‘There are few treasures in a man’s life. One of them comes with the knowledge that a man has a friend to stand beside him when the hour grows dark.‘
– Druss, to Sieben, The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend
Tag Archives: David Gemmell
‘With each heartbeat a man has two choices. Yet each choice makes a pathway, and he must walk it wherever it takes him. You stand at a crossroads.‘
– Tamis, to Parmenion, Lion Of Macedon
‘Not one of the creatures of blood can escape death. We all face it, and succumb to it. It follows us like a dark shadow. Yet if we live in terror of it, then we do not live at all. Yes, we are born alone, and yes we will die alone. But in between, we live. We know joy.‘
– Connavar, to Tae, Sword In The Storm
‘Do you believe that good can only exist in pure surroundings, untouched by the world’s darkness? What value would there be in that? Virtue is like a ring of gold. It does not matter where you place it, in a swamp or a cowpat; it will remain gold, untarnished. Lesser metals are corroded, ruined, corrupted. Not gold. The true heart remains true.‘
– Astiana, to Owen Odell, Morningstar
‘There may even be some dark event which you perpetrated and cannot forget. But even if that were the case, the very fact that you remember it with such pain means that you acted out of character. Put it behind you, man! Who among us can change the past?‘
– Gan Hogun, to Bowman, Legend
‘This is your path and you must walk it like a man. You were born to walk it.‘
– Ulric, to Tenaka Khan, The King Beyond The Gate
‘Warriors fear surrender. They are proud and defiant. They will fight to the death for what they believe in. They will struggle to conquer. Love is not about conquest. The truth is a man can only find true love when he surrenders to it. When he opens his heart to the partner of his soul and says: “Here it is! The very essence of me! It is yours to nurture or destroy.”‘
– Odysseus, to Andromache, Lord Of The Silver Bow
‘I am not as intellectually gifted as some of our order, but bear with me, brothers. I recall a phrase the Abbot used when I was a novitiate. He said: “When a fool sees himself as he is, then he is a fool no longer; and when a wise man learns of his own wisdom, then he becomes a fool.” This caused me great trouble, for it seemed mere word play. But after many years I have come to this conclusion: that only in certainty is there moral danger. Doubt is the gift we must cherish, for it forces us to question our motives constantly. It guides us to the truth. I do not know if we choose wisely the path we now walk. I do not know if we are right in what we do. But we walk it in faith.‘
– Astila, to The Thirty, Waylander
‘You listen to me. There will always be men who select their friends for reasons of advancement, either socially, militarily or politically. They will tell you to avoid a certain man’s company because he is out of favour, or his family is poor. Or, indeed, because his life is lived in a manner some people find unbecoming. As a soldier I judge my men by what they can do. By how much guts they have. When it comes to friends all that matters is whether I like them.‘
– Decado, to Skilgannon, White Wolf
‘Look around you. Soak in these mountains, the silence and the beauty of the lake. Draw in the air, fresh and cold from the peaks, and scented now with the early flowers of spring. This is the land. As it should be. Carry it with you in your hearts.’
– The Wyrd of Wishing Tree Woods, to Kaelin Ring, Stormrider