Glen Cook Quotes & Sayings

I damned myself for my earlier romanticism. That Croaker who had come north, so thoroughly bemused by the mysterious Lady, was another man. A stripling, filled with the foolish ignorances of youth. Yeah. Sometimes you lie to yourself just to keep going. — Glen Cook

One endured with humble dignity the consequences of youthful folly. — Glen Cook

The Lady was medicine bad enough. The Dominator, though, was the body of which her evil was but a shadow. Or so the legend goes. I sometimes wonder why, if that is true, she walks the earth and he lies restless in the grave. — Glen Cook

Time will unfold its leaves. — Glen Cook

Still, the best augurs are those who divine from the portents of the past. They compile phenomenal records. — Glen Cook

Water sleeps, but Enemy never rests. — Glen Cook

Any man who barely sustains an armistice with himself has no business poking around in an alien soul. — Glen Cook

Write. Don't talk about writing. Don't tell me about your wonderful story ideas. Don't give me a bunch of 'somedays'. Plant your ass and scribble, type, keyboard. If you have any talent at all it will leak out despite your failure to pay attention in English.
[The Instrumentalities of the Night: An Interview with Glen Cook, The SF Site, September 2005] — Glen Cook

Combat is fear and management of fear far more than it is organized murder. Those who manage fear best will seize the day. — Glen Cook

Oh, 'twould be marvelous if the world and its moral questions were like some game board, with plain black players and white, and fixed rules, and nary a shade of grey. — Glen Cook

She came and she went, in sorrow for the death of dreams, and she came no more. — Glen Cook

Consistency is the sign of a narrow mind. — Glen Cook

One's own yesterday is a ghost that will not be laid down. — Glen Cook

I believe in our side and theirs, with the good and evil decided after the fact, by those who survive. Among men you seldom find the good with one standard and the shadow with another. — Glen Cook

It is an age lurching along the lip of a dark precipice, peeking fearfully into chaos's empty eyes, enrapt, like a giddy rat trying to stare down a hungry cobra. The gods are restless, tossing and turning and wakening in snippets to conspire at mischief. Their bastard offspring, the hundred million spirits of rock and brook and tree, of place and time and emotion, find old constraints are rotting. The Postern of Fate stands ajar. The world faces an age of fear, of conflict, of grand sorcery, of great change, and of greater despair amongst mortal men. And the cliffs of ice creep forward.
Great kings walk the earth. They cannot help but collide. Great ideas sweep back and forth aross the face of a habitable world that is shrinking. Those cannot help but fire hatred and fear amongst adherents of dogmas and doctrines under increasing pressure.
As always, those who do the world's work most dearly pay the price of the world's pain. — Glen Cook

I am haunted by the clear knowledge that, in the end, evil always triumphs. — Glen Cook

Bragging is how criminals get caught and men with deep secrets deliver themselves to their enemies. It's bonehead human nature. We all want to look special. Knowing something is one of the best ways. — Glen Cook

I can laugh at peasants and townies chained all their lives to a tiny corner of the earth while I roam its face and see its wonders, but when I go down, there will be no child to carry my name, no family to mourn me save my comrades, no one to remember, no one to raise a marker over my cold bit of ground. — Glen Cook

Let the gods distinguish between the wiched and the merely incompetent. — Glen Cook

If war is too important to trust to generals, then policy is too important to trust to politicians. — Glen Cook

A field of scarlet with nine hanged men in black and six yellow daggers in the upper left and lower right quadrants, respectively, while the upper right quandrant featured a shattered skull and the lower left boasted a bird astride a severed head. It might have been a raven. Or an eagle. — Glen Cook

You who come after me, scribbling these Annals, by now realize that I shy off portraying the whole truth about our band of blackguards. You know they are vicious, violent, and ignorant. They are complete barbarians, living out their cruelest fantasies, their behavior tempered only by the presence of a few decent men. I do not often show that side because these men are my brethren, my family, and I was taught young not to speak ill of kin. The old lessons die hardest. — Glen Cook

I guess each of us, at some time, finds one person with whom we are compelled towards absolute honesty, one person whose good opinion of us becomes a substitute for the broader opinion of the world. And that opinion becomes more important than all our sneaky, sleazy schemes of greed, lust, self-aggrandizement, whatever we are up to while lying the world into believing we are just plain nice folks. — Glen Cook

Morning is wonderful. Its only drawback is that it comes at such an inconvenient time of day. — Glen Cook

The Dead Man once told me that monsters aren't born, they're made. That they are memorials which take years of cruelty to sculpt. And that while we should weep for the tortured child who served as raw material, we should permit no sentiment to impede us while we rid the world of the terror strewn by the finished work. It took me a while to figure out what he meant but I do understand him now. — Glen Cook

Every ounce of my cynicism is supported by historical precedent. — Glen Cook

Consider little children. There are not many of them not cute and lovable and precious, sweet as whipped honey and butter. So where do all the wicked people come from? — Glen Cook

There is no vengeance as terrible as the vengeance a coward plots in the dark of his heart. — Glen Cook

Lady muttered some very unladylike sniggen snaggen riddly rodden racklesnatzes under her breath, then — Glen Cook

Quite unwittingly I saved the lives of twenty enemies of the Stranglers scheduled to be tortured and murdered during the night. The priests freed them to tell the world that the Deceivers were real and had found their messiah, that those who did not come to Kina soon would be devoured in the Year of the Skulls.
A fun bunch of guys, Croaker would say. — Glen Cook

Little people have to hate, have to blame someone for their own inadequacies. — Glen Cook

Yes. He argued that we are the gods, that we create our own destiny. That what we are determines what will become of us. In a peasantlike vernacular, we all paint ourselves into corners from which there is no escape simply by being ourselves and interacting with other selves. — Glen Cook

Singe stopped. "You are quite right about Medford Shale, Garrett." Great-uncle Medford had figured prominently in the case where I'd first made Singe's acquaintance. "Just as you were right about me needing no distractions if I am to follow this trail. Perhaps I can have Doris knock you out, then have Marsha knock Doris out, then pray that a building collapses on Marsha." "Or we could all take a hint and save the chatter till later." "You could do that. But I am willing to bet that none of you are able." Was it Mama Garrett's boy who'd said that this ratgirl desperately needed some self-confidence? She sure didn't lack for it in this crowd. — Glen Cook

Where there is no waste, there is no want. — Glen Cook

Evil is relative ... You can't hang a sign on it. You can't touch it or taste it or cut it with a sword. Evil depends on where you are standing, pointing your indicting finger. — Glen Cook

The man who counts on the aid of a god deserves the help he doesn't get. — Glen Cook

And the thing that you know to be true is the lie that will kill you. — Glen Cook

This is a favorite game, matching wits with a Raker. He is blind to the dead, to the burning villages, to the starving children. As is the Rebel. Two blind armies, able to see nothing but one another. — Glen Cook

Essentially, the mercenary sets morality aside, or at best reorders the customary structures to fit the needs of his way of life. The — Glen Cook

There are no self-proclaimed villains, only regiments of self-proclaimed saints. Victorious historians rule where good or evil lies. — Glen Cook

No one will sing songs in our memory. We are the last of the Free Companies of Khatovar. Our traditions and memories live only in these Annals. We are our own mourners. — Glen Cook

If one chooses sides on emotion then the rebel is the guy to go with. He is fighting for everything men claim to honour, freedom, independance, truth, the right ... all the subjective illusions. All the eternal trigger words. We are minions of the villan of the piece. We confess the illusion and deny the substance. — Glen Cook

I do not want to die, Croaker. All that I am shrieks against the unrighteousness of death. All that I am, was, and probably will be, is shaped by my passion to evade the end of me. — Glen Cook

Maybe. We're all equals at the dark gate, no? The sands run for us all. Life is but a flicker shouting into the jaws of eternity. But it seems so damned unfair! — Glen Cook

The people come from everywhere, from five hundred miles, to find their fortunes. By fortune is an ugly, two-faced goddess. When you have lived with her handiwork for half a generation, you hardly notice anymore. You forget that this is not the way life has to be. You cease to marvel at just how much evil man con conjure by existing. — Glen Cook

An old, old formula came to mind, from back when I was very young indeed. "I am a soldier." I said it first in the language I had spoken then, then repeated myself in Sleepy's own Dejagoran dialect. "I've been distracted before. I'm still alive. — Glen Cook

You feel guilty. You wonder why him and not me, then you're glad it was him and not you, then you feel guilty. Soldiers live. And wonder why. — Glen Cook

In religion, precise truth has almost no currency. True believers will kill and destroy to defend their inaccurate beliefs. — Glen Cook

The only characters I've made to resemble real people have been grotesques. — Glen Cook

Even when we know things, sometimes it takes words to make them concrete. — Glen Cook

Soldiers live. He dies and not you, and you feel guilty, because you're glad he died, and not you. Soldiers live, and wonder why. — Glen Cook

I was never really a girl, or a woman, or a human being to Raven, Case. Even though he did awful things for me. I was a symbol, an expiation, and when I insisted on becoming a person he did the only thing he could do to keep on serving the symbol and not have to deal with a flesh-and-blood woman. — Glen Cook

Relway mused, "Now that it's happened I'm not so sure I'm happy with the outcome. Spared their racial theories The Call would've been good for TunFaire." He would appreciate their interest in law and order and proper behavior. "Here's a challenge you still need to meet. Glory Mooncalled. He's weak now but he's still out there somewhere. If you don't get him now he'll try to put something back together someday. He can't help himself." "It's still great day for TunFaire, Garrett. One of pure triumph." I don't know if he meant that or was being sarcastic. You never quite know anything with Relway. And he wants it that way. "I liked the way you put it, Garrett. Faded steel heat." I'd mentioned that to him the night he'd discovered the tanks in the old Lamp brewery. "But the war goes on." "The war never ends. Tell you what. Send me a note when you do decide to roast that pigeon. I've got dibs on a drumstick. — Glen Cook

I am the Daughter of Night. I am the Child of Darkness Forthcoming. Come to my mother or become prey for the beasts of devastation in the Year of the Skulls. — Glen Cook

More evil gets done in the name of righteousness than any other way. — Glen Cook

In the night, when the wind dies and silence rules the place of glittering stone, I remember. And they all live again. — Glen Cook

Limper flopped violently. The gag flew out of his mouth. His ankle bonds parted. He gained his feet, tried to run, tried to mouth some spell that would protect him. He had gone thirty feet when a thousand fiery snakes streaked out of the night and swarmed him. They covered his body. They slithered into his mouth and nose, into his eyes and ears. They went in the easy way and came gnawing out through his back and chest and belly. And he screamed. And screamed. And screamed. — Glen Cook

The price of order," I muttered. I tried to run the dog off. It wouldn't budge.
"The cost of chaos," Tom-Tom countered. Thump on his drum. "Not quite the same thing, Croaker. — Glen Cook

Rich men have dreams. Poor men die to make them come true. — Glen Cook

Its front sags against its neighbor to the right, clinging for support like one of its own drunken patrons. — Glen Cook

We all have our pasts. I suspect we keep them nebulous not because we are hiding from our yesterdays but because we think we will cut more romantic figures if we roll our eyes and dispense delicate hints about beautiful women forever beyond our reaches. Those men whose stories I have uprooted are running from the law, not a tragic love affair. — Glen Cook

I cry for a little girl's dreams. I cry because the dreams will not die, though I am powerless to make them come true. — Glen Cook

Fate is a fickle bitch who dotes on irony. The Black Company pg 447 — Glen Cook

I'm a bad man. I need to understand the past. It illuminates the present. — Glen Cook

There were dreams once upon a time, dreams now all but forgotten. On sad days I dust them off and fondle them nostalgically, with a patronizing wonder at the naivete of the youth who dreamed them. — Glen Cook

I guess I suffer from an impoverishment of the sociopathic spirit necessary to go big time. — Glen Cook

- Goblin, that was a dumb stunt.
- It sure was. Made me feel forty years younger. — Glen Cook

We abjure labels. We fight for money and an indefinable pride. The politics, the ethics, the moralities, are irrelevant. — Glen Cook

My favorite sport is female and my favorite food is beer. — Glen Cook

I'm going to adopt you. You'd make a wonderful daughter. Hey, evil-minded future daughter number two. You heard Arkana. What do you think?" Grudgingly, Shukrat admitted, "I think she's right." "Excellent! Let's go ask your wicked future mother's opinion." We — Glen Cook

I'm an incurable romantic. The essence of romance is an unshakable conviction that next time will be different. — Glen Cook

I am a haunted man. I am haunted by the Limper's screams. I am haunted by the Lady's laughter. — Glen Cook

Truth is a deadly weapon, Lady said. — Glen Cook

Justice has nothing to do with it. Stark, bloody, screaming, agonizing vendeance is what I'm talking about. — Glen Cook

Only a conquerer bothers to honor a fallen foe. — Glen Cook

Books are nothing but repositories for those lies the author wants his reader to believe. — Glen Cook

Pull up a step, Ace," I told him. He did, but he had the fidgets. He kept looking for his lucky exit. I told him, "I didn't really want you. But I can't get ahold of Winger." Not that I'd tried. "What? Who?" "Your girlfriend. Big blond goof with no common sense, always has an angle, never tells the truth if a lie will do. Her." "Part of that fits everybody in this thing," Morley said. "Even up on the Hill, they turned the truth to quicksilver." "Untruths, too." "Quicksilver lies. I like that." "Deadly quicksilver lies." I spotted friend C.J. Carlyle. "Look who missed the slaughter at Maggie Jenn's place. — Glen Cook

No soldier likes the thought of losing his best friend and favorite toy. — Glen Cook

It was one of those moments in which I become very uncomfortable. One of those times when nothing you say can be right, and almost anything you do say is wrong. I could see no answer but the classic Croaker approach.
I began to back away.
That is how I handle my women. Duck for cover when they get distressed.
I almost made it to the door.
She could move when she wanted. She crossed the gap and put her arms around me, rested a cheek against my chest.
And that is how they handle me, the sentimental fool. The closet romantic. — Glen Cook

She is the darkness. — Glen Cook

Priests of a thousand cults proclaim the essential goodliness of Man. They must be fools. All I see is people flinging themselves at the chance to do evil. — Glen Cook

Best way out," Elmo observed laconically, "would be to kill everybody who knows anything, then all of us fall on our swords."
"Sounds a little extreme," Goblin opined. "But if you want to go first, I'm right behind you. — Glen Cook

One-Eye scowled at Goblin. "Keep it up, Barf Bag. You'll be grocery shopping with the turtles." What the hell did that mean? Some kind of obscure shop talk? But Goblin was as croggled as the rest of us. Grinning, One-Eye resumed gabbling with his relatives. — Glen Cook

A world ought to have a few genuine good guys, and not just a spectrum of people running from bad to worse. — Glen Cook

No religion I ever encountered made any sense. None are consistent. Most gods are megalomaniacs and paranoid psychotics by their worshippers' description. I don't see how they could survive their own insanity. But it's not impossible that human beings are incapable of interpreting a power so much greater than themselves. Maybe religions are twisted and perverted shadows of truth. Maybe there are forces which shape the world. I myself have never understood why, in a universe so vast, a god would care about something so trivial as worship or human destiny. — Glen Cook

I was my usual charming morning self, threatening blood feud with anyone fool enough to disturb my dreams. — Glen Cook

Religion is something that gets hammered in early, and never really goes away. And has powers to move which go beyond anything rational. — Glen Cook