Quotes from Joe Abercrombie

Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge." —Paul Gauguin

You turn to shit, alright. But maybe you can leave something good behind you.' She barked empty laughter at him. '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?

Honour, eh? What the hell is that anyway? Every man thinks it's something different. You can't drink it. You can't fuck it. The more of it you have the less good it does you, and if you've got none at all you don't miss it.

If she knew about the luggage, she was trouble. And Fallow had no sense of humour about his cock, to which none of the ointments had made the slightest difference.

No matter how great and glorious the making, time will unmake it. No matter how strong the word, strong the thought, strong the law, all must return to chaos.' Skifr jerked her head back and sent spit spinning high into the air, arcing neatly down and spattering on rusted metal. 'King Uthil says steel is the answer. I say his sight is short. Dust is the last answer to every question, now and always.

It's easy to scream about the fence when you're on the wrong side of it. Some mad twist of fortune lands you on the right side, though, the fence starts to look like it might not be such a bad idea. Might even be worth all the sacrifices. Other people's sacrifices aren't that hard to make.

Within reach of his hand, the Bloody-Nine was master. The

You agreed. I just stood here.

Only the direction of the treason had changed.

Always more enemies, and fewer friends. Blood gets you nothing but more blood.

If you have a plan," hissed Sumael from the corner of her mouth, "now would be the time." "I have a plan," said Nothing. "Does it involve a sword?" asked Jaud. A pause. "All my plans do." "Do you have a sword?" Another. "No." "How will your plan work without one?" muttered Sumael. A third. "Death waits for us all.

War's ninety-nine parts boredom and, now and then, one part arse-opening terror.

Shenkt had his work, and he would see it through to the end, however bitter. Just as he always did. Some stories, after all, are only suited to bitter endings.

Faith must be shaken from time to time, or it becomes rigid. An excuse for any outrage. I have come to believe that the righteous… should always have doubts.

She would much rather have been held but, since they were who they were, she could be drunk instead.

We are leaders. War is what happens when we fail. Or are pushed into failure by the rash and the foolish. Victory is better than defeat, but… not by much.

A fighting man's a fool that don't keep his weapons clean and ready. Dogman had been over his no more'n an hour before. Still, you won't be killed for checking 'em, while you might be for not doing it.

God! Why did she insist on demanding from people what she knew they could never give her? Why did she insist on making the same mistakes over and over? Why was she fooled so easily every time? Because she wanted to be fooled.

I can see her on your arm like an empty dress, a kind of echo at a higher pitch.

The dead save me from the fucking young.' 'No getting away from 'em, sadly,' muttered Clover. 'The older you get, the more of 'em there are.

Help to these people was a coin tossed in a pool. It might make a few ripples, but they would quickly vanish as though they had never been.

I'll kill them … I'll kill them … I'll kill them …" It hardly needed to be said. She was done with crying. T

Sooner or later, you have to stop expecting folk to bend around your plans and fit your plans to the folk you've got.

above him, the crossed hammers and the lion, holed and torn from victories in the North but never taken by an enemy. He smiled up as the sea wind made it flap and