Quotes from Joe Abercrombie

It's an easy thing to make a man a carcass. He knew a thousand ways to do it. But once you've done it, there's no going back. One minute he's a man, all full up with hopes, and thoughts, and dreams. A man with friends, and family, and a place where he's from. Next minute he's mud.

Comes to be everything reminds you of something past. Somewhere past. Someone. Yourself, maybe, how you were. The now gets fainter and the past more and more real. The future worn down to but a stub.' Lamb

And what will you do with your twilight years? "As it happens,the great King has offered me a place in his guard." "The stench of honor! You'll accept?

But here's the sorry truth — if you really don't want a thing, you don't have to keep telling yourself so.

But there's so much to feel sorry for in the world. Can't waste too much on folk who act like pricks.

And here it is. That horrible, beautiful, stretched out moment between stubbing your toe and feeling the hurt. How long do I have before the pain comes? How bad will it be when it does? Gasping, slack-jawed at the foot of the steps, Glokta felt a tingling of anticipation. Here it comes… The

A good liar tells as much truth as he can. That way you never know what you're getting.

Gratitude and resentment are brothers eternal, after all.

The sad truth is that pretty people can slide through all kinds of scrapes that'd end very badly for the ugly.

Stacked up after the plague came through, spread out after a battle?' 'Aye, I've seen that.' 'Did you notice some of those corpses had a kind of glow about them? A sweet smell like roses on a spring morning?' Shivers frowned. 'No.' 'The good men and the bad, then – all looked about the same, did they? They always did to me, I can tell you that.

Perhaps the vengeance could wait, at least until he had a bigger blade to work with. You have to be realistic, after all.

I've always thought it must be a fine enough life, being a whore. A successful one, at any rate. You get the days off, and when finally you are called upon to work you can get most of it done lying down.' 'Not much honour in it,' said Shivers. 'Shit at least makes flowers grow. Honour isn't even that useful.

Fighting every fight you're offered doesn't make you a big man, it makes you a fool.

The trouble with being able to lift heavy things is that when heavy things need lifting folk step out of the way and smile at you. He'd done some tough jobs to earn a crust for him

The ones you like straight away rarely turn out to be your favourites.

Death waits for us all. But she takes the lazy first.

Oftentimes,' murmured Whirrun, 'a man's better served embracing his pain than trying to escape it. Things are smaller when you face 'em.

I am sure you understand that a reputation for ruthlessness can be useful. A great ruler, especially one of as wide and various a country as Gurkhul, must first be feared. He would desire to be loved also, but that is a luxury. Fear is essential. Whatever you may have heard, Uthman is neither a man of peace, nor of war. He is a man of… what would be your word? Necessity. He is a man of the right tool at the right time.

Respect costs you nothing, and nothing gets a man killed quicker than confidence.

Anyone can face ease and success with confidence. It is the way we face trouble and misfortune that defines us. Self-pity goes with selfishness, and there is nothing more to be deplored in a leader than that. Selfishness belongs to children, and to half-wits. A great leader puts others before himself. You would be surprised how acting so makes it easier to bear one's own troubles. In order to act like a King, one need only treat everyone else like one.

Repetition – the curse of the old.

And here it is. That horrible, beautiful, stretched out moment between stubbing your toe and feeling the hurt. How long do I have before the pain comes? How bad will it be when it does?

The best lessons one teaches oneself.

Magic is the art and science of forcing things to behave in ways that are not in their nature.