Quotes from Joe Abercrombie

Along with the constant pain was the constant need to pretend you weren't in pain at all, as though the worst thing about your agony was that it might put other people out.

A battle is no place for a self-respecting warrior, but if you must attend one at least have the good taste to be where the fighting isn't.

When you're planning what to do, always think of doing nothing first, see where that gets you.

Logen still remembered the first time he had to leave someone behind, remembered it like it was yesterday. Strange how the boy's name had gone but the face was with him still.

A sword has a voice.

News spoils quick, friend, like milk.' 'I say it gets better if carefully kept, like wine.' 'I'm glad you like the vintage, but I ain't buying yesterday's news.

patience is the chief of virtues," his father used to say, and "you won't cross the mountains in a day." Time might be against them, but there was nothing to be gained by rushing.

Pardon me," said Glokta, wiping his running eye with a finger, "but I spent two years in the Emperor's prisons. I daresay, if I had known I'd be there half that long at the start, I would have made a more concerted effort to kill myself. Seven hundred days, give or take, in the darkness. As close to hell, I would have thought, as a living man can go. My point is this – if you mean to upset me, you'll need more than harsh language.

I'm a man." Koll's shoulders sagged. "When did that happen?" "It just happens." "I wish I knew what it meant, being a man." "Guess it means something different for each one of us. The gods know I'm no sage, but if I've realized anything, it's that life isn't about making something perfect.

Guilt is a luxury reserved for those still breathing and with no unbearable pain, cold or hunger demanding all their fickle attention. Long as guilt's your biggest problem, girl..." Rikke saw the faint gleam of Isern's teeth in the gathering darkness. "Things can't be that bad".

Armour is part of a state of mind in which you admit the possibility of being hit

I apologise if I bore you!' 'I accept your apology.' 'I was joking!' 'Ah. Your wit is so very sharp I hardly noticed I was cut.

Some men are made for doing violence. Some are meant for planning it. Then there are a special few whose talent is for taking the credit.

When you have a load to lift, you're better lifting than weeping.

All too often when we topple something hateful, rather than breaking it and starting afresh, we raise ourselves up in its place.

The ever so slightly stupid will act more stupidly in clever company.

They say it's men with nothing to lose you should fear. But it's them who fear most.

So this is all about appeareances?` murmured Vick. 'Being king IS all about appeareances,' said Orso. 'An endless perfomance with no chance for an encore and for damn sure no applause.

To be brave among friends was nothing. To have the world against you and pick your path regardless–there is courage.

Death does not bow to each person who passes her, does not sweep out her arm respectfully to show the way, speaks no profound words, unlocks no bolts. The key upon her chest is never needed, for the Last Door stands always open. She herds the dead through impatiently, heedless of rank or fame or quality. She has an ever-lengthening queue to get through. A blind procession, inexhaustible.

Dogman remembered the smell of her hair, the sound of her laugh, the feel of her back, pressed warm and soft against his belly while she slept. Well-used memories, picked over and worn thin like a favourite shirt.

She was the scab he couldn't stop picking, the split lip he couldn't stop biting at, the loose thread he couldn't stop tugging

I guess most of 'em mean well.' 'Someday you can build a boat from meaning well and see how floats.' 'Tried that. Sank with me on it.

No one gets what they deserve.