‘This is not some idle theory, and I do not wish you to patronise me. What I am telling you is about life. It is so easy to compromise, to tell yourself it does not matter. Or someone else will do it if you don’t. It always matters. The world can crush us and kill us, but the most terrifying injuries are always from within. Our own deeds. They can torment us with whips of fire.’
– Stepney, to Bimbo Jardine, White Knight Black Swan
‘Yet I was wise once, I knew many secrets. But all wisdom is folly. We think we manipulate, but we are being manipulated. We think we have power, but we are as leaves in a storm. We do good works, that lead to evil. All is confusion. All is vanity.’
– Tamis, to Derae, Lion of Macedon
‘Any good that I may do, let me do it now, for I may not pass this way again.’
– A quotation from an ancient writing, The Legend of Deathwalker
‘A man can be a robber all his life, and yet do one good deed and be remembered in song with great affection. But a king? He can spend his life in good works, yet perpetrate one evil deed and be remembered as a tyrant.’
– Pendarric, to Uther, Ghost King
‘There are many kinds of beauty, my lady, and not all of them fade as swiftly as the flesh.’
– Parmenion, to Olympias, Lion of Macedon
‘I said no such thing, lad. 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
‘Death is merely another journey, lad. But you won’t be walking that road alone – I’ll be with you. And who knows what adventures wait?’
– Michanek, to a young soldier, The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend
‘All things in the world are created for Man, yet all have two purposes. The waters run that we might drink of them, but they are also symbols of the futility of Man. They reflect our lives in rushing beauty, birthed in the purity of mountains. As babes they babble and run, gushing and growing as they mature into strong young rivers. Then they widen and slow until at last they meander, like old men, to join with the sea. And like the souls of men in the Nethervoid, they mix and mingle until the sun lifts them again as raindrops to fall upon the mountains.’
– Asta Khan, to Tenaka Khan, The King Beyond the Gate
‘May all your dreams – but one – come true.’
– Kebra, to Conalin, Quest for Lost Heroes
