Eddings David Quotes & Sayings

His stories were not always new, but there was in the telling of them a special kind of magic. His voice could roll like thunder or hush down into a zepherlike whisper. He could imitate the voices of a dozen men at once; whistle so like a bird that the birds themselves would come to him to hear what he had to say; and when when he imitated the howl of a wolf, the sound could raise the hair on the backs of his listeners' necks and strike a chill into their hearts like the depths of a Drasnian winter. He could make the sound of rain and of wind and even, most miraculously, the sound of snow falling. — David Eddings

Why do some trees stay green while others change their color?"

"Certain trees need to show off, dear. I'm sure that my big brother could explain why it happens. Dahlaine loves to explain things, and he can be very tedious about it. I prefer simpler answers. The trees are sad because summer's almost over. — David Eddings

Torak's dead."
"Really?" Aunt Pol said. "Have you seen his grave? Have you opened the grave and seen his bones? — David Eddings

Could you penetrate this palace, Prince Kheldar?" King Anheg challenged.
"I already have, your Majesty," Silk said modestly, "a dozen times or more."
Anheg looked at Rhodar with one raised eyebrow.
Rhodar coughed slightly. "It was some time ago, Anheg. Nothing serious. I was just curious about something, that's all."
"All you had to do was ask," Anheg said in a slightly injured tone.
"I didn't want to bother you," Rhodar said with a shrug. "Besides, it's more fun to do it the other way. — David Eddings

Oh, well," Silk said wryly, "we might as well get it out into the open, I suppose. Gentlemen," he said, "I'm sure you all remember the Margravine Liselle, my fiancee."
"Your fiancee?" Barak exclaimed in amazement.
"We all have to settle down sometime." Silk shrugged.
They all gathered around to congratulate him. Velvet, however, did not look pleased.
"Was something the matter, dear?" Silk asked her, all innocence.
"Don't you think you've forgotten something, Kheldar?" she asked acidly.
"Not that I recall."
"You neglected to ask me about this first."
"Really? Did I actually forget that? You weren't planning to refuse, were you?"
"Of course not."
"Well, then
"
"You haven't heard the last of this, Kheldar," she said ominously.
"I seem to be getting off to a bad start here," he observed.
"Very bad," she agreed. — David Eddings

Love can show itself in many strange ways, — David Eddings

The Orb is not of itself evil. Evil is a thing that lies only in the hearts and minds of men
and of Gods, also.
Aldur — David Eddings

Operating by trial and error mostly, we've evolved a tacitly agreed upon list of the elements that make for a good fantasy. The first decision the aspiring fantasist must make is theological. King Arthur and Charlemagne were Christians. Siegfried and Sigurd the Volsung were pagans. My personal view is that pagans write better stories. When a writer is having fun, it shows, and pagans have more fun than Christians. Let's scrape Horace's Dulche et utile off the plate before we even start the banquet. We're writing for fun, not to provide moral instruction. I had much more fun with the Belgariad/Malloreon than you did, because I know where all the jokes are.
All right, then, for item number one, I chose paganism. (Note that Papa Tolkien, a devout Anglo-Catholic, took the same route.) — David Eddings

All social workers want is to get everyone involved in a programme. Because a programme provides full employment for three generations of social workers. And they mess up. — David Eddings

Lying is an art. A good lie shouldn't be embellished so much. — David Eddings

The quality of student work has definitely gone downhill since they discontinued the use of the whipping post.
-Silk — David Eddings

The whole world is beautiful, Belgarion' Eriond assured him in response to that unspoken thought. 'You just have to know how to look at it — David Eddings

Why are the people all so unhappy?" he asked Mister Wolf. "They have a stern and demanding God," Wolf replied. "Which God is that?" Garion asked. "Money," Wolf said. — David Eddings

Now there's something for you to think about. If you don't know that you can't do something, isn't there a remote possibility that you'll go ahead and do it anyway in absolute defiance of physical law? That might be one of the drawbacks of education. If you don't know that you can't pick yourself up by the scruff of the neck and hold yourself at arm's length, maybe you can. — David Eddings

But there's a world beyond what we can see and touch, and that world lives by its own laws. What may be impossible in this very ordinary world is very possible there, and sometimes the boundaries between the two worlds disappear, and then who can say what is possible and impossible? — David Eddings

Just because you can do something doesn't necessarily mean that you should. — David Eddings

This is Trenicia, the queen of the warrior women of the Isle of Akalla. Different places have different traditions and different customs. On the Isle of Akalla, the women rule, and the women do the fighting."

"What do the men do?" the horseman Ekial asked curiously.

"As little as they possibly can," the warrior woman said in a sardonic tone. "Over the years, they've foisted just about everything off on us. We have to grow the food, hunt the meat, and fight the wars. The men sit around getting fat and arguing with each other about something they call 'philosophy' - most of which is pure nonsense. — David Eddings

Will you never grow up?"
"I doubt it, and I certainly hope not. — David Eddings

Any time there's something so ridiculously dangerous that no rational human being would try it, they send for me.'
Garion — David Eddings

It keeps him happy, Dahlaine, and happy people are nicer than gloomy ones. Haven't you noticed that before? — David Eddings

No one seems to realise that the aristocracy is God's special gift to mankind. The burghers treat us no better than commoners. Considering our divine origins, such disrespect is the worst form of impiety. I'm sure your Grace agrees. — David Eddings

Bheid and Leitha, but he didn't say anything. — David Eddings

Its a perfectly good face, Sparhawk."
"It covers the front of my head. What else can you expect from a face? — David Eddings

You're impossible," she told him.
"Of course I am," he answered. "It's part of my charm. — David Eddings

Refusing to talk about something wouldn't make it go away. If it was there, it was there, and no amount of verbal acrobatics could make it go away. — David Eddings

Mandorallen turned to Barak. "If it please thee, my Lord," he requested politely, "deliver my challenge as soon as they approach us."
Barak shrugged. "It's your skin," he noted. He eyed the advancing knights and then lifted his voice in a great roar. "Sir Madorallen, Baron of Vo Mandor, desires entertainment," he declaimed. "It would amuse him if each of your parties would select a champion to joust with him. If, however, you are all such cowardly dogs that you have no stomach for such a contest, cease this brawling and stand aside so that your betters may pass."
"Splendidly spoken, my Lord Barak," Madorallen said with admiration.
"I've always had a way with words," Barak replied modestly. — David Eddings

Some day, Prince Kheldar, you will fall in love," the queen said with a little smirk, "and the twelve kingdoms will stand around and chortle over the fall of so notorious a bachelor. — David Eddings

You're going to stay here and help Daran in every way you can. Don't let him sink into melancholia the way his father has ... Now, pull yourself together. Blow your nose and fix your face. Daran's talking to the Rivan Warder right now. I'll take you to where they are, and then I have to leave."
"You're not even going to stay for the funeral?"
"I've got the funeral in my heart, Pol, the same as you have. No amount of ceremony's going to make it go away. Now go fix your face. You look awful. — David Eddings

The unfortunate thing about working for yourself is that you have the worst boss in the world. I work every day of the year except at Christmas, when I work a half day. — David Eddings

If you can't do something about a situation, there's no point in worrying about it. — David Eddings

The notion that any one person can describe 'what really happened' is an absurdity. If ten - or a hundred - people witness an event, there will be ten - or a hundred - different versions of what took place. What we see and how we interpret it depends entirely upon our individual past experience. — David Eddings

Most people need to believe in something. There are a few who don't, but they're a bit unusual. — David Eddings

Nobles and peasants marry early. Businessmen tend to wait. — David Eddings

You won't be able to do it wrong, Durnik
any more than you'd be able to lie or cheat or steal. It's built into you to do it right, so don't worry about it."
"That's all very well for you to say, Mistress, Pol," he replied, "but if you don't mind, I will worry about it just a bit
privately of course. — David Eddings

You've been away from home too long if you can get lost on the way from the harbor to the palace. — David Eddings

Everything is idiocy if you choose to look at it in the proper perspective. — David Eddings

Lammer stared at the chunk of bread in his hands, trembling violently. "I'll follow you, my lady," he declared in a quavering voice. "I've eaten my shoes and lived on boiled grass and tree roots." His fists closed about the chunk of bread as if he were afraid someone might take it away from him. "I'll follow you to the end of the world and back for this." And he began to eat, tearing at the bread with his teeth. — David Eddings

As he grew, the other children grew as well - all except poor Doroon, who seemed doomed to be short and skinny all his life. Rundorig — David Eddings

Nothing that ever happens is so unimportant that it doesn't change things. — David Eddings

Well
to put it briefly
Arianna and I had become
well
friends."
"I see."
"Nothing improper, you understand," Lelldorin said quickly. "But our friendship was such that
well
we didn't want to be separated." The young Asturian's face appealed to his friend for understanding. "Actually," he went on, "it was a little more than 'didn't want to.' Arianna told me she'd die if I left her behind."
"Possibly she was exaggerating," Garion suggested.
"How could I risk it, though?" Lelldorin protested. "Women are much more delicate than we are
besides, Arianna's a physician. She'd know if she'd die, wouldn't she? — David Eddings

Do you ever plan to grow up, Veltan?" he asked.

"Not if I can avoid it, no. — David Eddings

The solution, of necessity, was going to be entirely up to him. Knowing it was a trifle over dramatic, but considering the mental capabilities of the two involved, he drew his sword. "We are all now going directly to the chapel," he announced, "and the two of you are going to get married." He pointed at the splintered door with the sword. "Now march!"he commanded.
And so it was that one of the great tragic love stories of all time came at last to a happy ending. Mandorallen and his Neria were married that very afternoon,with Garion quite literally standing over them with a flaming sword to insure that no last-minute hitches could interrupt. — David Eddings

Love, My Goddess loves us all, and she gave up Bhelliom willingly out of that love. Bhelliom can't begin to understand love. In the end that may be our only defense against it. — David Eddings

I know that in your heart you miss all those wonderful moments you spent with my father
watching him gnaw on the furniture, listening to his insane gibbering, and enjoying all those playful blows to the stomach and kicks to the head with which he demonstrated his affection for his wives.
King Urgit — David Eddings

Behold the Drojim Palace," King Urgit said extravagantly to Sadi, "the hereditary home of the House of Urga."
"A most unusual structure, You Majesty," Sadi murmured.
"That's a diplomatic way to put it." Urgit looked critically at his palace. "It's gaudy, ugly, and in terribly bad taste. It does, however, suit my personality almost perfectly. — David Eddings

Start early and work hard. A writer's apprenticeship usually involves writing a million words (which are then discarded) before he's almost ready to begin. That takes a while. — David Eddings

The queen sighed. "What am I going to do with all of you now!"
"You're going to let us continue our journey," Belgarath replied calmly. "We'll argue about it, of course, but in the end that's the way it'll turn out."
She stared at him.
"You did ask, after all. I'm sure you feel better now that you know. — David Eddings

Water....I'm thirsty not dirty. — David Eddings

Trust me. - Silk — David Eddings

Is it my birthday again? Already? Where does the time go?"
"Behind us
or in front. It depends on which way you are looking. — David Eddings

When they ran out of cadre men they gave me my very own platoon and said, 'Here are 63 men, try to keep as many of them alive as you possibly can.' That was one of the more harrowing experiences of my life. — David Eddings

It's really a very simple arrangement, little mother. He fully understands that either they get healthy, or he gets sick. That sort of encourages him to do his best. — David Eddings

I've looked at the world for quite a few years now and I've found that if I don't laugh, I'll probably end up crying.
- Prince Kheldar of Drasnia — David Eddings

He had performed that last service that a man can perform for a friend - he had told the truth about him. — David Eddings

Does bouncing count? -- Silk, The Belgariad — David Eddings

Wise are you, indeed ... to know what is not possible ... — David Eddings

We can try to act civilized and polite, but at the bottom of it all, the power of any ruler is based on a threat. Fortunately, we don't have to carry that threat out too often. — David Eddings

As long as I know that my motives are good, I'm Seldom very concerned with the opinions of others.
-Mandorallen, Baron of Vo Mandor. — David Eddings

The only reason there's such a thing as a morning in the first place is to keep night and afternoon from bumping into each other.
-Kheldar — David Eddings

Consistency is the defense of a small mind — David Eddings

God save us from religion. — David Eddings

Heroes aren't allowed to be nervous."
"Who made up that rule?"
"It's a known fact ... — David Eddings

I'm hungry, Garion, and I don't think well when I'm hungry."
"That might explain a lot," Beldin noted blandly. "We should have fed you more often when you were younger."
"You can be terribly offensive sometimes, do you know that?"
"Why, yes, as a matter of fact I do. — David Eddings

I've had a great deal of experience with adolescents over the centuries, and I've discovered that as a group these awkward half children take themselves far too seriously. Moreover, appearance is everything for the adolescent. I suppose it's a form of play-acting. The adolescent knows that the child is lurking under the surface, but he'd sooner die than let it out, and I was no different. I was so intent on being "grown-up" that I simply couldn't relax and enjoy life.
Most people go through this stage and outgrow it. Many, however, do not. The pose becomes more important than reality, and these poor creatures become hollow people, forever striving to fit themselves into an impossible mold. — David Eddings

I have a slightly bad back, which has made an enormous contribution to American literature. — David Eddings

It's one of the advantages of being a woman. I get to do all sorts of unfair things, and you have to accept them because you're too polite not to.
Polgara — David Eddings

It's common knowledge that the "church" is nothing more than an invention of the priesthood designed to swindle the ordinary people of the empire out of just about everything they own. — David Eddings

When father uses the word 'politics' he's talking
about relations between nations. When I use the word, though, I'm
talking about the various subtle ways a woman can get men to do
what she wants them to do. — David Eddings

We call this a "bow", Cap'n, and the thing that's sticking out of that fellow's head over on the other side of the trench is called an "arrow". If you put them together just right, they'll do all sorts of nice things to people who aren't nice. — David Eddings

I want to set the record straight."
"The record's never straight, you idiot! Haven't you ever read 1984? They rewrite the record anytime it doesn't suit them. You're spinning your wheels and exposing your bare fanny for nothing. — David Eddings

Life without any wonder left in it is flat and stale. — David Eddings

Mimbrates are the bravest people in the world
probably because they don't have brains enough to be afraid of anything. Garion's friend Mandorallen is totally convinced that he's invincible."
"He is," Ce'Nedra said in automatic defense of her knight. "I saw him kill a lion once with his bare hands."
" ... I heard him suggest to Barak and Hettar once that the three of them attack an entire Tolnedran legion."
"Perhaps he was joking."
"Mimbrate knights don't know how to joke," Silk told him.
"I will not sit here and listen to you people insult my knight," Ce'Nedra said hotly.
"We'renot insulting hi, Ce'Nedra," Silk told her. "We're describing him. He's so noble he makes my hair hurt."
"Nobility is an alien concept to a Drasnian, I suppose," she noted.
"Not alien, Ce'Nedra. Incomprehensible. — David Eddings

I thought the trees down in Lady Zelana's country were about as big as a tree could get," he said, "but the ones around here are so tall that they probably tickle the moon's tummy when she goes by. — David Eddings

Once you've decided that something's absolutely true, you've closed your mind on it, and a closed mind doesn't go anywhere. Question everything. That's what education's all about. — David Eddings

It's only a story, isn't it?" ...
"Who's to say what's only a story and what's truth disguised as a story? — David Eddings

What I'm trying to say, Garion,' Durnik continued seriously, 'is that you can't go through life being afraid of what you are. If you do that, sooner or later somebody will come along who'll misunderstand, and you'll have to do something to show him that it's not him that you're afraid of. — David Eddings

Who owns a man, Durnik?" the blond young man asked sadly. "The one who rules him, or the one who pays him? — David Eddings

Listen to the way people talk. If your characters sound real the rest is easy. — David Eddings

Why do you persist in being so frivolous, Urgit?"
"Why don't we just call it a symptom of my incipient madness?"
"You're not going to go mad," she said firmly.
"Of course I'm going to go mad, mother. I'm rather looking forward to it. — David Eddings

If the general opinion is pessimistic, fantasy is going to hold its own. — David Eddings

Contemporary fantasists all bow politely to Lord Tennyson and Papa Tolkien, then step around them to go back to the original texts for inspiration
and there are a lot of those texts. We have King Arthur and his gang in English; we've got Siegfried and Brunhild in German; Charlemagne and Roland in French; El Cid in Spanish; Sigurd the Volsung in Icelandic; and assorted 'myghtiest Knights on lyfe' in a half-dozen other cultures. Without shame, we pillage medieval romance for all we're worth. — David Eddings

It's the way of kings. — David Eddings

Garion started shaving. "Try to keep away from your nose," said Hettar wryly. "A man looks quite strange without a nose. — David Eddings

As long as people are talking instead of fighting, nobody loses very much blood - unless he happens to bite his tongue. — David Eddings

That's a strange hobby for a Church Knight."

"God hired me as a fighting man, Sparhawk, not as a monk. I fight whenever He tells me to, but the rest of my time is my own. — David Eddings

We was doing a lot of what our officers called "maneuvering" - which is officer talk for running — David Eddings

Beldin sighed. "Since you're going to be such a spoilsport for this, Pol, I found a
group of sheephenders below the snow line."
"Shepherds, uncle," she corrected.
"It means the same thing. If you really look at it, it's even the same word,"
"Shepherd sounds nicer."
"Nicer." He snorted. "Sheep are stupid, they smell bad, and they taste worse.
Anybody who spends his life tending them is either defective or degenerate. — David Eddings

Then you've learned something today. No day in which you learn something is a complete loss. — David Eddings

I can read Middle English stories, Geoffrey Chaucer or Sir Thomas Malory, but once I start moving in the direction of contemporary fantasy, my mind begins to take over. — David Eddings

A day in which you learn something isn't a complete loss. — David Eddings

Garion drew in a deep breath. "Or," he continued, "I can go off by myself and find Torak - wherever he is - and try to kill him."
Silk whistled, his eyes widening.
"He said that I didn't have to go alone," Garion added hopefully. "I asked him about that."
"Thanks," Belgarath said dryly. — David Eddings

He's nearly a man," Faldor explained to Aunt Pol, "and a man always has need of a good knife. — David Eddings

Someday you'll have to show me how you did that," Asharak was saying. "I found the experience interesting. My horse had hysterics, however."
"My apologies to your horse. — David Eddings

I have an unconscious burglar living in my mind: If I read something, it's mine. — David Eddings

Sparhawk grinned. "If Martel finds out that he's drinking again, he'll reach down his throat and pull his heart out." "Can you actually do that to a man?" "You can if your arm's long enough, and if you know what you're looking for.[ ... ] — David Eddings

You'd think that the people who worshiped the real true God would have better sense. — David Eddings

Don't be afraid to discard work you know isn't up to standard. Don't save junk, just because it took you a long time to write it. — David Eddings

We are all children, Kheldar.
--Cyradis — David Eddings

Because they were both young, she was intolerant and he was stubborn. — David Eddings

I want a sword not a knitting needle
-Kalen — David Eddings