Quotes from Joe Abercrombie

He had sworn a thousand times to kill her, but Cosca had broken all manner of oaths in his life, and the sight of her brought no rage. Instead what welled up in him was a mixture of worn-out self-pity, sappy joy and, most of all, piercing shame at seeing in her face how far he had fallen. He felt the ache in his nose, behind his cheeks, tears welling in his stinging eyes. For once he was grateful that they were red as wounds at the best of times. If he wept, no once could tell the difference.

I have spent half my life in the business of destruction. The other half in the dogged pursuit of self-destruction.

Better to rob the righteous,' muttered Shev as she slipped the oars silently through the rowlocks. 'Evil people tend to be suspicious and vengeful.' Javre

Clover strolled past, shaking his head. What a waste. Waste of people, waste of things, waste of effort. But that was war for you. Nothing he hadn't seen a dozen times before. If the Great Wolf wanted to decorate his new land with corpses and have creaking ropes for music, then who was he to complain?

So… the same people, doing the same job, but called something else?

This is the North," muttered Clover. "Who hasn't killed a friend or two?

If you hear a reproach it is your own guilt that goads you, not my accusation.

Why don't you got a man, Shy?' 'Don't like men much, I guess.' 'You don't like anyone much.' 'They started it.' 'All of 'em?' 'Enough of 'em.

I was loyal to both", said Clover. "I was just more loyal to me. Truth is, men love to blab abour loyalty till it might trap 'em on the losing side. Then there's a chorus o' silence on the issue. So I consider reasonably loyal to be a bit more loyal than most, and a lot more honest than most. It's a fool who makes folk choose too often between loyalty and good sense.

Why's your name Yolk?' 'Er... don't know. Was my father's name... I guess.' 'Think you're the best part of the egg, do you, Yolk?

it was like staring at a whitewashed wall, but without all the emotion

Your Majesty, we are not here to set right all the world's wrongs.' Orso stared back at him. 'What are we here for, then?' Bayaz neither smiled nor frowned. 'To ensure that we benefit from them.

No corpses, no glory.

Dow to know – you might as well cut your own neck as make that evil bastard angry. 'Any trouble while we was split up?' he asked, looking to change the subject. Grim

it was better to do it, than to live with the fear of it.

If you want to be a fine new person with a fine new life you've got to put the person you were behind you, like a snake sheds its skin. You've got to stop picking through your hoard of hurts and grievances like a miser with his coins, set 'em down and allow yourself to go free. You've got to forgive and you've got to trust, not because anyone else deserves it, but because you do.

They say belief is righteous, but to Muslan only doubt was divine. From doubt flows curiosity, and knowledge, and progress. From belief flows only ignorance and decay.

Then, I would guess, they are largely, if not entirely, expended. So it always is with mercenaries. Easily hired, even more easily discharged and never missed once they are gone.

Una alianza debe ser sellada cara a cara, hombre a hombre, hierro a hierro, y sangre a sangre.

but in the end Logen had earned their trust, and their respect, and their friendship even. Small gestures and a lot of time, that was how he'd done it. "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. You have to be realistic about these things.

My father doesn't own me. Not even a percentage. If we marry, my loyalty will be to you. But you should know I am my own woman and do things my own way. I do not plan for that to change.

The most heroic deaths of all were the pointless ones,

Walk in God's footsteps, Ferro Maljinn." "Huh. They have no God here." "Say rather that they have many." "Many?" "Had you not noticed? Here, each man worships himself." She nodded. That seemed close to the truth.

Everything frightens me, and it's well that it does. Fear is a good friend to the hunted, it's kept me alive this long. The dead are fearless, and I don't care to join them.