Quotes from Bernard Cornwell

And afterwards, you recall little, except the blows that so nearly killed you. You work and push and stab to make an opening in their shield wall. And then you grunt and lunge and slash to widen the gap. And only then does the madness take over. As the enemy breaks and you can begin to kill like a god. Because the enemy is scared and running or scared and frozen. And all they can do is die while you harvest souls.

This isn't just a war over land, it's a war about God. And Alfred...is Christ's servant...

You're the son of a king,' I told him, 'and one day you might be a king yourself. Life and death will be your gifts, so learn how to give them, boy.

That joy. That madness. The gods must feel this way every moment of every day. It is as if the world slows. You see the attacker, you see him shouting, though you hear nothing, and you know what he will do, and all his movements are so slow and yours are so quick, and in that moment you can do no wrong and you will live forever and your name will be blazoned across the heavens in a glory of white fire because you are the god of battle.

Men do not relish the shield wall. They do not rush to death's embrace. You look ahead and see the overlapping shields, the helmets, the glint of axes and spears and swords, and you know you must go into the reach of those blades, into the place of death, and it takes time to summon the courage, to heat the blood, to let the madness overtake caution.

Obadiah Hakeswill had never been concerned by such enmity. Power did not lie in being liked, but in being feared.

A parede de escudos. Ela aterroriza. Não há lugar mais terrível que a parede de escudos. É o lugar onde morremos, onde conquistamos e ganhamos reputação. Toquei o martelo de Tor, rezei para Eduardo estar vindo e me preparei para lutar. Na parede de escudos.

The art of war," I told him, "is to make the enemy do your bidding.

I put my hands over Saint Cuthbert's fingers and I could feel the big ruby ring under my own fingers, and I gave the jewel a twitch just to see whether the stone was loose and would come free, but it seemed well fixed in its setting. I swear to be your man, I said to the corpse, and to serve you faithfully. I tried to shift the ring again, but the dead fingers were stiff and the ruby did not move.

I like to see a man obeying a woman, Father Pyrlig said as I fetched the loaf. Why's that? I asked. Because it means I'm not alone in this sorry world.

Toquei Bafo de Serpente de novo e me pareceu que ela teve um tremor. Algumas vezes eu achava que a espada cantava. Era um canto fino, apenas entreouvido, um som penetrante, a canção da espada que desejava sangue; a canção da espada.

I was still screaming at the enemy, promising them death. I was Thor, I was Odin, I was the lord of battle.

Thomas nodded towards Keane. 'He doesn't want to be a priest and you don't want to be a monk. Now you're both Hellequin.' Brother Michael looked disbelieving. 'I am?' He asked excitedly. 'You are,' Thomas said. 'So all we need now is a pair of ripe young girls who don't want to be nuns,' Keane said cheerfully.

All men have enemies, otherwise they're not men

A trial relied heavily on oaths, but both sides would bring as many liars as they could muster, and judgment usually went to the better liars or, if both sides were equally convincing, to the side who had the sympathy of the onlookers.

The Lord Uhtred sought to annoy you, bishop, the king said, and it is best not to give him the satisfaction of showing that he has succeeded.

And that, too, was the truth, that a man cannot step back from a fight and stay a man. We make much in this life if we are able. We make children and wealth and amass land and build halls and assemble armies and give great feasts, but only one thing survives us. Reputation. I could not walk away.

Instinct is everything.

A bastard son must fight his own way in the world. Osferth knew that.

When men do evil and claim that they are doing God's work, then they are at their most dangerous.

How does a lawyer lie?" "With passion, Mr. Starbuck, and with a self-inflicted belief, albeit temporary, that the facts he is reciting are the very stuff of God's own truth.

He needed to know it, see it, smell it, and survive it. I was training the boy not just to be a warrior, but to be a king.

That dawn is seared on my memory, burnt there by the flames of a hall-burning. There was nothing we could do except watch.

Well damn him. I was not dead yet, and so long as I lived I would fight for Æthelflaed.