Quotes & Sayings About Abercrombie

He is dead and I, the self serving coward that I am, still live. Life is not fair. There is no pattern. People die at random. Something everyone knows, but no one truly believes. They think that when it comes to them there will be a lesson, a meaning, a story worth telling. That death will come to them as a dread scholar, a fell knight, a terrible emperor.
Death is a bored clerk, with too many orders to fill. There is no reckoning. No profound moment. It creeps up on us from behind, and snatches us away while we shit. — Joe Abercrombie

If you change your mind about the knife,' Grom called after him, smiling all the while, 'you can seek me out.'
[ ... ]
'Last time we met ... you offered me a knife' Yarvi fixed Grom with his eye. On his knees, ragged and bloodied, but fixed him still. 'You told me to seek you out if I changed my mind. Will you give it to me now? — Joe Abercrombie

Fine lies beat tedious truths every time. — Joe Abercrombie

Men can have all manner of deeply held beliefs about the world in general that they find most inconvenient when called upon to apply to their own lives. Few people let morality get in the way of expediency. Or even convenience. A man who truly believes in a thing beyond the point where it costs him is a rare and dangerous thing. — Joe Abercrombie

The rifle and the pistol are still the equalizer when one man is more of a man than another, and if ... he is really smart ... he will get a permit to carry one and then drop around to Abercrombie and Fitch and buy himself a .22 caliber Colt automatic pistol, 'Woodsman model', with a five-inch barrel and a box of shells. I advise him to get lubricated hollow points to avoid jams and to ensure a nice expansion on the bullet. He might even get several boxes and practice a little ... — Ernest Hemingway,

But you love to play the good man, don't you? Do you know what's worse than a villain? A villain who thinks he's a hero. A man like that, there's nothing he won't do and he'll always find himself an excuse. — Joe Abercrombie

Trust. It was a word that only liars used. A word the truthful had no need of. — Joe Abercrombie

But it is easy to speak of the past, impossible to go there. I am powerful in ways you can only dream, yet I am still a prisoner of what I have done. I can never escape the cell I have made for myself. Things are what they are. — Joe Abercrombie

You are lucky, Thorn. You are very lucky."
"Doubtless. Not every girl gets to be stabbed through the face."
"And by a duke of royal blood too! — Joe Abercrombie

Don't deceive yourself. Everyone is guilty of something, and even the innocent can be a threat. Perhaps it takes small crimes to prevent bigger ones, Colonel West, but it's up to bigger men than us to decide. — Joe Abercrombie

Bah. What does it matter now? There are no certainties let in the world. That was the age of great men, doing what was right." He frowned down at the broken rubble choking the floor of the colossal room. "This is the age of little men, doing what they must. Little men, with little dreams, walking in giant footsteps. — Joe Abercrombie

They appear somewhat unreliable," he murmured.
"Unreliable? Nonsense, Superior! Out of luck is all, and we both know how that goes, no? Why, there's not a man of them I wouldn't trust my mother to."
"Are you sure?"
"She's been dead these twenty years. What harm could they do her now? — Joe Abercrombie

One act presses upon another, on a path we have no choice but to follow, and each time there are reasons. We do what we must, we do what we are told, we do what is easiest. What else can we do but solve one sordid problem at a time? Then we look up and find ... this. — Joe Abercrombie

He felt a strange urge, right then, just to put his head down and walk past, off into the night and never look back. Then he wouldn't have to be the Bloody-Nine again... He could've gone far away, and started new, and been whoever he wanted. But he'd tried that once already, and it had done him no good. The past was always right behind him, breathing on his neck. It was time to turn around and face it. — Joe Abercrombie

Inquisitor Lorsen's thin lip curled. "There is truly nothing in you of what separates man from animal, is there? You are bereft of conscience. An utter absence of morality. You have no principle beyond the selfish."
Cosca's face hardened as he leaned forwards. "Perhaps when you have faced as many disappointments and suffered as many betrayals as I, you will see it - there is no principle beyond the selfish, Inquisitor, and men are animals. Conscience is a burden we choose to bear. Morality is the lie we tell ourselves to make its bearing easier. There have been many times in my life when I have wished it was not so. But it is so. — Joe Abercrombie

There was nothing to be gained by losing his temper. There was never anything to be gained by that. — Joe Abercrombie

If she knew about the luggage, she was trouble. And Fallow had no sense of humour about his cock, to which none of the ointments had made the slightest difference. — Joe Abercrombie

As a writer, you have to first of all write what you want to. Listen to advice, by all means, but don't get bogged down in it. — Joe Abercrombie

On the battlefield there are no rules. — Joe Abercrombie

Holy Abercrombie catalog, Megan thought. — Kate Brian

He tried to tell himself the dead are dead, but he knew Jenner had been right. Their ghosts stick in the minds of those that knew them, loved them, hated them. Those that killed them most of all. — Joe Abercrombie

Hard words are for fools and cowards. — Joe Abercrombie

That's what courage is. Taking your disappointments and your failures, your guilt and your shame, all the wounds received and inflicted, and sinking them in the past. Starting again. Damning yesterday and facing tomorrow with your head held high. Times change. It's those that see it coming, and plan for it, and change themselves to suit that prosper. — Joe Abercrombie

Where do we find allies?"
Father Yarvi smiled. "Among our enemies, where else? — Joe Abercrombie

A man can forgive all manner of faults in beautiful women that in ugly men he find entirely beyond sufferance — Joe Abercrombie

When there wasn't any money involved, for all intents and purposes, nobody gave a damn. But now the land, supposedly worthless, is seen for what it really is: an incredibly valuable asset. — Neil Abercrombie

And here it is. That horrible, beautiful, stretched out moment between stubbing your toe and feeling the hurt. How long do I have before the pain comes? How bad will it be when it does? — Joe Abercrombie

Bang! The end of his little finger, now, and three more pieces of the rest. His middle finger was down to the knuckle, almost. Severard stared, his eyes wide with horror, his breath coming in short, fast gasps. Shock, amazement, stunned terror. Glokta leaned down to his ear. 'I hope you weren't planning to take up the violin, Severard. You'll be lucky if you can play a fucking gong by the time we're done here.' He winced at a spasm in his neck as he lifted the cleaver again. — Joe Abercrombie

Writing is not a hobby. Collecting stamps or coins is a hobby. Writing is a calling. — Barbara Abercrombie

What is it about power, that it has to be higher up than everyone else? Can a man not be powerful on the ground floor? — Joe Abercrombie

Power is a bloody mirage. The closer you seem to get the further away it is — Joe Abercrombie

There's no style of contempt like the stuff one kind of savage has for another, — Joe Abercrombie

Probably been sure he'd got the right god, the right king, the right cause. Everyone finds a way to make their side the right one, after all. — Joe Abercrombie

I must admit that you fascinate me, Superior. Your life would seem to be entirely unbearable. And yet you fight so very, very hard to stay alive. With every weapon and stratagem. You simply refuse to die."
"I am ready to die." Glokta returned his gaze, like for like. "But I refuse to lose." ~Bayaz and Glokta — Joe Abercrombie

If you clenched your teeth hard enough, and took enough strides, you could get anywhere. One painful, weary, freezing, guilty step at a time. — Joe Abercrombie

Vialine counted the points off on her small fingers. "So quickness to strike, and cleverness, and aggression without conscience, honor or pity."
Thorn held up her empty hands. "They've got me everything I have. — Joe Abercrombie

You want to be merciful. To stand in the light. I understand it. I admire it. But, my queen ... Only the victors can be merciful. — Joe Abercrombie

Vengeance is a way of clinging to what we have lost. A wedge in the Last Door, and through the crack we can still glimpse the faces of the dead. We strain towards it with all our being, break every rule to have it, but when we clutch it, there is nothing there. Only grief. — Joe Abercrombie

I make no judgements on hearsay. — Joe Abercrombie

It was like staring at a whitewashed wall, but without all the emotion — Joe Abercrombie

Her knee caught him between the legs with pitiless accuracy, driving the wind from his chest, making him teeter for a breathless moment, then bringing him down like a sledgehammer to a house of cards. As he slid groaning to the carpet in that special, shooting agony that only a blow to the fruits can produce, it was little consolation that he had been right.
His Queen was quite evidently a woman of rare and fiery passion. — Joe Abercrombie

You stick a bunch of drunken murderers together, ain't long before some turn to thieving, then to lying, then to bad language, and pretty soon to sobriety, raising families and making an honest living. — Joe Abercrombie

I just think TV is becoming more and more interesting in a way. Films are more and more derivative, you know, whether it's 'Transformers 2' or 'Shrek 5', or it's yet another iteration of another kind of clone of something else. It's a bit depressing in a way. — Joe Abercrombie

When men say things used to be better, they invariably mean they were better for them, because they were young, and had all their hopes intact. — Joe Abercrombie

If there was a God, the world seemed exactly the way it would be if there wasn't one. — Joe Abercrombie

There's no curse like getting what you want. — Joe Abercrombie

God of the battlefield, eh? Gods and devils can look much alike to us little people. You went to a ford, and a bridge, and a hill, and what did you do there except kill? What have you made? Who have you helped?" He stood there for a moment, all his bravado slithering out. She is right. And no one knows it better than me. "Nothing and no one," he whispered. "So you love war. I used to think you were a decent man. But I see now I was mistaken." She stabbed at his chest with her forefinger. "You're a hero. — Joe Abercrombie

These boots are worth more than you, damn it!'
Shadikshirram was sitting on her bed, eyes shining wet, straining forward and trying to grab her foot but so drunk she kept missing. When she saw him she sagged back.
'Give me a hand, eh?'
'As long as you don't need two,' said Yarvi.
She gurgled with laughter. 'You're a clever little crippled bastard, aren't you? I swear the gods sent you. Sent you ... to get my boots off. — Joe Abercrombie

Bravery is the dead man's virtue. — Joe Abercrombie

What do the dice say?"
Dice say nothing. They are dice."
Why roll'em, then?"
They are dice. What else would I do with them? — Joe Abercrombie

The best steel doesn't always shine the brightest. — Joe Abercrombie

Rejoice in what you have. Power, wealth, fame, they are ghosts! They are like the breeze, impossible to hold. There is no grand destination. Every path ends at the Last Door. Revel in the sparks one person strikes from another." She huddled into her cloak of rags. "They are the only light in the darkness of time. — Joe Abercrombie

What poet was it who wrote there's no pain worse than the pain of a broken heart? Sentimental shit. He should have spent more time in the Emporer's prisons. — Joe Abercrombie

I never saw men act with such ignorance, violence and self-serving malice as when energised by a just cause. — Joe Abercrombie

Luck is a woman. She's drawn to those that least deserve her. — Joe Abercrombie

Yarvi: 'If we had known the hardship of it, we might have chosen another.'
Shidwala: 'So it is with many choices.'
Yarvi: 'All we can do now is see it through.'
Shidwala: 'So it is with many choices. — Joe Abercrombie

Strong leaders might like it when someone brings 'em a better idea. But weak ones never do. — Joe Abercrombie

He was developing a sneaking feeling he had found his way onto the wrong side. Again. But it's not always easy to tell when you're picking. Perhaps, as Kahdia once told him, you are on the wrong side as soon as you pick one. — Joe Abercrombie

If you have a plan," hissed Sumael from the corner of her mouth, "now would be the time."
"I have a plan," said Nothing.
"Does it involve swords?"
A pause. "All my plans do."
"Do you have a sword?"
Another. "No."
"How will you succeed without one?" Muttered Sumael.
A third. "Death waits for us all. — Joe Abercrombie

To fight my enemies I need friends behind me, and I'm clean out of friends. You have to be realistic. It's been a while since my ambitions went beyond getting through each day alive. — Joe Abercrombie

The more you give a man, the more he demands, and the less happy he becomes. No one ever appreciates what he gets for nothing. — Joe Abercrombie

Let me guess. Dark hair, brown eyes, great abs, white teeth, Abercrombie & Fitch." "Close," I say. "Light brown hair, correct on the eyes, abs, and teeth, but American Eagle Outfitters all the way." "Impressive," she says. "My turn," I say. "Thick blonde hair, big blue eyes, an adorable little white dress with a matching hat, royal blue skin, and you're about two feet tall." She laughs loudly. "You have a thing for Smurfette? — Colleen Hoover

Gold and silver is everything to everyone. Some of us have enough of it to pretend otherwise. — Joe Abercrombie

Cleverness is no guarantee of sensible behaviour. — Joe Abercrombie

That's what an idiot does when he gets angry. He destroys whatever's nearest, even if it's his own house! — Joe Abercrombie

They say a man lost in the desert must take such water as he is offered, no matter who it comes from. I — Joe Abercrombie

You look especially beautiful this morning, Monza.' She sighed, as if that was an accident. As if she hadn't spent an hour preening herself before the mirror. 'Facts are facts. Stating them isn't a gift. You only prove you're not blind.' She yawned, stretched in her saddle, made him wait a moment longer. 'But I'll hear more. — Joe Abercrombie

The world is full of monsters, after all. Perhaps the best one can hope for is to have the most terrible on your side. — Joe Abercrombie

You're no fun at all, you boys, you do nothing but worry. You need to think on the sunny side o' this. The worst that can happen is that Bethod don't show!'
'The worst?' Dogman stared at him. 'You sure? What about if Bethod does come, and his Carls kick your wall over like a pile o' turds and kill every last one of us?'
Crummock's brow furrowed. He frowned down at the ground. He squinted up at the clouds. 'True,' he said, breaking out in a smile. 'That is worse. You got a fast mind, lad.'
Dogman gave a long sigh, and stared down into the valley. — Joe Abercrombie

A good portion of the airport is on ceded lands, and lease money was paid for that. So the state's collecting lease money because all of a sudden 'worthless' land now has an airport on it. — Neil Abercrombie

Maybe there are only so many faces in the world. You get old enough, you start seeing 'em used again. Craw — Joe Abercrombie

Walk in God's footsteps, Ferro Maljinn." "Huh. They have no God here." "Say rather that they have many." "Many?" "Had you not noticed? Here, each man worships himself. — Joe Abercrombie

A man lost in the desert must take such water as he is offered, no matter who it comes from. — Joe Abercrombie

I don't see what I want to see, I see what I need to see. If you don't like it, see something else — Joe Abercrombie

Vengeance only walks a circle. From blood, back to blood. Death waits for us all. You can follow your path to her bent under a burden of rage. I did, for many years. You can let it poison you. — Joe Abercrombie

The trouble with being able to lift heavy things is that when heavy things need lifting folk step out of the way and smile at you. — Joe Abercrombie

I got bigger problems than that life hasn't turned out the way you hoped. You can harp on the past all you please, Dow, like some old woman upset cause her tits used to stay up by themselves, or you can shut your fucking hole and help me get on with things. — Joe Abercrombie

To be creative and spontaneous, you have to live with imperfection. — John Abercrombie

You ever have the feeling you were in the wrong place? That if you could just get over the next hill, cross the next river, look down into the next valley, it'd all ... fit. Be right."
"All my life, more of less"
"All your life spent getting ready for the next thing. I climbed a lot of hills now. I crossed a lot of rivers. Crossed the sea even, left everything I knew and came to Styria. But there I was, waiting for me at the docks when I got off the boat, same man, same life. Next valley ain't no different from this one. No better anyway. Reckon I've learned ... just to stick in the place I'm at. Just to be the man I am. — Joe Abercrombie

Take everything as a compliment, you can never be insulted. — Joe Abercrombie

Bayaz chuckled. "The Bloody-Nine, scared of shadows? I'd never have believed it." "Every shadow's cast by something," growled the Northman, — Joe Abercrombie

You don't pick your family, you take what you're given and you make the best of it. — Joe Abercrombie

Could you just ask? I know we used to hate each other but I've come to think I might like you quite a lot. Any chance you like me, at all? Gods, it sounded absurd. All her life she'd been pushing folk away, she had no idea where to start at pulling one in. What if he looked at her as if she was mad? The thought yawned like a pit at her feet. What do you mean, like? Like, like like? Should she just take hold of him and kiss him? She kept thinking about it. She hardly thought about anything else any more. — Joe Abercrombie

Dimbik had once been told that the best soldiers are rarely courageous. That was when he had been sure it was the career for him. He started to slide one hand towards his sword, far from sure what he would do with it once it reached the hilt. — Joe Abercrombie

First it is done to us, then we do it to others, then we order it done. Such is the way of things — Joe Abercrombie

You carry on. That's what he'd always done. That's the task that comes with surviving, whether you deserve to live or not. You remember the dead as best you can. You say some words for them. Then you carry on, and you hope for better. — Joe Abercrombie

Well, well, well. The mighty Uthman-ul-Dosht comes with mercy, and offers peace. These are strange times we live in, eh, Tulkis? Have the Gurkish learned to love their enemies? Or simply fear them?'
'One need not love one's enemy, or even fear him, to desire peace. One need only love oneself.'
'Is that so?'
'It is. I lost two sons in the wars between our peoples. One at Ulrioch in the last war. He was a priest, and burned in the temple there. The other died not long ago, at the siege of Dagoska. He led the charge when the first breach was made.'
Glokta frowned and stretched out his neck. A hail of flatbow bolts. Tiny figures, falling in the rubble. 'That was a brave charge.'
'War is harshest on the brave. — Joe Abercrombie

Logen still remembered the first time he had to leave someone behind, remembered it like it was yesterday. Strange how the boy's name had gone but the face was with him still. — Joe Abercrombie

If you believe that I chose any part of the pitiful shadow of a life you see before you, you are very much mistaken. I chose glory and success. The box did not contain what was written on the lid." "The — Joe Abercrombie

But the development of human society does not go straight forward; and the epic process will therefore be a recurring process, the series a recurring series - though not in exact repetition. — Lascelles Abercrombie

Jaud planted his fists on his hips. "You made it, then." "Some turds float," said Rulf. Ankran — Joe Abercrombie

Strange how, as long as the hardship lasts, we can stand it. As soon as the crisis is over, the strength all leeches away in an instant. — Joe Abercrombie

The wise wait for their moment, but never let it pass. — Joe Abercrombie

You are Shenkt? I expected more."
"Pray to whatever god you believe in that you never see more."
"I do not pray."
Shenkt leaned close, and whispered in his ear. "I advise you to start. — Joe Abercrombie

Fear not, my doves!" Thorn jumped as someone flung an arm around her shoulders. The strange woman who had watched Thorn fight Brand a few days before thrust her gray-stubbled skull between her and her mother. "For the wise Father Yarvi has placed your daughter's education in my dextrous hands."
Thorn hadn't thought her spirits could drop any lower, but the gods had found a way. "Education?"
The woman hugged them tighter, her smell a heady mix of sweat, incense, herbs and piss. "It's where I teach and you learn."
"And who ... " Thorn's mother gave the ragged woman a nervous look, "or what ... are you?"
"Lately, a thief." When that sharpened nervousness into alarm she added brightly, "but also an experienced killer! — Joe Abercrombie

The epic poet collaborates with the spirit of his time in the composition of his work. That is, if he is successful; the time may refuse to work with him, but he may not refuse to work with his time. — Lascelles Abercrombie

Ain't it God's sword, fell from the sky? I thought it had to be passed on. Is it cursed?"
Craw took up the reins and turned back to the north. "Every sword's a curse, boy. — Joe Abercrombie

Still, as Logen Ninefingers had been so very fond of saying: it was better to do it, than to live with the fear of it. He picked up his dress sword, but after a minute — Joe Abercrombie

Madmen and fools feel no fear. Heroes fear and face the danger anyway. — Joe Abercrombie

The place smelled of smoke and sweat, of spilled drinks and sprayed vomit, of desperation and wasted chances — Joe Abercrombie