Quotes from Joe Abercrombie

you are on the wrong side as soon as you pick one.

made myself guilty of mass murder so I could be proclaimed innocent of incompetence.

The stench of self-satisfaction is becoming quite suffocating. If you mean to kill me, blast me to a cinder now and let's be done,

Things aren't what they used to be' is the rallying cry of small minds. When men say things used to be better, they invariably mean they were better for them, because they were young, and had all their hopes intact. The world is bound to look a darker place as you slide into the grave.

Bravery is the dead man's virtue.

It's a hard world. No one gets what they deserve.

ever deeper into jealous depression. They tell you drink makes you happy, but what they mean is it makes happy folk happier. They don't tell you that it makes unhappy folk more fucking unhappy than ever.

You could never have too many knives in Logen's experience,

Battles may sometimes be won by the brave, but wars are always won by the clever.

If you can't make your enemies trust you, you can at least make them mistrust each other.

Brand stared in sick disbelief. He'd been sure among all those lads someone would speak, for they were honest enough. Or Hunnan would tell his part in it, for he was a respected master-at-arms. The king or the queen would draw out the truth, for they were wise and righteous. The gods wouldn't allow such an injustice to pass. Someone would do something. Maybe, like him, they were all waiting for someone else to put things right.

I am First of the Magi. I am the last authority and I say . . . I am righteous.' 'You? No.' 'Yes, Ferro. Power makes all things right. That is my first law, and my last. That is the only law that I acknowledge.

The thing about history is you don't know what the right side is till long afterwards, and by then it hardly matters." "That's the sort o' thing you hear from folk who know they're on the wrong side.

Being in charge can seem like a thing iron-forged, but in the end it's just an idea everyone agrees to.

Friends are people one pretends to like in order to make life bearable.

Cleverness is no guarantee of sensible behaviour.

Seemed that Logen's father had been right. You can never have too many knives.

hope's like damp – however much you try to keep it out there's always a little gets in.

That blood only makes more blood. That settling one score only starts another. That war gives a bastard of a sour taste to any man that's not half-mad, and it only gets worse with time.' She didn't disagree. 'So you know why I'd rather be free of it. Make something grow. Something to be proud of, instead of just breaking. Be . . . a good man, I guess.

But then, if you leave it long enough, what doesn't end badly?

She sat in silence as he limped out, teeth gritted. Click, tap, grunt. Click, tap, grunt. That mixture of cunning, ruthlessness, burning ambition and constant pain was far from unfamiliar. She had heard it said that every woman ends up marrying her father. Until that moment, she had always imagined herself the exception.

I bet you can do better." Luthar was grinning across at Logen. "I got bitten by a mean sheep once, but it didn't leave much of a mark.

They say a man lost in the desert must take such water as he is offered, no matter who it comes from. I

A lot of wasted time, to the Dogman's mind, but once you've been fool enough to ask for a task, you better do the one you're given.n