Glen Cook

"“I’ve been on my own before, Mather.” And I hadn’t been happy a moment. But happiness is a fleeting creature. It’s no birthright. Not anything I expect but something I accept when I tumble into it. Meantime, power will do nicely."

"“She was stronger than the gods who created her?” “Guys, I didn’t make this stuff up. Don’t ask me to rationalize it. Goblin, you’ve been everywhere. You ever seen a religion that can’t be picked to shreds by any nonbeliever with brains enough to tie his own bootlaces?"

"Smeds did not give a rat’s ass who ran things as long as they left him alone. Most people felt that way."

"Time is the enemy whose patience can’t be exhausted."

"What do you do when old prophecies come true? I’ve never met a priest who honestly expected miracles in his own lifetime. For them miracles are like good wine, best when aged."

"The world sure isn’t kind to the man who tries to be gentle and thoughtful."

"The Radisha kicked over a pile of books. “I’ve never felt so powerless. I don’t like the feeling.” Smoke shrugged. “Welcome to the world where the rest of us live.”"

"Bomanz could not get away from the bird, who, if he had been human, would have hung out in taverns masquerading as the world’s foremost authority, armed with an uninformed and ready opinion on every conceivable subject. His cheerful bigotry and who-cares ignorance drove the old man’s temper to its limit."

"Raven muttered, “You don’t have to be brilliant to be a god.”"

"He hadn’t been religious. He’d believed that death was it. When you died you were dead, like a squished bug or drowned rat, and your immortality was in the minds of those you left behind."

"The resources would have to come from that absurd wall project. The city was too big to surround effectively. The project could not be justified. It was a tool for transferring the wealth of the state to a few individuals."

"Will, Lady. The Will will reign triumphant. My husband had said that often, confident that nothing could resist his will. He had believed that right up to the moment I killed him."

"The sky? Dark as the inside of a priest’s heart, isn’t it?"

"Man, woman and child, the people of Shadowcatch were privy to the one true secret of the universe: there is always a darker shadow lurking beyond the one whose face you can see."

"“Given time we would have become less than indispensable and you would have started looking around for a way to shaft us instead of doing the honorable thing and paying us off and simply terminating our commission.” “That’s what I love about you, Croaker. Your unflagging faith in humanity.” “Absolutely. Every ounce of my cynicism is supported by historical precedent,” I grumped."

"That damned rain had a personal grudge. It got no heavier but it never let up. Yet to east and west I saw light that indicated clear skies in those directions. The gods, if such existed, were laying on the misery especially for me."

"Trouble came only where I expected it, from One-Eye, whose motto is that anything not nailed down is his and anything he can pry loose isn’t nailed down."

"The road can blunt the most iron will."

"She did not seem offended, so I added my secret philosophy of life: any dork who became a soldier for an idea instead of the money deserved to die for his country. You’re going to put it all on the table, six up with some other guy, it damned well better be for stakes you can carry away."

"She wasn’t satisfied with the way things turned out. What the hell can you do with women? You can give them exactly what they ask for and they’ll cuss you because that ain’t what they really want."

"“That your solution to everything? Cut somebody’s throat?” “Always slows them down.”"

"I don’t think she told any lies. She just forgot to tell the whole truth."

"“What do you want, Blade. Why are you doing this?” He shrugged, an uncharacteristic action. “There are many evils in the world. I guess I’ve chosen one for my personal crusade.” “Why such a hatred for priests?” He didn’t shrug. He didn’t give me a straight answer, either. “If each man picks an evil and attacks it relentlessly, how long can evil persist?” That was an easy one. Forever. More evil gets done in the name of righteousness than any other way. Few villains think they are villains. But I left him his illusion. If he had one. I doubted he did. No more than a sword’s blade does."

"He winced. “You’ll start a civil war.” “Not if everybody behaves and minds his own business.” “You don’t understand. Priests consider everything their business.”"

"His problem is, he gets an idea in his head and he can’t get it out if it’s wrong, no matter what evidence you hit him with."

"“They worship the goddess, Mistress. They think. But their heresies are revolting. They are worse than disbelief.” Why was he incensed? A prolonged exchange failed to illuminate me. No godless person can comprehend those minute distinctions in doctrine that provide true believers excuse for mayhem. It is hard enough to accept the fact that they really believe the nonsense of their faiths. I always wonder if they are pulling my leg with a straight face."

"And there is no time. There is a war on. Always there is a war on."

"Like most warlords he doesn’t let reality get in the way of his doing whatever he wants to do."

"Ever since childhood I have suspected you get along better if you respect people’s ways and wishes regardless of your apparent relative strengths. That doesn’t mean you let people walk on you. It doesn’t mean you eat their pain for them. You need to demand respect for yourself, too."

"I guess you don’t need to agree on everything to be lovers."

"The staff came to enquire after my needs. They were revolting in their obsequiousness. A disgusting little part of me gobbled it up. A part just big enough to show why some men lust after power. But not for me, thank you. I am too lazy. And I am, I fear, the unfortunate victim of a sense of responsibility. Put me in charge and I try to accomplish the ends to which the office was allegedly created. I guess I suffer from an impoverishment of the sociopathic spirit necessary to go big time."

"Willow, if the gods thought half as much of you as you think of yourself, you’d be king of the world."

"“Truth is a deadly weapon,” Lady said. “Which is why priests and princes dread it,” I said."

"It is not necessarily for mercenary soldiers to know what is going on. It is sufficient for them to do the job for which they have taken the gold. That had been drummed into me from the moment I enlisted. There is neither right nor wrong, neither good nor evil, only our side and theirs. The honor of the company lies within, directed one brother toward another. Without, honor lies only in keeping faith with the sponsor."

"Never underestimate the power of human ingratitude."

"I was learning that part of a captain’s job is to delegate. Maybe genius lies in choosing the right person for the right task."

"He couldn’t handle what it meant to have somebody in love with you. Running away was the only thing he knew how to do."

"Nobody had any ideas. The questions just sort of lay there like dead fish too ripe to be ignored and too big to shove out of the way."

"He had learned self-control in a hard school. He had been married for thirty years."

"Smeds did not like it. It was getting complicated. He did not like things complicated. Trying to untangle them usually made things worse."

"I told her I could not believe in her movement because it did not promise anything for the future except freedom from the tyranny of the past. I told her that what little philosophy I’d detected driving the movement totally ignored human nature. That if the Rebels ever did manage to topple the empire, whatever replaced it would be worse. That was the lesson of history. New regimes, to make sure they survived, were always nastier than the ones before them."

"I’ve always known people for whom a goal was everything, who never thought nothing about the consequences of the goal achieved."

"Something he had heard some wise man say. About the three stages of empire, the three generations. First came the conquerors, unstoppable in war. Then came the administrators, who bound it all together into one apparently unshakable, immortal edifice. Then came the wasters, who knew no responsibility and squandered the capital of their inheritance upon whims and vices. And fell to other conquerors."

"Public works which did not serve the rich and powerful had a way of dying of neglect."

"Blade muttered, “Makes as much sense as the story of any other god. Meaning it don’t.”"

"Blade grumbled about the absurdities of the theological imagination and why didn’t people have sense enough to smother would-be priests in their cradles?"

"Half of confidence is the appearance of confidence."

"I won’t bore you with their dogma. It’s repulsive and I’m not sure it was related to me truthfully."

"Good morning. I’m honored but I’m also pressed for time. If you have something to discuss please get to the point. I’m an hour behind schedule and didn’t budget time for socializing."

"He talks big about his goddess getting involved but I won’t count on that. I’ve never seen the gods actually take a hand in mortal affairs."