Quotes from Steven Erikson

A true believer, indeed, need never draw a weapon, need never rise in argument, or howl in fury, or make fists, or roll in a mob to crush some helpless, innocent enemy. A true believer needs none of those things. How much of the world insists on living this lie?

She was a woman and any exchange of words with a woman was fraught with her torturer's array of deadly implements, each one hovering at the very edge of a man's comprehension.

It seems," the undead Tiste Edur said, "my Hounds have found new . . . pets." "Saw his head off, Cotillion," Shadowthrone said. "I hate him already.

Certainty was an illusion, a lie. Fanaticism was poison in the soul, and the first victim in its inexorable, ever-growing list was compassion. Who could speak of freedom, when one's own soul was bound in chains?

Finally, be ready to disarm with a smile, even as you cut deep with words.

What holds me to life, if not desire? What vaster power exists? With it, I swear, I feel I can defy the inevitable. Weapon and shield, companion and ally, enough to make the world back away, enough to surmount the highest walls and cross the deepest chasms. Desire, you stand in place of a lover's arms, and make your embrace such dark comfort. She

Kruppe nodded. "Kruppe is no fool, K'rul. He openly opposes no one, and he finds power a thing to be avoided at all costs.

It was pathetic, the raving accusations of an ego blind to its own lies.

When those dreams in that unreachable future suddenly rise up around you, how can you not be blinded to their truths? All at once, it is here. All at once, you are living in its very midst. Why then must you seek to pull away? He

The world is inherited by the obnoxious, not the righteous.

We each fashion our "others" and chart the course of our lives as that eternal campaign, seasons of gain, seasons of loss. Battles and wounds and triumphs and bitter defeats. In comforts we fashion our strongholds. In convictions we occupy our fortifications. In violence we forge our peace. In peace, we win desolation.

THE VEIL OF CIVILISATION was thin indeed, so easily torn away to reveal depravity waiting beneath, waiting, as such things always did, for the first hint of turbulence.

The curse of great minds. Arriving young to an idea, surviving the siege that invariably assails it, then, finally, standing guard on the ramparts long after the war's over, weapons dull in leaden hands

Words need not be spoken aloud, friend, to prove unwelcome. I but answered my own thoughts.

You mortals baffle me.

KierowaÅ'a siÄ™ wówczas instynktem, a jej instynkt nie miaÅ' nic wspólnego z altruizmem. Na wojnie altruiÅ›ci nie ?yli dÅ'ugo.

Fucking regrets. We all have them, don't we. Live long enough and maybe it's all we have, all we keep alive in our minds. Spirits below, what a miserable thought.

And where did this insane notion of buying loyalty come from? It's a contradiction in terms.

If we could assemble our words, merge those inside and out, we would be startled to find that we speak but a tenth of what we think. And yet, each of us presumes to expect that the other understands – indeed, hears both the spoken and the unspoken. Mad presumption!

People spoke of ill luck. Mischance. They spoke of unruly spirits and vengeful gods. And some spoke of the most terrible truth of all – that the world and all life in it was nothing but a blind concatenation of random occurrences. Cause and effect did nothing but map out the absurdity of things, before which even the gods were helpless.

Too easy to conclude, with a private sneer, that men were simple. Granted, had they been strangers, they might well be circling and sniffing each other's anuses right now.

Rhizan gathered in writhing clumps at his hands and feet

The mind held too many secrets. The brain was a sack of truths and their power, hiding there inside, was absolute. Twist one truth into a lie, and a man became a wolf. His flesh and bones could only follow, straining to reshape themselves.

No doubt there's a tale there.' 'Indeed, but it's not relevant.' 'Meaning you don't know it.' 'Precisely.