Quotes from Andrzej Sapkowski

Freedom and contempt have their limits. Anyway, it's always like that. You're always somebody's tool.

The horn of Hemdall sounds as he stands facing his enemies on the rainbow-coloured arch of Bifrost.

Se il fine chiama, il modo si trova.

Progress," he said finally, "is like a herd of pigs. That's how you should look at progress, that's how you should judge it. Like a herd of pigs trotting around a farmyard. Numerous benefits derive from the fact of that herd's existence. There's pork knuckle. There's sausage, there's fatback, there are trotters in aspic. In a word, there are benefits! There's no point turning your nose up at the shit everywhere.

For whoever doesn't overcome the cowardice inside themselves will die of fear to the end of their days.

Se devono impiccarti, chiedi un bicchiere d'acqua. Non si sa mai cosa accadrà prima che te lo portino...

The result was pseudo-pretty women with the angry and cold eyes of ugly girls. Girls who couldn't forget their ugliness had been covered by the mask of magic only for the prestige of their profession.

Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster; for if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back into you. Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

Because it was us, human beings, who were the intruders here. This land was ruled by dragons, manticores, griffins and amphisboenas, vampires and werewolves, striga, kikimoras, chimera and flying drakes. And this land had to be taken from them bit by bit, every valley, every mountain pass, every forest and every meadow.

In una bocca chiusa, bada bene alle mie parole, non può volare nessuna mosca della merda.

Non potremo fare molto più di quanto ci sarà consentito. Ma cercheremo tutti di far sì che non sia molto meno.

Whatever. Become a priest. You wouldn't be bad at it with all your scruples, your morality, your knowledge of people and of everything. The fact that you don't believe in any gods shouldn't be a problem—I don't know many priests who do.

Tu ne signifie rien. Tu n'es qu'une minuscule mite qu'on peut réduire en poussière entre ses doigts mais qui, si on la laisse faire, peut faire un trou dans un tissu précieux. Un grain de poivre insignifiant, mais qui, si on le croque par inadvertance, gâchera le mets le plus raffiné dont on aurait voulu se délecter. Voilà ce que tu es. Rien. Rien du tout.

Un chirurgo può permettersi di essere cinico solo dopo dieci anni di pratica.

The Witcher had no work, for though the Dank Wilderness was so dank it would have been difficult to imagine anything danker, we did not encounter any monsters.

The striga was in no hurry with her next attack. She approached slowly, baring her fangs, dribbling repulsively

Vale la pena pagare il piacere col dolore.

Become a priest. You wouldn't be bad at it with all your scruples, your morality, your knowledge of people and of everything.

Lo único que se lamenta es el haber sido inactivo, indeciso, vacilante. Aunque a veces la acción y la decisión producen pena y tristeza, una no se arrepiente de ellas nunca".

I've heard about witchers—they abduct tiny children whom they feed with magic herbs. The ones who survive become witchers themselves, sorcerers with inhuman powers. They're taught to kill, and all human feelings and reactions are trained out of them. They're turned into monsters in order to kill other monsters.

articulated, it is better to go forward without an aim than loiter without an aim, and with surety much better than to retreat without an aim.

She watched halflings at work creating ornate wineskins from goat's hide in full view of the public, and she was delighted by the beautiful dolls on display at a stall run by a pair of half-elves. She looked at wares made of malachite and jasper, which a gruff, gloomy gnome was offering for sale. She inspected the swords in a swordsmith's workshop with interest and the eye of an expert. She watched girls weaving wicker baskets and concluded that there was nothing worse than work.

The evil and decisive fling down those who are moral, honest and noble but maladroit, hesitant and full of scruples.

The mill of destiny is turning, the querns of fate are grinding… Whatever is destined must occur.