Ben > Ben's Quotes

“Love is not a list.”
― Mark Lawrence, The Broken Empire Trilogy: Prince of Thorns / King of Thorns / Emperor of Thorns

“Against one perfect moment, the centuries beat in vain.”
― Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time

“Perhaps we look at others and see only the things we don’t have.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“Anything I had to say seemed shallow beside the depth of his grief. Words are awkward tools at best, too blunt for delicate tasks.”
― Mark Lawrence, The Liar's Key

“All the world and more has rushed eternity’s length to reach this beat of your heart, screaming down the years. And if you let it, the universe, without drawing breath, will press itself through this fractured second and race to the next, on into a new eternity. Everything that is, the echoes of everything that ever was, the roots of all that will ever be, must pass through this moment that you own. Your only task is to give it pause—to make it notice.”
― Mark Lawrence, Red Sister

“Evil turned out not to be a grand thing. Not sneering Emperors with their world-conquering designs. Not cackling demons plotting in the darkness beyond the world. It was small men with their small acts and their small reasons. It was selfishness and carelessness and waste. It was bad luck, incompetence, and stupidity. It was violence divorced from conscience or consequence. It was high ideals, even, and low methods.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Red Country

“Some men name their swords. I've always found that a strange affection. If I had to call it something I would all it "Sharp”
― Mark Lawrence, King of Thorns

“War, my friends, is a thing of beauty. Those as says otherwise are losing.”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

“I’m a liar and a cheat and a coward, but I will never, ever, let a friend down. Unless of course not letting them down requires honesty, fair play, or bravery.”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Fools

“A strange thing — nails will hold a building together, but there's nothing better for taking a man apart.”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

“People have often accused me of inconsistency but i feel that i have always, at any given junction, done the same thing. Exactly what i pleased.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Red Country

“Some pain you can distance yourself from, but a headache sits right where you live.”
― Mark Lawrence, King of Thorns

“Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.
No one ever said elves are nice.
Elves are bad.”
― Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

“Tell me, tutor,' I said. 'Is revenge a science, or an art?”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

“When they killed him, Mother wouldn't hold her peace, so they slit her throat. I was stupid then, being only nine, and I fought to save them both. But the thorns held me tight. I've learned to appreciate thorns since. The thorns taught me the game. They let me understand what all those grim and serious men who've fought the Hundred War have yet to learn. You can only win the game when you understand that it IS a game. Let a man play chess, and tell him that every pawn is his friend. Let him think both bishops holy. Let him remember happy days in the shadows of his castles. Let him love his queen. Watch him loose them all.”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

“You can only win the game when you understand that it is a game. Let a man play chess, and tell him that every pawn is his friend. Let him think both bishops holy. Let him remember happy days in the shadows of his castles. Let him love his queen. Watch him lose them all.”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

“Belief without evidence is the very hallmark of the savage.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Red Country

“You got responsibilities when you’re a leader. You got a responsibility not to kill too many of your men. Or who’re you going to lead?”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

“She had the eyes of everyone who ever cared.”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

“Gomst's mouth framed a 'no', but every other muscle in him said 'yes'. You'd think priests would be better liars, what with their jobs and all.”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

“In the end it seems we're just toys, easy to break and hard to mend.”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

“That's not a plan. That's a way to get a death so famously stupid that they'll be laughing about it in alehouses for a hundred years to come," Makin said.”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

“In a duel, man to man, sword against sword, it can be a lack of skill that gets you killed. Often as not, though, it'll be a matter of luck, or if it goes on too long, then it'll be the man who tires first that tends to die.
In the end it's about staying power. They should put that on headstones, "Got tired.”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

“A man who’s got no fear is missing a friend, Jorg,”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

“Father Gomst will pray for your soul,” I said. “And forgive me the sins I incur in detaching it from your body.”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

“Go fuck yourself,' I said. I kept it pleasant.”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

“Brother Gains wasn’t the cook because he was good at cooking. He was just bad at everything else.”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

“Let a man play chess, and tell him that every pawn is his friend. Let him think both bishops holy. Let him remember happy days in the shadows of his castles. Let him love his queen. Watch him lose them all.”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

“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, Red Country

“There is no evil, Makin,” I said. “There’s the love of things, power, comfort, sex, and there’s what men are willing to do to satisfy those lusts.”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns