Quotes from Joe Abercrombie

There was the very slightest pause. Probably no more than a breath, for all it felt far longer. While everyone assessed the odds and the outcomes. While everyone judged just where the shifting power sat. While everything dropped into place in Dimbik's mind and, no doubt, the minds of every other person present. Just a breath, and everything was rearranged.

Didn't seem likely, but what's the point of likely fantasies?

I'm no drunk," croaked Cosca. "I simply like the taste of wine. So much so that I have to drink some every few hours or become violently ill." He clung to his fork while the room swayed around him, fixed his aching smile while they chuckled away. He hoped they enjoyed their laughter while they could, because Nicomo Cosca always laughed last. Provided he wasn't being sick, of course.

Relief, or disappointment? Hard to tell the difference.

And loyalty? A trick those with power played on those without to make them act against their own interests.

Aye, well, one person's mad is another's remarkable.

What do we leave behind but things not done, not said, not finished? Empty clothes, empty rooms, empty spaces in the ones who knew us? Mistakes never made right and hopes rotted down to nothing?

Well don't just hit 'em, you lazy bastards!" he shouted in a broken voice. "Pull 'em!

Conscience can be painful but so can the cock-rot. A grown-up should suffer his afflictions privately and not allow them to become an inconvenience for friends and colleagues.' 'Conscience and the cock-rot are hardly equivalent,' snapped Lorsen. 'Indeed,' said Cosca, significantly. 'The cock-rot is rarely fatal.

Maybe's a game with no winners.

Nothing was easy with people, but she could always count on herself to make things more difficult than they had to be.

Never take eggs from a metal-eyed man.

You look especially beautiful this morning, Monza." That brought a smile to the corner of her mouth. The corner he couldn't see. "Well. Facts are facts.

Ever think maybe you drink too much?" asked Wonderful. Clover smacked his lips. "Too much would, by definition, be too much. I find however much I drink is just the right amount.

Broken hearts heal with time, but broken teeth never do. Glokta

He flowed up to the first wall, slid one leg over it, silent as a mouse. He lifted himself up, smooth as butter, keeping quiet, keeping low. His back foot caught on a set of loose stones, dragged them scraping with him. He grabbed at them, fumbled them, knocked over even more with his elbow, and they clattered down loud around him. He stumbled onto his weak ankle, twisted it, squawked with pain, fell over, and rolled through a patch of thistles. "Shit," he grunted,

It's a fool who makes folk choose too often between loyalty and good sense.

It was difficult to maintain any sense of superiority in the face of his utter dependence on other people.

The ground must be a general's best friend, or it becomes his worst enemy.

Every man has his excuses, and the more vile the man becomes, the more touching the story has to be.

I would be the last to disagree, but you fail to see that you are worse. No man capable of greater evil than the one who thinks himself in the right. No purpose more evil than the higher purpose. I freely admit I am a villain. That's why you hired me. But I am no hypocrite.

The first weapon you bring to any fight ain't a spear or an arrow or an axe." Flick blinked at him. "Sword?" "Surprise," said Clover. "Surprise makes brave men cowards, strong men weak, wise men fools.

The tree is only as strong as its roots, and knowledge is the root of power.

what really happened doesn't matter half so much as what people want to hear.