Quotes from Bernard Cornwell

Most men want to follow, and what they demand of their leader is prosperity. We are the ring givers, the gold givers.

Men who lead by fear might become great kings and might rule lands so great that no man knows their boundaries, but they can be beaten, too, beaten by men who fight as brothers.

And when you speak with him," I said, "tell him to stop hitting his wife." Erkenwald jerked as though I had just struck him in the face. "It is his Christian duty," he said stiffly, "to discipline his wife, and it is her duty to submit. Did you not listen to what I preached?

Eu odeio tanto os homens, Derfel!

Bird wondered how newspapers could get things so utterly wrong, then pondered how many of his own prejudices and ideas had been shaped by similarly mistaken journalism.

an arena where, so Merewalh's priest told me, Christians had been fed to wild beasts. Some things are just too good to be true and so I was not sure I believed him.

A rat doesn't demand supper from a wolf

This was a clever man, as clever as Alfred, and he knew that weakness invited war.

What had the Reverend Venables said? That promises in the playhouse were like kisses on May Day. I had just been kissed.

The Tippoo's life seemed charmed. He stepped in blood, but none of it was his and it seemed as though he could not die, but only kill, and so he did, cold-bloodedly, deliberately, exultantly defending his city and his dream against the barbarians who had come to snatch his tiger throne.

when the lust dies then mercy takes its place

Hurry up and do nothing, that was the army's way of doing things.

He'll fight like a bull,' I said, 'and he's honest. But does he think like a wildcat?

The church, we're to meet in the church. Do try to wipe that blood off your mail, Uhtred. We're an embassy!

To be discreet, '"he looked up to glare at Æthelflaed, "'chaste! Keepers of the home! Good! Obedient to their husbands!' Those are God's own words! That is what God demands of a woman! To be discreet, to be chaste, to be home-keepers, to be obedient! God spoke to us!

I'm not his man, Father. I'm Uhtred of Bebbanburg, and the lords of Bebbanburg don't marry pious maggotfaced bitches of low birth.

We Irish know one thing above all others: an enemy forgiven is an enemy who will have to be fought over and over again.

But that was a notion as wispy as the high thin clouds that were being driven away by a brisk wind, and behind those wispy clouds was a wall of dark, tumultuous cloud that promised snow.

Masques are mere pious recitals, he said scathingly, devised to make the audience feel inspired with unending speeches about chastity, nobility, bravery, and other such nonsense. They're enchanting to look at, but dreary beyond belief to hear.

And thus Berg Skallagrimmrson entered my service. Fate is inexorable. I was not to know it, but I had just made Alfred's dream of Englaland come true.

There comes a moment in life when we see ourselves as others see us. I suppose that is part of growing up, and it is not always comfortable.

I gazed at the far woods and knew our enemies were also sharpening their blades. They had to be confident. They knew the dawn would bring them a battle, victory, plunder, and reputation.

You know your trouble? You think too much. I've never known a happy man who thought too much. Thinking just complicates affairs. Life's like jumping a bad fence on a good horse, the more responsibility you leave to the horse the safer you'll be, and the more you leave to life the happier you are. Worrying

Men and women used pliers to pull teeth from the dead and, for years after, false teeth were known as Waterloo Teeth. Some