"A man can be aroused to anger as easily as he is aroused to rut. The two emotions are closely linked. Anger and lust. So the warrior is aroused in battle and fights to dominate."

"“Look around you - this [land] is cold, inhospitable. Only the strong survive. Here there are no green fields, no verdant pastures. A warrior is old by the time he is thirty. We have no energy to spend on pretty words.”"

"Evil will never be countered while good men do nothing."

"'Where will you go from here?' he asked. Chellin shrugged. 'Who knows? North again. Maybe not. I'm tired of this life, Kiall. I may head south, to Drenai land. Buy a farm, raise a family.' 'And have raiders descend on you to steal your daughters?' Chellin nodded and sighed. 'Yes. Like all dreams, it doesn't bear close examination [...]'"

"We are full of dreams [...] We long for the unattainable. We believe in the nonsense of fables. There is no pure love; there is lust and there is need."

"‘Win or lose, we achieve nothing in the world that we understand [...]’ ‘But then the world does not matter.’ ‘Indeed it does not [...] It is good to understand that.’"

"Blood always aids blood, my friend."

"Whores' lives don't make pretty tales."

"There are many forms of cowardice, Chareos. One man can face a score of enemies with a sword, but not a sickness which paralyses him. Another can face death with a smile, yet fear the years of hardship and toil which are living. Are you a coward?"

"'A man should not risk his life for beauty alone, Kiall, for that fades. You might as well risk it for a rose. Think on it.'"

"Never let anger, or outrage, or fear affect you. That is easy advice to give, but hard to follow. Men will bait you, they will laugh at you, they will jeer. But it is just noise, Kiall. They will hurt the people you love. They will do anything to make you angry or emotional. But the only way you can make them suffer is to win. And to do that you must remain cool."

"Self-preservation is a paramount desire in all of us. Good and evil are interchangeable. When the wolves pull down a fawn I don't doubt the doe would consider it an evil act. For the wolves it is a necessity, and they would see the arrival of fresh meat as good."

"Every man has his own reason for every deed. Usually it is selfish."

"Hold on to your dreams, Kiall. They are more important than you realise."

"'Do not expect help.' 'One should always hope.' 'Then hope for a handsome savage with kindly ways.'"

"'I have no wish to argue, Father. Yet it must be said that the monks exist here in peace and security only because of the swords of the defenders. I do not belittle your views — I wish all men shared them. But they do not. ... if all men and women lived as you and I, there would be no children, and no humanity. What then would be the Will of the Source?'"

"'Love is for fools. It is a surging of blood in the loins ... there is no mystery, and no magic. Find someone else, my boy.'"

"[...] In real war an officer may have only one chance at succeeding. Consider each problem."

"Gentlemen, you are in sorry condition. But war will render you yet more sorry. The soldier will fight in mud and hail, snow and ice, drought and flood. It is rare that a warrior gets to fight in comfort."

"'Why must I have the Piglet?' 'Because you are the best.' 'I do not understand.' 'Teach him.' 'And who teaches me?' ' As an officer, my lord, you will have many men under your command and not all will be gifted. You must learn to use each man to his best advantage ...'"

"A warrior has only one true friend: himself. So he feeds his body well; he trains it; works on it. Where he lacks skill, he practises. Where he lacks knowledge, he studies. But above all he must believe. He must believe in the strength of will, of purpose, of heart and soul."

"'By my lights, my son, you are a young man. [...] there should be love in your life. Am I at fault in my thinking?' 'Not at fault, Senior Brother. I loved once, and in truth I could love again. But the pain of loss was too much for me. I would rather live alone than suffer for it.' 'Then you are here to hide, Charreos, and it is not a good reason. The gift of life is too great to waste in such a fashion...'"

""... But men don't come in just two groups, one of gold and the other of lead. They are a mix of both." "And what about women?" "Pure gold, my girl," Rayvan answered with a chuckle."

"I was on top of the mountain. But there was nothing there. Just clouds. And I found that you can't live on that mountain. But when it throws you off — oh, how you long for it! I would kill to climb it again. I would sell my soul. It is so stupid. [...] I took the standard. And now I can't even become a farmer again. The mountain won't let me."

"Your face may be gone, but you know who you are."

"'... No, I should have died at Bel-Azzar. Nothing has gone right since then.' 'Death comes soon enough to all men. Don't wish for it.'"

"Why do they do it?" whispered Horeb. "Their eyes, you mean?" said Rek. "Yes. How can a man put out his own eyes?" "Damned if I know. They say it aids their visions." "Sounds about as sensible as cutting off your staff in order to aid your sex life."

"How do you do it? How do you stay so strong?" "I fake it."

"Do not speak badly of yourself, for the warrior that is inside you hears your words and is lessened by them. You are strong and you are brave. There is a nobility of spirit within you. Let it grow — you will do well enough."

"Life is sad enough, Magir. Laughter is a thing to be treasured."

"[F]ear is a great ally."

"Why am I taking seduction advice from a man whose idea of foreplay is to slam coins on the table and shout: 'Who wants to ride the big horse?'" "Because he knows best, Tinker."

"When responsibility is thrust upon you, can you run from it? No—you have never and you never will. That is what makes you as you are. That is why men follow you, though they hate your blood. They trust you."

"I am not a hero; I am a soldier. When the battle is lost, I retreat and regroup; when the war is over, I lay down my sword. No last dashing charge; no futile last stand!"

"I don't think I would be too comfortable with many of his compliments ... He's a butcher!" "More than that, my friend ... he is a warmaster. And that makes him a master butcher."

"Nothing in life is easy, Arvan. But it's what I'm trained for. To lead an army. To bring death and destruction on my enemies [...] A man must stand against evil wherever he finds it and he must use all his talents."

"Each man has a breaking point, no matter how strong his spirit. Somewhere, deep inside him, there is a flaw that only the fickle cruelty of fate can find."

"It is not hard to change when your biggest problem is whether the weeds prosper in a vegetable patch."

"How do you decide a battle is lost? Numbers, strategic advantage, positioning? It's all worth a sparrow's fart. It comes down to men who are willing. The largest army will founder if its men are less willing to die than to win."

"It is a rare man who notices a handsome woman."

"No matter how impossible this war, I shall fight to win. Whatever I have to do, I will do."

"Man alone, it seems, lives all his life in the knowledge of death. And yet there is more to life than merely waiting for death. For life to have meaning, there must be a purpose. A man must pass something on — otherwise he is useless."

"... a man can overcome his background, even as he can overcome a skilled opponent."

"Your men are brave men, And you have won. I can live with that, Earl of Bronze — a poor man would I be if I could not."

"Nothing in life is sure, my son. Except the promise of death."

"Evil is never truly strong, for it is born of fear. Why did he fall so easily? Because he tested your strength and saw the possibility of death [...] had he possessed true courage, he would have fought back. Instead he froze — and died."

"All things in the world are created for man, yet all have two purposes. The waters run that we might drink of them, but they are also symbols of the futility of man. They reflect our lives in rushing beauty, birthed in the purity of the mountains. As babes they babble and run, gushing and growing as they mature into strong young rivers. Then they widen and slow until at least they meander, like old men, to join with the sea."

"Galand and his brother paused by the corpse. “He doesn’t seem too unhappy,” said Parsal, scratching his beard. “It’s hard to know whether he’s smiling or whether death has pulled his face into a grin,” said Galand. “He won’t look too happy in about a month.” “Will we?” whispered Parsal. Galand shrugged, and the brothers moved on to follow the others."

"...love is in the eyes, and one woman knows when another woman is in love."