Quotes from Joe Abercrombie

When was it exactly that I became... this? By small degrees, I suppose. Once act presses hard upon another, on a path we have no choice but to follow, and each time there are reasons. We do what we must, we do what we are told, we do what is easiest. What else can we do but solve one sordid problem at a time? Then one day we look up and fine we are... this.

Then you've got a chance to do better next time.' 'Next time?' 'Course. Doing better next time. That's what life is.

I apologise, your Highness. Murder can be a painful business.

Can't you stay with the other wives?' he wheedled. 'Please, just for now?' 'That prattling coven?' She screwed up her face. 'All they talk about is who's barren, who's unfaithful, and what the queen's wearing. They're idiots.' 'Have you ever noticed that everyone's an idiot but you?' She opened her eyes wide. 'You see it too?

If I can live with having this face, they can live with looking at it. That or they can get fucked.

You're a fine one to talk, Skinny Rikke. Every pinch o' meat fell off you when you went to see the witch. You're like a head stuck on a spear these days, but without the flies. Most o' the flies, at least." And she burst out laughing.

One of my greatest pleasures is a good cut of meat, and the bloodier the better. Just show them the flame, I always tell my cook. Just show it to them.

Un hombre debe ser capaz de conocer sus propias limitaciones.

King Uthil says steel is the answer. I say his sight is short. Dust is the last answer to every question, now and always.

Elállt az es?, a földek fölött kisütött a nap. Halvány szivárvány nyújtózott a szürke égbolt alatt. Monza kíváncsi lett volna, tényleg manók laknak-e a tövében, ahogyan az apja mondta neki, vagy ott is csak szar van, ahogy mindehol máshol. Kihajolt a nyeregb?l és a búza közé köpött. Manószar talán.

Sometimes weakness is a better shield than strength,

Magnificent,' muttered Glokta, stretching out his aching back and squinting up, the pure white stone almost painful to look at in the afternoon glare. 'Seeing this, one could almost believe in God.' If one didn't know better.

If you want to be a new man you have to stay in new places, and do new things, with people who never knew you before. If you go back to the same old ways, what else can you be but

I must protest!' barked Lorsen. 'If you must, you must, but I won't be able to hear you with all this noise.' 'What noise?' Cosca stuck his fingers in his ears. 'Blah-lee-lah-lee-lah-lee-lah-lee-lah…!

The most civilized place in the world," murmured Father Yarvi. "Though that mostly means folk prefer to stab each other in the back than in the front.

you can't truly hate a man without loving him first, and there's always a trace of that love left over.

He could do anything and it would be right, for he had made himself a willing puppet of God's purpose and in so doing freed himself. He alone free, surrounded by slaves.

Vengeance is a fleeting thrill. The doubts, we carry to our graves.

She narrowed her eyes. "You lost the collar I gave you." It chafed. And I wasn't born to be a slave.

Jezal had often observed that the ever so slightly stupid will act more stupidly in clever company. Having lost the high ground already they scramble eagerly for the position of likeable idiot, stay out of arguments they will only lose, and can hence be everyone's friend.

You know the trouble with a pretty face?" Judge was saying. "People get used to its advantages, and when it's took away, they lack the wherewithal to make a success of themselves. Nothing sadder'n a person who used to be beautiful. They have this desperate smile. Like me, it says. Like me, even though there's nothing left to like.

That was the trouble with pride, and courage, and all those clench-jawed virtues bards love to harp on. The more you have, the more likely you are to end up bottom in a pile of dead men.

I daresay that's a better-looking man there. A cleverer man.' He ran one hand through his short dark hair, frowning at his reflection. 'Not sure if I trust that bastard, though.

There's always good men on both sides of a good fight.