‘I said I was frightened. There’s a difference. A coward is a man who knows what’s right, but is afraid to do it; there’s plenty of them around. But the worst of them are easy to spot: they talk loud, they brag big, and given a chance they’re as cruel as sin. ‘
– An old man, to Druss, The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend
‘The seas and the mountains are eternal and unchanging. We are just here for a little while and then we fade into the dust of history.‘
– Odysseus, to Kalliades, Shield of Thunder
‘All life is balanced. Light and dark, weak and strong, good and evil. The harmony of nature. In perpetual darkness all plants would die. In perpetual sunlight they would wither and burn. The balance is everything.‘
– Revelation, to Cotta, Last Sword of Power
‘To judge a man purely by his blood-line is folly. I have known the sons of cowards to be valorous, and sons of thieves who cold be trusted with the treasure of nations. Such treachery is not of the blood, but of the soul.‘
– Parmenion, to Cleander, Dark Prince
‘You humans amuse me. When someone is evil you need to demonize them. He is a monster, you say. No, he is merely a man who has given in to the evils of his nature. All of you have a potential for evil, and for good. Much depends on the stimuli applied.‘
– Ustarte, to Skilgannon, White Wolf
‘The past is dead and gone. You cannot change it. The future waits.‘
– Eriatha, to Connavar, Sword In The Storm
‘In a small section of the garden a tiny weed spoke to the blooms that grew there. ‘Why,’ he asjked, ‘does the gardner seek to kill me? Do I not have a right to life? Are my leaves not green, as yours are? Is it too much to ask that I be allowed to grow and see the sun?’ The blooms pondered on this, and decided to ask the gardener to spare the weed. He did so. Day by day the weed grew, stronger and stronger, taller and taller, its leaves covering the other plants, its roots spreading. One by one the flowers died, until a rose was left. It gazed up at the enormous weed and asked: ‘Why do you seek to kill me? Do I not have a right to life? Are my leaves not green, as yours? Is it too much to ask that I be allowed to grow and see the sun?’
‘Yes, it is too much to ask,’ said the weed.”‘
– The Deacon, The Wisdom of the Deacon, Bloodstone
‘It is not hard to change when your biggest problem is whether weeds prosper in a vegetable patch.‘
– Abaddon, to Decado, The King Beyond the Gate
‘Hold onto your dreams. They are more important than you realise.‘
– Chareos, to Kiall, Quest For Lost Heroes
‘You have honour and principles. You are a great man. It doesn’t matter about the past. You are who you are, regardless of it.‘
– Yu Yu Liang, to Kysumu, Hero in the Shadows
