Bernard Cornwell Quotes & Sayings

It was fate, I thought. Just fate. We think we control our own lives, but the gods play with us like children playing with straw dolls. — Bernard Cornwell

I want to believe him, my lady!" Leofstan said earnestly. "I want to believe that this is a miracle to accompany my enthronement! That on Easter day we will have the joy of bringing a pagan horde into the service of Jesus Christ!" "This is Christ's doing!" Father Ceolberht said through his toothless gums. — Bernard Cornwell

Being alive is bad in a Christian! We say people are saints if they're good, but how few of us become saints? We're all bad! Some of us just try to be good. — Bernard Cornwell

I don't fight old men, he said. That was strange. No one had ever called me old before. I remember laughing, but there was shock behind my laughter. Weeks before, talking with Aethelflaed, I had mocked her because she was staring at her face in a great silver platter. She was worried because she had lines about her eyes and she had responded to my mockery by thrusting the plate at me, and I had looked at my reflection and seen that my beard was gray. I remember staring at it as she laughed at me, and I did not feel old even though my wounded leg could be treacherously stiff. Was that how people saw me? As an old man? Yet I was forty-five years old that year, so yes, I was an old man. — Bernard Cornwell

I had learned to hide my soul, or perhaps I was confused. Northumbrian or Dane? Which was I? What did I want to be? — Bernard Cornwell

There are times," Leofric grumbled, "when you are an earsling." An earsling was something that had dropped out of a creature's backside and was one of Leofric's favourite insults. We were friends. — Bernard Cornwell

And I was so tempted that night in Cippanhamm's royal church. There is such joy in chaos. Stow all the world's evils behind a door and tell men that they must never, ever, open the door, and it will be opened because there is pure joy in destruction. At one moment, when Ragnar was bellowing with laughter and slapping my shoulder so hard that it hurt, I felt the words form on my tongue. That is Alfred, I would have said, pointing at him, and all my world would have changed and there would have been no more England. Yet, at the last moment, when the first word was on my tongue, I choked it back. Brida was watching me, her shrewd eyes calm, and I caught her gaze and I thought of Iseult. In a year or two, I thought, Iseult would look like Brida. They — Bernard Cornwell

Tell Ragnall," I told him, "that the Saxons of Mercia are coming. Tell him that his dead will number in the thousands. Tell him that his own death is just days away. Tell him that promise comes from Uhtred of Bebbanburg. — Bernard Cornwell

My name is Uhtred. I am the son of Uhtred, who was the son of Uhtred and his father was also called Uhtred. — Bernard Cornwell

I hated Alfred. He was a miserable, pious, tight-fisted king who distrusted me because I was no Christian, because I was a northerner, and because I had given him his kingdom back at Ethandun. And as reward he had given me Fifhaden. Bastard. — Bernard Cornwell

10 East 53rd Street — Bernard Cornwell

Step forward again, hold the shield steady. Peer over the top. Fear is screaming somewhere deep. Ignore it. You can smell the shit now. Shit and blood, the stench of glory. The enemy is more frightened. Kill them. Keep the shields steady. Kill. — Bernard Cornwell

The poets, when they speak of war, talk of the shield wall, they talk of the spears and arrows flying, of the blade beating on the shield, of the heroes who fall and the spoils of the victors, but I was to discover that war was really about food. About feeding men and horses. About finding food. The army that eats wins. — Bernard Cornwell

His charms worked, for though the bullets flicked close none hit him. He was the tiger of Mysore, he could not die, only kill. — Bernard Cornwell

Our ancestors," he went on after a while, "took this land. They took it and made it and held it. We do not give up what our ancestors gave us. They came across the sea and they fought here, and they built here and they're buried here. This is our land, mixed with our blood, strengthened with our bone. Ours!" He was angry, but he was often angry. He glowered at me, as if wondering whether I was strong enough to hold this land of Northumbria that our ancestors had won with sword and spear and blood and slaughter. — Bernard Cornwell

Of course some days are easier than others, but my worst day is better than being in most humdrum occupations. — Bernard Cornwell

Latin! The language of God! Or perhaps He speaks Hebrew? I suppose that's more likely and it will make things rather awkward in heaven, won't it? Will we all have to learn Hebrew? — Bernard Cornwell

I am Uhtred, son of Uhtred, and this is the tale of a blood feud. It is a tale of how I will take from my enemy what the law says is mine. And it is the tale of a woman and of her father, a king.
He was my king and all that I have I owe to him. The food that I eat, the hall where I live, and the swords of my men, all came from Alfred, my king, who hated me. — Bernard Cornwell

The sight of that loveliness was enough to drive all sense from a man's head. — Bernard Cornwell

You should always plan your battles form the enemy's point of view. — Bernard Cornwell

The sword was called Caledfwlch, which means 'hard lightning' though Igraine prefers to call it Excalibur — Bernard Cornwell

Their bricks and I thought how the world had once been filled with these houses. I remember the first time I ever climbed a Roman staircase, and how odd it felt, and I knew that in times gone by men must have taken such things for granted. Now the world was dung and straw and damp-ridden wood. We had stone masons, of course, but it was quicker to build from wood, and the wood rotted, but no one seemed to care. — Bernard Cornwell

Was foully aware of the symptoms of terror. He could feel his heart thumping, sweat was chill on his skin, and a muscle in his left thigh was twitching. His throat was parched, his belly felt hollow, and he wanted to vomit. He tried to smile, and sought for some casual words that would demonstrate his lack of fear, but he could think of nothing. — Bernard Cornwell

An army isn't made of its officers, you know, though we officers like to think it is. An army is no better than its men, and when you find good men, you must look after them. That's an officer's job. — Bernard Cornwell

our oaths.' He advanced down the path — Bernard Cornwell

Poor as an honest lawyer. — Bernard Cornwell

He doesn't want to face Englishmen,' the Lord of Douglas said, and he knew he was right. Ever since the Scottish knights — Bernard Cornwell

You don't buy a dog and bark yourself, — Bernard Cornwell

She was as faithful as a morning mist, as hard as a sword-bayonet, and that, he thought, made her a suitable reward for a soldier. — Bernard Cornwell

That is why battles of the shield wall are slow to start. Men have to nerve themselves for the horror. — Bernard Cornwell

But destiny grips us and, the next morning, in a soft winter rain, we buried the dead, paid silver coins, and then walked southward. We were a boy on the edge of being a grown man, a girl, and a dog, and we were going to nowhere. — Bernard Cornwell

You will tell him that Uhtred of Bebbanburg is in a mood to kill. — Bernard Cornwell

You can't take a city without shedding blood. — Bernard Cornwell

Television is a young person's medium. — Bernard Cornwell

I hated his religion and its cold disapproving gaze, its malevolence that cloaked itself in pretended kindness, and its allegiance to a god who would drain the joy from the world by naming it sin, — Bernard Cornwell

I was angry. I wanted blood in the dawn. — Bernard Cornwell

If prayers could make a man into a Christian then I would be a saint ten times over by now.
Destiny is all. And now, looking back, I see the pattern of my life's journey. It began in Bebbanburg and took me south, ever southward, until I reached the farthest coast of England and could go no farther and still hear my own language. That was my childhood's journey. As a man I have gone the other way, ever northward, carrying sword and spear and ax to clear the path back to where I began. Destiny. — Bernard Cornwell

Mothers were sacred. Mothers were not expected to be pretty. — Bernard Cornwell

I stood on the dead horse and spread my arms. I held the shield high to my left and the sword to my right, and my mail coat was spattered with blood and the snow fell about my wolf-crested helmet and all I knew was the young man's joy of slaughter. "I killed Ubba Lothbrokson!" I shouted at them. "I killed him! So come and join him! Taste his death! My sword wants you! — Bernard Cornwell

Prisoners!" Finan shouted, and I suspected he was shouting at me because I had so blatantly ignored my own insistence that we take men captive. — Bernard Cornwell

My son smiled. "You taught me well, Father."
"What did I teach you?"
"That a spear-point in a prisoner's liver is a very persuasive thing. — Bernard Cornwell

If a man can't remember the laws," Ragnar said, "then he's got too many of them. — Bernard Cornwell

And I looked,' Pyrlig said to me, 'and I saw a pale horse, and the rider's name was death.' I just stared in amazement. 'It's in the gospel book,' he explained sheepishly, 'and it just cam to mind. — Bernard Cornwell

We honour great men, we admire aristocrats, we applaud actors, we shower gold on portrait painters and we even, sometimes, reward soldiers, but we always despise merchants. But why? It's the merchant's wealth that drives the mills, Sharpe; it moves the looms, it keeps the hammers falling, it fills the fleets, it makes the roads, it forges the iron, it grows the wheat, it bakes the bread and it builds the churches and the cottages and the palaces. Without God and trade we would be nothing. — Bernard Cornwell

Instead he was summoning his last tension, like a bowman drawing the cord of a hunting bow an extra inch to give the arrow deadly force, then Steapa howled like an animal and charged. Weland charged too and they met like stags in the rutting season. The Danes and Norsemen had crowded around, making a circle that was limited by the spears of Sigefrid's bodyguard, and the watching warriors gave — Bernard Cornwell

They smile and sing their psalms and preach that their creed is all about love, but tell them you believe in a different god and suddenly it's all spittle and spite. — Bernard Cornwell

He grinned at Sharpe. "Christ, but this is joy! What would we do for happiness if peace came?" He turned his horse clumsily, rammed his heels back, and whooped as the horse took off. "Let's go get the whores! — Bernard Cornwell

All that was needed to get ahead in the world was a bit of sense and the ability to kick a bastard faster than the bastard could kick you, and Richard Sharpe reckoned he had those talents right enough. — Bernard Cornwell

The spinners were watching me, waiting, needles poised, and unless I did their bidding then my fate would be failure. — Bernard Cornwell

They're the sort of dozy bastards who don't think beyond their next pot of ale, but Thomas does, Thomas is a two-pot thinker, he is. — Bernard Cornwell

I'm fortunate that the books sell, but even more fortunate to live in Chatham, to be very happily married and to have, on the whole, a fairly clear conscience. — Bernard Cornwell

Of the insolence of the Scots, my father used to say, there is no end. — Bernard Cornwell

The preachers tell us that pride is a great sin, but the preachers are wrong. Pride makes a man, it drives him, it is the shield wall around his reputation ... Men die, they said, but reputation does not die. — Bernard Cornwell

Violence may not be good, my friend, but it has a certain efficiency in the resolution of otherwise insoluble problems. — Bernard Cornwell

Giving inspiration to a lawyer, Sharpe thought sourly, was like feeding fine brandy to a rat. — Bernard Cornwell

Men fear wanderers for they have no rules. The Danes came as strangers, rootless and violent, and that, I thought, was why I was always happier in their company. — Bernard Cornwell

There is a greater war, Uhtred. Not the fight between Saxon and Dane, but between God and the devil, between good and evil! We are part of it! — Bernard Cornwell

The Tippoo should have killed you when he had the chance."
"We all make mistakes, sir. — Bernard Cornwell

It's better to make the wrong choice," my father had continued, "than to make no choice at all. — Bernard Cornwell

A trial relied heavily on oaths, but both sides would bring as many liars as they could muster, and judgment usually went to the better liars or, if both sides were equally convincing, to the side who had the sympathy of the onlookers. — Bernard Cornwell

I touched Thor's hammer, then Serpent-Breath's hilt, for death was stalking us. God help me, I thought, touching the hammer again, Thor help us all, for I did not think we could win. — Bernard Cornwell

Wyrd bith ful araed (Fate is inexorable). — Bernard Cornwell

To ask another man's blessing is simply to avoid taking the responsibility. — Bernard Cornwell

Instinct is everything. — Bernard Cornwell

He'll fight like a bull,' I said, 'and he's honest. But does he think like a wildcat? — Bernard Cornwell

An English man-at-arms had his helmet split open and his skull with it, so that he rode wavering from the fight, blood pouring down his mail coat. His horse stopped a few paces from the turmoil and the man-at-arms slowly, so slowly, bent forward and then slumped down from his saddle. One foot was trapped in a stirrup as he died but his horse did not seem to notice. It just went on cropping the grass. — Bernard Cornwell

Once upon a time, in a land that was called Britain, these things happened. — Bernard Cornwell

He was a startlingly handsome young man, and that, too, distracted him for girls were attracted to him like priests to gold. — Bernard Cornwell

why prefer a god who wants you to torture yourself instead of worshipping Eostre who wants you to take a girl into the woods and make babies? — Bernard Cornwell

Beware the man who loves battle. Ravn had told me that only one man in three or perhaps one man in four is a real warrior and the rest are reluctant fighters, but I was to learn that only one man in twenty is a lover of battle. Such men were the most dangerous, the most skillful, the ones who reaped the souls, and the ones to fear. — Bernard Cornwell

You're a bastard," I said.
"Uhtred," he began, but could find nothing more to say.
"You're a piece of weasel-shit," I said, "you're an earsling."
"I'm a king," he said, trying to regain his dignity.
"So you're a royal piece of weasel-shit. An earsling on a throne. — Bernard Cornwell

I was hated, and I knew it. Part of it was my fault, I am arrogant. — Bernard Cornwell

I put my hands over Saint Cuthbert's fingers and I could feel the big ruby ring under my own fingers, and I gave the jewel a twitch just to see whether the stone was loose and would come free, but it seemed well fixed in its setting. "I swear to be your man," I said to the corpse, "and to serve you faithfully." I tried to shift the ring again, but the dead fingers were stiff and the ruby did not move. — Bernard Cornwell

I was born a Saxon, but raised by Danes, my daughter had married a Norseman, my dearest friend was Irish, my woman was a Saxon, the mother of my children had been Danish, my gods were pagan, and my oath was sworn to AEthelflaed, a Christian. Whose side was I on? — Bernard Cornwell

To hear the tales told at night-time hearths you would think we had made a whole new country in Britain, named it Camelot and peopled it with shining heroes, but the truth is that we simply ruled Dumnonia as best we could, we ruled it justly and we never called it Camelot. Camelot exists only in the poets' dreams, while in our Dumnonia, even in those good years, the harvests still failed, the plagues still ravaged us and wars were still fought. — Bernard Cornwell

Forward now. Forward to battle slaughter. Beware the man who loves battle. Ravn had told me that only one man in three or perhaps one man in four is a real warrior and the rest are reluctant fighters, but I was to learn that only one man in twenty is a lover of battle. Such men were the most dangerous, the most skillful, the ones who reaped the souls, and the ones to fear. I was such a one, and that day, beside the river where the blood flowed into the rising tide, and beside the burning boats, I let Serpent-Breath sing her song of death. I remember little except a rage, an exultation, a massacre. This was the moment the skalds celebrate, the heart of the battle that leads to victory, and the courage had gone from those Danes in a heartbeat. — Bernard Cornwell

It will never end.
Till the world ends in the chaos of Ragnarok, we will fight for our women, for our land, and for our homes. Some Christians speak of peace, of the evil of war, and who does not want peace? But then some crazed warrior comes screaming his god's filthy name into your face and his only ambitions are to kill you, to rape your wife, to enslave your daughters, and take your home, and so you must fight. — Bernard Cornwell

He died without cutting his nails, she said accusingly, as if I was responsible for that ill luck, and it was bad fortune indeed because now the grim things of the underworld would use Ivar's nails to build the ship that would bring chaos at the world's end. — Bernard Cornwell

How anyone could endure three or four hours of chanting monks and ranting priests was beyond my understanding, just as it was beyond my understanding to know why bishops needed thrones. They would be demanding crowns next. — Bernard Cornwell

You spent it on oil for your hair,' I said, 'and on baubles for your whores, on furs and on horses, on jewels and on silk. A man, Lord Eardwulf, dresses in leather and iron. And he fights. — Bernard Cornwell

Idle men make mischief, especially idle men supplied with ale, whores, and weapons. — Bernard Cornwell

I could hardly see him in the darkness, but knew he wore a leather jerkin and had a sword at his side. The rest of us were in leather and mail, had helmets, and carried shields, axes, swords, or spears. Tonight we would kill. Sihtric, — Bernard Cornwell

I sometimes think,' Merlin said when no more suggestions were offered, 'that I am doomed to live among idiots. — Bernard Cornwell

So she needs a man!" Hakeswill said. "And a sergeant's widow doesn't get rogered by a stinking bit of dirt like you. It ain't right. Ain't natural. It's beneath her station, Sharpie, and it can't be allowed. Says so in the scriptures. — Bernard Cornwell

We live in a world where the strongest win, and the strongest must expect to be disliked. — Bernard Cornwell

a mystery to make men mad. — Bernard Cornwell

You're to grovel." Aethelwold spoke for the first time. He grinned at me. We were not exactly friends, but we had drunk together often enough and he seemed to like me. "You're to dress like a girl," Aethelwold continued, "go on your knees and be humiliated." "And — Bernard Cornwell

So, in the morning light, where they flapped in the drying wind, the bear and the star defied the Saxons. — Bernard Cornwell

Trinity Royal, which was being nuzzled by a dozen small launches nosing into her flank like piglets suckling on a sow. — Bernard Cornwell

Agents will read unpublished work because they might make money, and that's their job. It isn't mine. — Bernard Cornwell

Sharpe wanted to be ready and so he untied the rag from his musket's lock and stuffed it into the pocket where he kept the ring Mary had given him. The ring, a plain band of worn silver, had belonged to Sergeant Bickerstaff, Mary's husband, but the Sergeant was dead now and Green had taken Bickerstaff's sergeant's stripes and Sharpe his bed. — Bernard Cornwell

It had happened to me once, long ago. I had been named Osbert by my father, who was called Uhtred, but when my elder brother, also Uhtred, was slaughtered by the Danes my father had renamed me. It is always thus in our family. The eldest son carries on the name. My stepmother, a foolish woman, even had me baptized a second time because, she said, the angels who guard the gates of heaven would not know me by my new name, and so I was dipped in the water barrel, but Christianity washed off me, thank Christ, and I discovered the old gods and have worshiped them ever since. — Bernard Cornwell

No man wanted to face warriors like Finan in battle. — Bernard Cornwell

All those separate people were a part of my life, strings strung on the frame of Uhtred, and though they were separate they affected one another and together they would make the music of my life. — Bernard Cornwell

I'll happily mentor anyone who wants mentoring, and most of that goes on by internet rather than face to face. — Bernard Cornwell

Religion makes strange bedfellows. — Bernard Cornwell

But men inspired by prophecy will attempt any foolishness in the knowledge that the fates have ordained their victory. — Bernard Cornwell

He has a mouth, lord," Gerbruht said.
"I envy him," I said.
"Envy him, lord?"
"Most of us have to lower our trews to shit. — Bernard Cornwell

I'm not his man, Father. I'm Uhtred of Bebbanburg, and the lords of Bebbanburg don't marry pious maggotfaced bitches of low birth. — Bernard Cornwell

They make laws that no one wants, then make money disagreeing with each other what the damned law means, and the more they disagree the more money they make, but still they go on making laws, and they make them ever more complicated so that they can get paid for arguing ever more intricately with one another! I grant you they're clever buggers, but God, how I hate lawyers. — Bernard Cornwell