Quotes from Andrzej Sapkowski

People," Geralt turned his head, "like to invent monsters and monstrosities. Then they seem less monstrous themselves. When they get blind-drunk, cheat, steal, beat their wives, starve an old woman, when they kill a trapped fox with an axe or riddle the last existing unicorn with arrows, they like to think that the Bane entering cottages at daybreak is more monstrous than they are. They feel better then. They find it easier to live.

Lesser, greater, middling, it's all the same. Proportions are negotiated, boundaries blurred. I'm not a pious hermit, I haven't done only good in my life. But if I'm to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all.

Evil is Evil. Lesser, greater, middling… Makes no difference. The degree is arbitary. The definition's blurred. If I'm to choose between one evil and another… I'd rather not choose at all.

To be neutral does not mean to be indifferent or insensitive. You don't have to kill your feelings. It's enough to kill hatred within yourself.

There is never a second opportunity to make a first impression.

People"—Geralt turned his head—"like to invent monsters and monstrosities. Then they seem less monstrous themselves.

I manage because I have to. Because I've no other way out. Because I've overcome the vanity and pride of being different, I've understood that they are a pitiful defense against being different. Because I've understood that the sun shines differently when something changes. The sun shines differently, but it will continue to shine, and jumping at it with a hoe isn't going to do anything.

There's a grain of truth in every fairy tale

Mistakes,' he said with effort, 'are also important to me. I don't cross them out of my life, or memory. And I never blame others for them.

You've mistaken the stars reflected on the surface of the lake at night for the heavens.

Evil is evil, Stregobor," said the witcher seriously as he got up. "Lesser, greater, middling, it's all the same. Proportions are negotiated, boundaries blurred. I'm not a pious hermit. I haven't done only good in my life. But if I'm to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all.

I know you're almost forty, look almost thirty, think you're just over twenty and act as though you're barely ten.

A mother, you son-of-a-bitch, is sacred!

Nonsense," said the witcher. "And what's more, it doesn't rhyme. All decent predictions rhyme.

What is truth? The negation of lies? Or the statement of a fact? And if the fact is a lie, what then is the truth?

Were I to attempt to be good to everyone, to the entire world and to all the creatures living in it, it would be a drop of fresh water in the salt sea. In other words, a wasted effort. Thus, I decided to do specific good; good which would not go to waste. I'm good to myself and my immediate circle.

Only death can finish the fight, everything else only interrupts the fighting.

It's better to die than to live in the knowledge that you've done something that needs forgiveness.

Only Evil and Greater Evil exist and beyond them, in the shadows, lurks True Evil. True Evil, Geralt, is something you can barely imagine, even if you believe nothing can still surprise you. And sometimes True Evil seizes you by the throat and demands that you choose between it and another, slightly lesser, Evil.

When you know about something it stops being a nightmare. When you know how to fight something, it stops being so threatening.

They weren't lying. They firmly believed it all. Which doesn't change the facts.

Ã…Å¡wiat siÄ™ zmienia, sÅ'oÅ"ce zachodzi, a wódka siÄ™ koÅ"czy.

I need this conversation. They say silence is golden. Maybe it is, although I'm not sure it's worth that much. It has its price certainly; you have to pay for it.

Remember," she repeated, "magic is Chaos, Art and Science. It is a curse, a blessing and progress. It all depends on who uses magic, how they use it, and to what purpose. And magic is everywhere. All around us. Easily accessible.