Quotes from Glen Cook

into trouble because what he keeps hidden under his skirt has a mind of its own.

I reserve the right to be unreasonable, inconsistent, and arbitrary in an unreasonable, inconsistent, and arbitrary universe.

We all want to grasp the stars. Nieroda came closer than most. But like the rest of us, she overreached and drew back fingers webbed with damnation.

Maybe, maybe not. You might be surprised. But, win or lose, they'll've set an example by trying— which is more than anyone's ever done. Gives an old man hopes of seeing the War die before he does. Word of this gets out, maybe nobody'll answer the call to the next Gathering.

Smeds could see the shadow of the future. Get Old Man Fish and Timmy Locan to kype the spike. Get dumb old Smeds to croak them when they do. Then take the loot and walk. Who is Smeds going to complain to when he has the blood of two men on his hands? That would be just like Tully. Just like him.

Folks always believe their own racism is the result of divine inspiration, incontestably valid.

You've got to work inside the system. That's always been true. Even the best systems strike back hard when you don't play by the rules.

You don't alter the past, turn the tide, or change yourself by brooding about your hidden motives. You will surprise yourself every time, anyway. Nobody ever figures out why.

The Guardships don't defend Canon, they exterminate Canon's enemies. There's a difference.

Troublesome as females are when they step out of their proper roles as connivers, manipulators, gossips, backstabbers, and bearers and nurturers of the young, slaughtering them is not an acceptable form of chastisement.

It is not good form to bicker with your superiors, however wrong they may be and however one-sided their determination of their superiority

Don't you guys ever sleep?" "Sleep? What's that? Wait! Yeah! I remember. They used to let me do that when I was in the army. Once a week whether I needed it or not.

righteousness is not a shield. The good die more quickly than the bad.

Troll?" I squeaked. "Yes." "He's got jaws like a saber-tithed tooger. Soobertoothed teegar. The goddamned growly things with the fangs.

fright tends to fatten up on ignorance

There is no man so insecure as a bottom-level functionary in a sinecure he has held for a long time. He's done nothing for so long that nothing is all he can do.

First, Simplest Explanation. The simplest and most obvious explanation of any phenomenon is usually the correct one.

Second, the Stupidity Test. It's unnecessary to invoke complex, convoluted conspiracy theories where plain old human stupidity suffices as an explanation.

Maybe propinquity was counterproductive. *

It is an absolute demanding absolutes in a world with a preference for relatives.

Oh, it's a soldier's life for me. Oh, the adventure and glory! It

those who do the world's work most dearly pay the price of the world's pain.

Nobody who wasn't down there

Mythology is one area where nobody wants to know the absolute truth because time has forged great symbols from raw materials supplied by ancient events. Prosaic distortions of fact metamorphose into perceived truths of the soul.