Quotes from Joe Abercrombie

The trouble with running is wherever you run to, there you are.

So you love war. I used to think you were a decent man. But I see now I was mistaken. You're a hero.

Treat a man like a dog and sooner or later he'll bite you,

All you can do is take each day as it comes. Try and do the best you can with what you're given. You won't always do the right thing, but you can try. And you can try to do the right thing next time. That, and stay alive.

Death waits for us all. Nothing's forever. Life's about making the best of what you find along the way. A man who's not content with what he's got, well, more than likely he won't be content with what he hasn't.

Say one thing for Logen Ninefingers, say he's a lover.

I'm trying to put things in the best light, but a turd's a turd, whatever light it's in!

They appear somewhat unreliable," he murmured. "Unreliable? Nonsense, Superior! Out of luck is all, and we both know how that goes, no? Why, there's not a man of them I wouldn't trust my mother to." "Are you sure?" "She's been dead these twenty years. What harm could they do her now?

The lamplight gleamed on the Magus' white grin. "People like to watch the pretty puppets, Superior. Even a glimpse of the puppeteer can be most upsetting for them. Why, they might even suddenly notice the strings around their own wrists

A look of fury, a look of pain, a look of hatred you can trust. A smile can hide anything.

I will confess!" shrieked Teufel, "I will confess!" "Excellent," said Glokta brightly. "Excellent," said Severard. "Etherer," said Practical Frost.

Life is a series of things we would rather not do.

If you can't find anything to complain about you aren't looking hard enough.

The smell of it. The feel of it." He rubbed one hand up and down the stained sheath of his sword, making a faint swishing sound. "War is honest. There's no lying to it. You don't have to say sorry here. Don't have to hide. You cannot. If you die? So what? You die among friends. Among worthy foes. You die looking the Great Leveller in the eye. If you live? Well, lad that's living, isn't it? A man isn't truly alive until he's facing death." Whirrun stamped his foot into the sod. "I love war!

Those with bad luck should at least attempt to balance it with good sense.

The sunrise was the colour of bad blood. It leaked out of the east and stained the dark sky red, marked the scraps of the cloud with stolen gold. Underneath it the road twisted up the mountainside towards the fortress of Fontezarmo - a cluster of sharp towers, ash-black again the wounded heavens. The sunrise was red, black and gold. The colours of their profession.

As for being a good man,' and Glokta curled his lip, 'that ship sailed long ago, and I wasn't even there to wave it off.

It is so often the small things overlooked which leave our schemes in ruins.

They have that most strange and dangerous of qualities," said Cosca. "They think they're in the right.

When God means to punish a man He sends him stupid friends and clever enemies.

Glorious victories make fine songs, Yarvi, but inglorious ones are no worse once the bards are done with them. Glorious defeats, meanwhile, are just defeats.

But enemies, as his mother used to say, are the price of success.

Empathy? What's that?" Glokta winced as he rubbed at his aching leg. "It's a sad fact, but pain only makes you sorry for yourself.

The best steel doesn't always shine the brightest.