Medieval Fantasy Quotes & Sayings

The battered and pathetic thing that represented any claim to conscience I might have had turned away from me in disgust. Oddly, I couldn't blame it. I was disgusted myself. Disgusted at my weakness and my lack of resolution, at my refusal to see justice through in the name of the woman who had borne me. — Peter David

Only in this world of topsy-turvy attitudes could outright stupidity, such as I had displayed, be something that got me high marks. I had an amused glimmering of a notion at that point: If I ever turned out to be a complete and utter fool, I could wind up running the whole kingdom. It was something to consider. — Peter David

Some time later, I sat in the wine cellar, staring at the walls while cradling a wineskin in my lap like a child, murmuring over and over as if lulling the child to sleep, 'I am shat upon. I am shat upon'. — Peter David

You have to hold on and be patient. Pain lasts for a while, but you must leave room for happiness when you find it. — S.N. Lemoing

Ah, life in medieval times! Yeah, we only have to worry about losing our heads every day. — David Kuklis

Emmerich's heart in his throat, he could only stare down at Monica, who looked up at him with glassy eyes as she shivered with pain and choked on blood. — Suzanna J. Linton

Everyone in the '80s was reading Tolkien; he invented this whole medieval fantasy genre. — William Kircher

How do you explain plastic to a medieval forest bard? — Jefferson Smith

Thus Arthur achieved the adventure of the sword that day and entered into his birthright of royalty. Wherefore, may God grant His Grace unto you all that ye too may likewise succeed in your undertakings. For any man may be a king in that life in which he is placed if so he may draw forth the sword of success from out of the iron of circumstance. Wherefore when your time of assay cometh, I do hope it may be with you as it was with Arthur that day, and that ye too may achieve success with entire satisfaction unto yourself and to your great glory and perfect happiness. — Howard Pyle

The tall, thin serious man strode in, his dark cloak billowing so dramatically it threatened to extinguish the lamp flame with its draught. He advanced like a malevolent shadow consuming the dim orange light, filling the room with a presence almost more than human. — Gregory Figg

Does it make you brave to stick your hand in a bear's mouth? Would you do it again just because you didn't die? — Robert Jordan

Part of the appeal of fantasy for me is that I don't get bored. If I want to write quasi-Medieval, that's what I write. If I feel like doing contemporary for a while, then I'll do it. — Melanie Rawn

The flames of the fire leapt up and surrounded her, consuming her, becoming her. Heat filled and flushed her, breaking the bottle and she soared up and up. She came to stand in a sun's center. But that even faded and she rode pillion with Emmerich as he crossed the field on his black battle charger, her hands gripping his sides. The edges of his chain-mail bit into her skin and she could hear his labored breath. She could smell his particular scent: horse and leather, sweat and musk. Men roared like the ocean and rushed like waves to slam against the opposing force meeting them outside the walls. — Suzanna J. Linton

it's the way he uses language - which is nothing like the way fantasists used language before him. There's no sense of nostalgia. There's no medieval floridness. There's no fairy tale condescension to the child reader. It's very straight, and very clean - there's no Vaseline on the lens. You see everything clearly, not with sparkles or a flowery sense of wonderment, but with very specific physical details. — Joe Fassler

How gorgeous this chess set is.' Each piece was a delicate marble fantasy of medieval warfare. The paint had long ago worn off, except for faint touches of red, in the fury of the king's eyes, on the queen's lower lip, in the bishop's robe. — Eloisa James

Look, I don't have a problem with medieval Europe. I have a problem with modern fantasy's fetishization of medieval Europe; that's different. So many fantasy writers and fans simplify the social structure of the period, monotonize the cultural interactions, treat conflicts as binaries instead of the complicated dynamic tapestry they actually were. They're not doing medieval Europe, they're doing Simplistic British Isles Fantasy Full of Lots of Guys with Swords And Not Much Else. Not all medieval European fantasy does this, of course - but enough does that frankly, they've turned me off the setting. — N.K. Jemisin

In the Middle Ages, the troubadour poets invented the concept of courtly love
a fantasy love, a noble passion, which was also extra-marital and thus inevitably thwarted, illicit, adulterous. One of the medieval terms for it was amour honestus (honest love). I've always wondered why this passionate ideal
masochistic, spiritual-travelled with such wildfire throughout Europe. My poem, a ghazal, takes up the subject. — Edward Hirsch

In retrospect, I would have to recommend against epiphanies. They are difficult on an emotional level, and they also sometimes move you to foolish and inopportune acts, which was what happened in my case. — Peter David

What kind of person do you wish to be? A part of those who take action, who try the hardest, or of those who go with the flow? — S.N. Lemoing

Noblest. Bravest. What rot. There was no bravery in buying oneself out of difficulty. — Peter David

A generation of lawyers and statisticians cut their teeth on the to-hit and damage tables of medieval fantasy. File it under yet another ridiculous thing that probably saved somebody's life. — Austin Grossman

There are some for whom the good of mankind is their primary concern, and others who basically put their own considerations before everyone else. I was among the latter. — Peter David

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast. — Robert Jordan

Once again I felt light-headed, but this time it wasn't from the scent of lilacs; it was from the scent of my own death. — Peter David

A bit of fantasy can be good for ones heart — Sylvia Abolis Mennear

I beg your pardon. Sometimes, it's true I can be stubborn.'
'Sometimes?' she added derisively.
'Quite often,' he tempered. — S.N. Lemoing

Unfortunately, the world does not always act in a manner consistent with one's plans for it. — Peter David

Oh-ho, so you are a witch. More like a witchling, as you're too small to be a full witch." (Emmerich) — Suzanna J. Linton

I remember so many things [. . .] The problem is, only half of them are true . . . and the half which is true keeps changing places with the half which is false. — Peter David

he said this turning his strong body to face the beautiful, stunning, breathtaking, astonishing, bewildering girl who was a princess and his one true love, Eodwyn. she had hair like raven wings and skin like snow that the dogs haven't peed on yet and cheeks like cherry blossoms and eyes like a magnificent summer sky. — J.K. Ashton

So many of the fantasy stories I encountered growing up were set in worlds that were largely modelled on medieval Europe in one way or another. Lots of white folks in feudal societies, castles and kings, that kind of thing. — Chris Roberson

'Game of Thrones' is a fantasy show not dedicated to any specific time, but it seems to exist in sort of a 1400s medieval fantasy world, and in that setting, I wouldn't have had a six-pack. — Gwendoline Christie

Lack of movement is a formidable force to overcome. — Peter David

It seemed to me that, no matter what endeavor I was involved in, I was to be something of a sham. — Peter David

What was once your crown will now be your collar, and you will wear it until you learn what it is to submit. — Ava Sinclair

Gavin scratched his head, idly wondering what his father would tell him right about then. Probably steal the slave and run. Father's solution was always to steal and run. But he had a job to finish.
"All right," he said finally, "here's what we'll do. We'll pretend this night didn't happen."
That earned another sarcastic look. — Suzanna J. Linton

I guess it really had been brave . . . because it was so bugger-all stupid, and if there was one thing I'd come to realize, ti was that bravery and bugger-all stupidity went hand in hand. — Peter David

Before she could let herself think, Clara burst from the door and bolted for the table. People just began turning when she grasped the guest and shoved him to the ground, the chair flying backwards. Wine and food spilled everywhere as he flung out his arms. For a moment, she felt a swift pressure, as if her hair was being pulled, before strong hands gripped her, flinging her to the floor. A boot pressed into her back and she felt the cold tip of blade on her neck above her slave's collar. — Suzanna J. Linton

All people are, at heart, egocentric. We exist at the center of our own little universes. We believe that we are living out our lives as best we can, and that we have our own sphere of influence which exists of both friends and enemies. They in turn have their own friends and enemies with whom they interact. That is a given. But we, each of us, tend to put ourselves ahead of others because we believe that we are significant. We must attend to our own needs, desires, wants, and aspirations, because each of us is our own greatest priority. No one else cares for us as much as we do, no one else can exist in our skin. We think we're important. It is where our sense of self-worth comes up, where our egos reside, where "we" are. And we believe that each of our lives means something. — Peter David

It is dangerous to become attached to a du Lac. He will break your heart, and you will not recover. — Mary Anne Yarde

Are you educated in the art of medicine?" Yeah, the art of Walgreens and Urgent Care. "A bit," I hedged. — Lisa T Bergren

Apropos, you're going to have to learn to sooner or later that you can't just let other people decide what the world around you should and shouldn't be. — Peter David

Youth believes itself immortal. There is a cure for such an attitude, but unfortunately it is a cure from which one never recovers. — Peter David

Life was a destiny waiting to be seized. — Karen Azinger