Quotes from Robin Hobb

There is nothing dishonerable about abondoning pain. Sometimes peace is most quickly found when a man simply stops avoiding it.

Ephron sembrava classificare i pirati insieme alle tempeste; erano solo parte dei rischi che un buon capitano doveva affrontare

Death is always at the edge of now.

woman is more than mother, more than daughter, more than wife. Those are the facets of a full life, but no single facet defines the jewel.

Is it the nature of the world that all things seek a rhythm, and in that rhythm a sort of peace? Certainly it has always seemed so to me. All events, no matter how earthshaking or bizarre, are diluted within moments of their occurrence by the continuance of the necessary routines of day-to-day living. Men walking a battlefield to search for wounded among the dead will still stop to cough, to blow their noses, still lift their eyes to watch a V of geese in flight.

Web, what do you want of me?" I asked him at last. "Only to make you think," he answered soothingly. "Not to make you angry, though I seem to excel at that. Or perhaps your anger is always there, festering inside you, and I am the knife that lances the boil and lets it burst forth.

What is a secret? It is much more than knowledge shared with only a few, or perhaps only one other. It is power. It is a bond. It may be a sign of deep trust, or the darkest threat possible. There is power in the keeping of a secret, and power in the revelation of a secret. Sometimes it takes a very wise man to discern which is the path to greater power.

No wolf wastes time on vengeance, and that is what this is. Vengeance, pure and simple. When people look most vicious, what you are seeing is not their animal side. It is the savagery that only humans can muster. When you see me loyal to my family, then you see the wolf.

anarchy is but disorganized oppression.

A secret is only yours so long as you don't share it. Tell one person, and it's a secret no more. - Chade Fallstar

Once a man has been broken by pain, he remains forever a victim. He cannot ever forget that place he has visited, the moment when he decided that he would surrender everything rather than endure more pain. It is a shame no man ever completely recovers from. Some try to drown it by becoming the perpetrator of similar pain, and creating a new victim to bear for them that shame. Cruelty is a skill taught not only by example but by experience of it.

A scar is never the same as good flesh, but it stops the bleeding.

Intentions cannot be exchanged for results." - Royal Assassin

Nor is there any special wisdom in injuring oneself over and over. What is your loyalty to that pain? To abandon it will not lessen you

Much as we resent that, it was natural that once they had achieved a military technology that was superior to our own, they would take what they wished from us.

Many men hope that by saying a thing they can make it so," Chade said neutrally. "Even when they must know better

Winter had harvested us and stored us here in the Great Hall.

I found my voice. 'I'm going to—' Riddle crossed his arms on his chest. His nostrils flared and he exclaimed defiantly, 'I don't care what you do. Understand that. Do whatever you wish, but it won't change anything.' '—be a grandfather.

When I was younger, it was like life was a beautiful gift, wrapped in exquisite paper and adorned with ribbons. And I loved it, even though all I knew of it was the outside of the package. But in the last year or so, I've finally started to see there is something even better inside the package. I'm learning to see past the fancy wrappings, to the heart of things.

I supposed there was something about me that made all elderly folk assume my time was at their disposal.

Home is people. Not a place. If you go back there after the people are gone, then all you can see is what is not there any more.

When you cut pieces out of the truth to avoid looking like a fool you end up looking like a moron instead.

Don't do what you can't undo, until you've considered what you can't do once you've done it.

Everyone thinks that courage is about facing death without flinching. But almost anyone can do that. Almost anyone can hold their breath and not scream for as long as it takes to die. True courage is about facing life without flinching. I don't mean the times when the right path is hard, but glorious at the end. I'm talking about enduring the boredom, the messiness, and the inconvenience of doing what is right.