Ian C. Esslemont > Quotes

“When you do not recognize the wrongs of the past, the future takes its revenge. -Author forgotten”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Stonewielder

“I've come to understand that the truth isn't really what's important...what really matters is what people agree is the truth. -Greymane”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Stonewielder

“It takes an unusually philosophic mind to accept that all one’s suffering might be to no end, really, in the larger scheme of things.”
― Ian Cameron Esslemont, Stonewielder

“Battle is for an army to win or lose; war is for civilization to win or lose.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Return of the Crimson Guard

“Memories are not the truth of the past. We sculpt them to suit our images of our present selves. And, in any case, the truth of then is not the truth of now.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Blood and Bone

“The truth was, most people simply weren’t worth one’s attention. *”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Dancer's Lament

“Xethel laughed again, though rather nervously this time. ‘Then I name you Amman-an-ash. The One Who Would Know Everything.’ She nodded in Dancer’s direction. ‘And you I name Coth-tel-ish-ath. The One Who Watches and Judges.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Deadhouse Landing

“Paradise would be a city where pearls cobble roads and gems serve as playthings for children. And why? Not because all will be so wealthy, but because its citizens will have recognized that such things truly are toys.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Orb Sceptre Throne

“Be not too rigid, For you will shatter; Be not too yielding, For you will be bowed.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Stonewielder

“Do not apologize. Offer sarcasm.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Return of the Crimson Guard

“Reaching out for companionship – for a human touch – is not a mistake. Withholding such a thing is the mistake.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Assail

“And that just makes it all the harder, doesn’t it? Not being special. Not having that funny mark or that omen at your birth. Just an ordinary person asked to step up to do the extraordinary.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Stonewielder

“You're right that it's worthless. All coins are worthless. It's just that some are worth less than others.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Stonewielder

“when you think everyone around you is mad, that’s then you should start to suspect it’s actually you.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Orb Sceptre Throne

“Perhaps it is the case that no organization or hierarchy can withstand the closest of scrutiny. Not even a smugly self-touted meritocracy. The success and persistence of utter fools everywhere is sad testament to that.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Blood and Bone

“He knew that music spoke to the emotions, not the intellect. The heart was where people truly lived, and died. He also knew that this magic that music and poetry were said to possess was the power to touch that heart.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Assail

“Women are terrifying to men,’ he whispered, ‘because they can break them with the simplest word or briefest glance.’

Now she smiled. ‘Not if they care for them.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Assail

“The problem with paths is that once you have chosen one, You cannot choose the others. Attributed to Gothos”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Orb Sceptre Throne

“Only way to sustain anything, to build anything, is to give! You understand me, girl? Give and give of y’self till there’s nothing left to give! Only then can you have something! If you take, you diminish things till there’s nothing left. If you give, you provide and things grow! Yes?”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Orb Sceptre Throne

“When you do not recognize the wrongs of the past, the future takes its revenge.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Stonewielder

“Jakatakan. Ancient isle. The mythical island beyond the Riders.’ She addressed the others. ‘But not so mythical, yes?’
‘Until they came,’ breathed Sister Esa.
‘And what name did they come bearing?’ Sister Gosh demanded.
‘The name of the Island of the House of Death,’ said Totsin.
‘Malaz,’ said Carfin, facing outward to the night.
‘They are coming,’ affirmed Sister Gosh.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Stonewielder

“If you corner him there will be bloodshed. And I do not like bloodshed.’
Dorin arched a brow. ‘Really. You don’t like bloodshed.’
‘No. It’s messy and unsophisticated. There are better ways of doing things.’
‘Such as?’
Wu brightened, flashed his yellowed crooked teeth. ‘My ways. Lying, trickery, deceit, cheating, or just plain patience. He will come to us.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Dancer's Lament

“The superstitions of the ignorant are no concern of mine.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Deadhouse Landing

“Tyranny remains because the weak and fearful seek it.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Orb Sceptre Throne

“So he was finished with Dorin. He was not the lad he’d been when he’d entered the city. Not that he’d been some green farmhand, but he’d been untested, unbloodied . . . unready.
Not so now. Dorin was done.
Hard lessons luckily survived had put an end to that lad and his dreams. A transition from which a good few do not emerge alive. But necessary, if hard. The city had cut away the untried Dorin and trampled his dreams into the mud and the mire.
He was Dancer now, and Dancer from now on.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Dancer's Lament

“Ware the cold, human. Ware the ice that grips. The frost that silences.”
― Ian C. Esslemont

“Actions not dedicated to a higher purpose are meaningless,”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Orb Sceptre Throne

“Kruppe wonders now, in the presentsight, as it were – or is it is? – what pedestrian activities or seemingly innocuous events will, in the hindsight of the future, be seen to be foreshadowings of the grievous event which may, or may not, come to pass, and which, by the forewarning, may thusly be headed off.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Orb Sceptre Throne

“The Malazan way,’ he breathed. ‘The murderer’s touch. A brush of cloth. A sip of wine. The gleam of a blade as fine as a snake’s tooth. Your name whispered just as you fall into sleep.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Night of Knives

“Truth tellers were never welcome; most especially one’s own. Better to be a storyteller – they at least have grasped the essential truth that everyone prefers lies.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, Stonewielder