you mean to kill me, blast me to a cinder now and let's be done,

A good leader can't dwell on the choices he's made, Threetrees used to tell him, and a good leader can't help dwelling on 'em.

In my experience, a friend is merely an acquaintance who has yet to betray you.

Strong leaders might like it when someone brings 'em a better idea. But weak ones never do.