King Roland Quotes & Sayings

The man in black fled across the dessert and the gunslinger followed. — Stephen King

I deal in lead! Roland called, and Eddie felt goose-bumps pebble his arms. — Stephen King

We are going to fight. We are going to be hurt. And in the end, we will stand. — Stephen King

Jamie DeCurry had once proclaimed that Roland could shoot blindfolded, because he had eyes in his fingers. — Stephen King

On the other side of Mid-World, Roland of Gilead, the last gunslinger, had drawn this divided woman to him and had created a third, who was far better, far stronger, than either of the previous two. — Stephen King

They were close to the end of the beginning . . . — Stephen King

In our world you got your mystery and suspense stories . . . your science fiction stories . . . your Westerns . . . your fairy tales. Get it?" "Yes," Roland said. "Do people in your world always want only one story-flavor at a time? Only one taste in their mouths?" "I guess that's close enough," Susannah said. "Does no one eat stew?" Roland asked. — Stephen King

The scariest, most terrifying thing that I fear?"
Yes."
My Imagination."
I thought you were going to say "Fear, itself."
Then you have a small imagination."
Roland and Eddie — Stephen King

At the end of her life she was aware of heat but not pain. She had time to consider his eyes, eyes of that blue which is the color of the sky at first light of the morning. She had time to think of him on the Drop, riding Rusher flat out with his black hair flying back from his temples and his neckerchief rippling; to see him laughing with an ease and freedom he would never find again in the long life which stretched out for him beyond hers, and it was his laughter she took with her as she went out, fleeing the light and heat in to the silkly, consoling dark, calling to him over and over as she went, calling bird and bear and hare and fish. — Stephen King

Right is what all this is about," Roland said. "But if you look too long at the small rights, Jake - the ones that lie close at hand - it's easy to lose sight of the big ones that stand farther off. — Stephen King

First comes smiles, then lies. Last is gunfire.-Roland Deschain, of Gilead — Stephen King

Roland opened his eyes and said, Goodbye, Jake. I love you, dear. — Stephen King

It's a poorboy sanditch,' Roland said. 'With lots of mayo, whatever that is. I'd want a sauce that didn't look quite so much like come, myself, but may it do ya fine. — Stephen King

For the first time in his life, Roland found himself hating his own childhood. He wished for the size and calluses and sureness of age. — Stephen King

Are you a gunslinger, Roland? If you are, you better get ready. — Stephen King

Roland gave her a courtier's smile. "And what sort of work do you do for my uncle?
"
Dorian shifted on his feet and Chaol went very still, but Celaena returned Roland's smile and said, "I bury the king's opponents where nobody will ever find them. — Sarah J. Maas

Hope you two boys can dig. There'll be some digging to do." "Graves?" Eddie asked, not sure if he was joking or not. "Graves come later." Roland looked up at the sky, but the clouds had advanced out of the west and stolen the stars. "Just remember, it's the winners who dig them. — Stephen King

He looked so strange without his guns.
So wrong.
'Okay? Now that the numb-fuck apprentices have the guns and the master's unarmed, can we please go? If something big comes out of the bush at us, Roland, you can always throw your knife at it.'
'Oh, that,' he murmured. 'I almost forgot.' He took the knife from his purse and held it out, hilt first, to Eddie.
'This is ridiculous!' Eddie shouted.
'Life is ridiculous.'
'Yeah, put it on a postcard and send it to the fucking Reader's Digest.' Eddie jammed the knife into his belt and then looked defiantly at Roland. 'Now can we go?'
'There is one more thing,' Roland said.
'Weeping, creeping Jesus!'
The smile touched Roland's mouth again. 'Just joking,' he said.
Eddie's mouth dropped open. Beside him, Susannah began to laugh again. The sound rose, as musical as bells, in the morning stillness. — Stephen King

King looked back at Roland. "As The Man With No Name
a fantasy version of Clint Eastwood
you were okay. A lot of fun to partner up with."
"Is that how you think of it?"
"Yes. But then you changed. Right under my hand. It got so I couldn't tell if you were the hero, the antihero, or no hero at all. When you let the kid drop, that was the capper."
"You said you made me do that."
Looking Roland straight in the eyes
blue meeting blue amid the endless choir of voices
King said, "I lied, brother. — Stephen King

There will be water if God wills it. — Stephen King

A gunslinger knows pride, that invisible bone that keeps the neck stiff. — Stephen King

Roland of Gilead responded as he ever had and ever would when such useless, mystifying questions were raised: 'Ka. — Stephen King

The Tower. He would come to the Dark Tower and there he would sing their names; there he would sing their names; there he would sing all their names. The sun stained the east a dusky rose, and at last Roland, no longer the last gunslinger but one of the last three, slept and dreamed his angry dreams through which there ran only that one soothing blue thread: There I will sing all their names! — Stephen King

Take the dead from the dead, the old proverb said; only a corpse may speak true prophecy. — Stephen King

Roland could not understand why anyone would want cocaine or any other illegal drug, for that matter, in a world where such a powerful one as sugar was so plentiful and cheap. — Stephen King

Roland nodded. "And the shooting will happen so fast and be over so quick that you'll wonder what all the planning and palaver was for, when in the end it always comes down to the same five minutes' worth of blood, pain, and stupidity." He paused, then said: "I always feel sick afterward. Like — Stephen King

Roland shook his head slowly. There was a lesson here, he realized, not a shining thing but something that was old and rusty and misshapen. It was why their fathers had let them come. And with his usual stubborn and inarticulate doggedness, Roland laid mental hands on whatever it was. — Stephen King

Him's name is Roland, Mama. I dream about him, sometimes. Him's a King, too. — Stephen King

Here is another one ready to die for you, Roland. What great wrong did you ever do that you should inspire such terrible loyalty in so many? — Stephen King

All of Mid-World had become one vast haunted mansion in these strange latter days; all of Mid-World had become The Drawers; all of Mid-World had become a waste land, haunting and haunted. — Stephen King

I want to go to war," Eddie Dean said calmly.
"You don't know what you're talking about," Roland said, "but you're going to find out."
Eddie nodded. They went to their war. — Stephen King

He looked at the white pills in his hand. 'Astin', Eddie called it. No, that wasn't quite right, but Roland couldn't pronounce the word as the prisoner had said it. Medicine was what it came down to. Medicine from that other world. — Stephen King

They had discovered one could grow as hungry for light as for food. — Stephen King

He looked back at them, and Eddie saw something he had never expected to see in his life - not even if that life stretched over a thousand years. Roland of Gilead was weeping. — Stephen King

If,' Roland said. 'An old teacher of mine used to call it the only word a thousand letters long. — Stephen King

Let evil wait for the day on which it must fall. — Stephen King

Once again there was the desert, and that only. — Stephen King

Worlds which had trembled for a moment in their orbits now steadied, and in one of those worlds, in a desert that was the apotheosis of all deserts, a man named Roland turned over in his bedroll and slept easily once again beneath the alien constellations. — Stephen King

What's that mean?" Eddie asked. "I hate it when you start up with your Zen Buddhist shit, Roland." "It means I don't know," Roland said. "Who is this man Zen Buddhist? Is he wise like me?" Eddie looked at Roland for a long, long time before deciding the gunslinger was making one of his rare jokes. "Ah, get outta here ... — Stephen King

Oy?" he asked. "Will you say goodbye?"
Oy looked at Roland, and for a moment the gunslinger wasn't sure he understood. Then the bumbler extended his neck and caressed the boy's cheek a last time with his tongue. "I, Ake," he said: Bye, Jake or I ache, it came to the same. — Stephen King

Time flies, knells call, life passes, so hear my prayer.
Birth is nothing but death begun, so hear my prayer.
Death is speechless, so hear my speech.
This is Jake, who served his ka and his tet. Say true.
May the forgiving glance of S'mana heal his heart. Say please.
May the arms of Gan raise him from the darkness of this earth. Say please.
Surround him, Gan , with light.
Fill him, Chloe, with strength.
If he is thirsty, give him water in the clearing.
If he is hungry, give him food in the clearing.
May his life on this earth and the pain of his passing become as a dream to his waking soul, and let his eyes fall upon every lovely sight; let him find the friends that were lost to him, and let every one whose name he calls call his in return.
This is Jake, who lived well, loved his own, and died as ka would have it.
Each man owes a death. This is Jake. Give him peace. — Stephen King

If it's ka it'll come like a wind, and your plans will stand before it no more than a barn before a cyclone — Stephen King

Roland grabbed Jake and hauled him to his feet. "You came!" Jake shouted. "You really came!" "I came, yes. By the grace of the gods and the courage of my friends, I came. — Stephen King

The man in black travels with your soul in his pocket. — Stephen King

You say true, I say thankya. — Stephen King

That, Eddie thought, was an exceedingly clever reply. Roland had said I can't answer ... but that wasn't the same thing as I don't know. Far from it. — Stephen King

VERY WELL, ROLAND OF GILEAD.
'VERY WELL, EDDIE OF NEW YORK.
'VERY WELL, SUSANNAH OF NEW YORK.
'VERY WELL, JAKE OF NEW YORK.
'VERY WELL, OY OF MID-WORLD. — Stephen King

Don't feel sorry for yourself. Make do. — Stephen King

Oh Christ, I left my world to watch a kid put shoes on a fucked-up weasel. Shoot me Roland, before I breed. — Stephen King

Thee's a good man, Roland of Gilead." He considered this, then slowly shook his head. "All my life I've had the fastest hands, but at being good I was always a little too slow." She — Stephen King

There was murder, there was rape, there were unspeakable practices, and all of them were for the good, the bloody good, the bloody myth, for the grail, for the Tower. — Stephen King

Some things don't rest easy, even when they're dead. Their bones cry out from the ground. — Stephen King

He wanted her, suddenly and completely, with a desperate depth of feeling that felt like sickness. Everything he was and everything he had come for, it seemed, was secondary to her. — Stephen King

I'm afraid to go to sleep. I'm afraid my dead friends will come to me, and that seeing them will kill me. — Stephen King

What if I fall?', Tim cried.
Maerlyn laughed. 'Sooner or later, we all do. — Stephen King

It's not your bullets I fear, Roland. It's your idea of answers that scares me. — Stephen King

A person's never too old for stories. Man and boy, girl and woman, we live for them. - Roland Deschain — Stephen King

May you find your Tower, Roland, and breach it, and may you climb to the top! — Stephen King

Their situation was becoming ever harder to deny: they were characters in someone's story. This whole world
— Stephen King

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 seems to me that none of this stuff is mine, that I'm nothing but Roland of Gilead's fucking secretary. I know that's stupid, but a part of me sort of believes it. — Stephen King

The man in black smiled. "Shall we tell the truth then, you and I? No more lies?"
I thought we had been."
But the man in black persisted as if Roland hadn't spoken. "Shall there be truth between us, as two men? Not as friends, but as equals? There is an offer you will get rarely, Roland. Only equals speak the truth, that's my thought on't. Friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of regard. How tiresome! — Stephen King

Not all are called to the way of the sword or the gun or the ship, but all serve ka. — Stephen King

And he thought that, had he been wearing his guns, he might well have drawn one and put a bullet in Susan Delgado's cold and whoring little heart. — Stephen King

The gods frowned upon wastrels. Roland had been raised, first by his father and then by Cort, his greatest teacher, to believe this, and so he still believed. Those gods might not punish at once, but sooner or later the penance would be paid. And the longer the wait, the greater the weight. — Stephen King

But if God made the world, then God made the drink. And that is also His will. Ka, Roland thought. — Stephen King

Eddie got in. Roland paused for a moment to tap his throat three times. Eddie had seen him perform this ritual before when about to cross open water, and reminded himself to ask about it. He never got the chance; before the question occurred to him again, death had slipped between them. — Stephen King

The gunslinger is the truth. Roland is the truth. The Prisoner is the truth. The Lady of Shadows is the truth. The Prisoner and the Lady are married. That is the truth. The way station is the truth. The Speaking Demon is the truth. We went under the mountains and that is the truth. There were monsters under the mountain. That is the truth. One of them had an Amoco gas pump between his legs and was pretending it was his penis. That is the truth. Roland let me die. That is the truth. I still love him. That is the truth. — Stephen King

Willpower and dedication are good words' Roland remarked 'There's a bad one, though, that means the same thing. That one is obsession — Stephen King

If you love me, then love me. — Stephen King

A large praying mantis was performing ablutions on the springy stem of the kid's cowlick. The gunslinger snorted laughter-the first in gods knew how long-and set the fire and went after water. — Stephen King

Stand right there. If your ass loses contact with that wall, you are going to lose contact with life as you have always known it. You understand?
Roland — Stephen King

If you have given up your heart for the Tower, Roland, you have already lost. A heartless creature is a loveless creature, and a loveless creature is a beast. To be a beast is perhaps bearable, although the man who has become one will surely pay hell's own price in the end, but if you should gain your object? What if you should, heartless, storm the Dark Tower and win it? What could you do except degenerate from beast to monster? To gain one's object as a beast would only be bitterly comic, like giving a magnifying glass to an elephant. But to gain one's object as a monster ... To pay hell is one thing. But do you want to own it? — Stephen King

Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for turbulence: you're flying into ... the Roland Zone! — Stephen King

Roland had taught him that self-deception was nothing but pride in disguise, an indulgence to be denied. — Stephen King

The author of IRR, who worshipped the King, said he had the valor of Hector, the magnanimity of Achilles, the liberality of Titus, the eloquence of Nestor, and the prudence of Ulysses; that he was the equal of Alexander and not inferior to Roland. But later historians tend to picture him rather as a remorseless, kindless villain. He was probably not a pleasant or a lovable character; none of the Plantagenets were. But a great soldier and a great commander he certainly was. He possessed that one quality without which nothing else in a commander counts: the determination to win. To this everything else - mercy, moderation, tact - was sacrificed. The avarice that so horrifies his critics was not simple greed: it was a quartermaster's greed for his army. His massacre of the prisoners was not simple cruelty, but a deliberate reminder to Saladin to keep faith with the terms agreed to, which that great opponent understood and respected. — Barbara W. Tuchman

Arianne had her feet up on the table, wearing a striped conductor's cap.
Arriane was fixated on the game. A chocolate cigar bobbed between her lips as she contemplated her next move. Roland was giving Arianne the hawk eye.
"Checkmate, bitch," Arianne said triumphantly, knocking over Roland's king. — Lauren Kate

Most politicians lie for the same reason a monkey swings by his tail, which is to say because he can. — Stephen King

The woman who preaches has poison religion. Let the respectable ones go — Stephen King

Of course it's heavier, he thought. It's got my grief in it. I pull it along with me everywhere I go, so I do. — Stephen King

Woman, I'm not Roland's sister, or his daughter, either! You maybe didn't notice a small but basic difference in the color of our hides, namely his being white and mine being black. — Stephen King

I hold to no God," Roland said. "I hold to the Tower, and won't pray to that. — Stephen King

Roland's heart seemed to twist like a rag inside his chest, and there was a moment to wonder how it could possibly go on beating in the face of this. — Stephen King

Do you believe in an afterlife?" the gunslinger asked him as Brown dropped three ears of hot corn onto his plate.
Brown nodded. "I think this is it. — Stephen King

So fell Lord Perth," murmured Roland. "And the countryside did shake with that thunder," Jake finished. — Stephen King

The trap had a ghastly perfection — Stephen King

No," Roland said, "but it's a fair tale. Tell it to the end, please." Eddie did, finishing with the required They lived happily ever after, and the gunslinger nodded. "No one ever does live happily ever after, but we leave the children to find that out for themselves, don't we?" "Yeah," Jake said. — Stephen King

In the end, the wind takes everything, doesn't it? And why not? Why other? If the sweetness of our lives did not depart, there would be no sweetness at all. — Stephen King

Time's the thief of memory — Stephen King

It's a problem, isn't it?" "It's an opportunity," Roland corrected. — Stephen King

I'll loosen the ropes a bit if you'll be still," Roland told her. "Suck shit out my ass, mahfah!" "I don't understand if that means yes or no. — Stephen King