Quotes from Joe Abercrombie

I myself have left a thousand tasks unfinished, unstarted or outright failed across the whole breadth of the Circle of the World. In the end, they bother me considerably less than my successes." "I'm

war, plans and reality barely noticed each other in passing. Panicked guesswork was the best one could hope for.

If you hold off till everything's perfect, think of all the great kisses you'll miss.

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 halfwits. A great leader puts others before himself. You

Conscience is an excuse not to do what needs doing.

If killing folk ever starts to right, you've a worse kind of problem. Guilt can sting, but you should be thankful for it.' 'Thankful?' 'Guilt is a luxury reserved for those still breathing and with no unbearable pain, cold or hunger demanding all their fickle attention. Long as guilt's your big problem, girl...things can't be that bad.

Magic fades from the world but, in truth, most problems have always been better solved with a few sharp words. Or a little sharp steel.

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.

It has honesty, integrity. The best steel doesn't always shine the brightest.

Fuck,' he whispered. 'Aye,' said Shivers. Craw almost took a tumble on the wet grass. 'Til he remembered there was an awful lot a man could be saying fuck about. That's the beauty of the word. It can mean just about anything, depending on how things stand. Horror, shock, pain, fear, worry. None were out of place. There was a battle on.

One cannot despise a thing without acknowledging its importance.

If anyone had asked him, Clover would've said there was less than no chance this'd be settled with talk. But you never realise how much hope you're holding till it gets knifed and thrown off a roof.

Strange, isn't it,' mused Glokta as he watched him struggle for air. 'Big men, small men, thin men, fat men, clever men, stupid men, they all respond the same to a fist in the guts. One minute you think you're the most powerful man in the world. The next you can't even breathe by yourself.

Better to do it,' Logen whispered under his breath, 'than live with the fear of it.

the vast majority of men would far rather be told what to do than make their own choices. Obedience is easy.' The

Clover had heard it said Caul Shivers could see your thoughts with that metal eye. Horseshit, of course. But he'd seen plenty with the other. Few men more. Might be the hardest name in the North still casting a shadow. He didn't need a magic eye to make some sharp guesses.

He doesn't look like much,' said Tallow. 'He'd be a poor assassin if he stood out.

How dare you presume to be devoted to me, peasant? You're like a tick devoted to a tiger!

That got him thinking about his life. It seemed a bitter, pointless sort of a life now.

The great are only great because we are on our knees. Let us rise up!

Few indeed are those who get a choice. We do as we are told. We stand or fall beside those who were born near to us, who look as we do, who speak the same words, and all the while we know as little of the reasons why as does the dust we return to.' Her

Fear is like cold water. A little is a fine thing, if fixes you on what counts. But too much will freeze you.

Hay tareas para las que no valen los hombres de fiar. Los conejos se cazan con comadrejas, no con bueyes.

Patience is the parent of success , Stolicus wrote.