Quotes from Bernard Cornwell

Me! I'm your pagan, lord,' I said, 'what do I care about sin?' 'Then care for my children,' he said. 'I will, lord King,' I promised.

The law. we are told, is what makes us men under God instead of beasts in the ditch

The art of war is to make the enemy do our bidding.

What did you want to achieve?" "Liberty, of course!" The answer was swift, but followed immediately by a deprecating smile. "Except I've learned there's no such thing." "There isn't?" "You can't have freedom and lawyers, Sharpe

trained my son to be a warrior, and I was proud of him, but Stiorra puzzled me. She was my youngest, and it hurt to look at her because she so resembled her dead mother; she was tall and lithe and had her mother's long face, the same black hair, the same dark eyes, and the same grave expression that could light into beauty with a smile. I did not know her well because I had

He was loose in his enemy's rear, he was angry, and he was ready to give the bastards a taste of hell on earth.

The night is the domain of the dead, and the living fear it...

And so he lied because he can't speak the truth. His tongue is bent. He breaks oaths, my lady, and he swears black is white and white is black, and men believe him because he has honey on his bent tongue. But I know him, my lady, because he's my man, he's sworn to me." And with that I leaned down from the saddle and took hold of Haesten's mail coat, shirt, and cloak, and hauled him up. He

They make laws that no one wants, then make money disagreeing with each other what the damned law means, and the more they disagree the more money they make, but still they go on making laws, and they make them ever more complicated so that they can get paid for arguing ever more intricately with one another! I grant you they're clever buggers, but God, how I hate lawyers.

Man make a kingdom strong, not gold.

thought folk were buried there?" "They are! And their treasures! So the dragon guards the hoard. That's what dragons do. Bury gold and you hatch a dragon, see?

The sword was called Caledfwlch, which means 'hard lightning' though Igraine prefers to call it Excalibur

A three-day-old baby is a saint?' Willibald flapped his hands. 'Miracles happen, lord,' he said, 'they really do. They say little Rumwold sang God's praises whenever he suckled.' 'I feel much the same when I get hild of a tit,' I said, 'so does that make me a saint?

abandoned the weapon because of its propensity to shatter the shoulders of the men pulling its trigger, but in Patrick Harper the seven-barreled gun had found a soldier capable of taming its brute ferocity. The gun was a cluster of seven half-inch barrels which were fired by a single lock, and was, in its effect, like a small cannon loaded with grapeshot.

Once upon a time, in a land that was called Britain, these things happened.

Night was falling across the trampled rye. Nine thousand men had been killed or wounded in the fight for the crossroads

Piglet," Bishop Wulfheard said in a scornful tone. I stared at him, then held up a hand to check Merewalh, who was about to leave the hall. "Maybe we don't need a piglet," I said slowly, as if an idea was just coming to me. "Why waste a baby pig when there's a bishop available?" Wulfheard fled.

the rocketmen ran for cover. The missiles

Remember the old saying, my lady," he said slyly. "Put a cat to watch a flock and the wolves eat well.

Folk don't buy rusty iron because I'm persuasive, lord, but because they desperately want to believe it will turn to silver.

Only a fool leaves cash where a servant can find it,' he said.

They were Danes, which meant they were planning mischief.

Step forward again, hold the shield steady. Peer over the top. Fear is screaming somewhere deep. Ignore it. You can smell the shit now. Shit and blood, the stench of glory. The enemy is more frightened. Kill them. Keep the shields steady. Kill.

but men inspired by prophecy will attempt any foolishness in the knowledge that the fates have ordained their victory.