Viking Quotes

“It feels like we should do something," he said. "Like, send her off on a barge out to sea and set her on fire. Let her go out in a blaze of glory."
Chubs raised an eyebrow. "It's a minivan, not a Viking.”
― Alexandra Bracken, The Darkest Minds

“Praise not the day until evening has come, a woman until she is burnt, a sword until it is tried, a maiden until she is married, ice until it has been crossed, beer until it has been drunk.”
― Michael Crichton, Eaters of the Dead

“You'll see me differently in the morning, after I've fucked some sense into you.”
― Virginia Wade, Cum For The Viking 1

“But the attitude that Viking society held up as the ideal one was a heroic stoicism. In the words of archaeologist Neil Price, "The outcome of our actions, our fate, is already decided and therefore does not matter. What is important is the manner of our conduct as we go to meet it." You couldn't change what was going to happen to you, but you could at least face it with honor and dignity. The best death was to go down fighting, preferably with a smile on your lips. Life is precarious by nature, but this was especially true in the Viking Age, which made this fatalism, and stoicism in the face of it, especially poignant.
The model of this ideal was Odin's amassing an army in Valhalla in preparation for Ragnarok. He knew that Fenrir, "the wolf", was going to murder him one way or another. Perhaps on some level he hoped that by gathering all of the best warriors to fight alongside him, he could prevent the inevitable. But deep down he knew that his struggle was hopeless - yet he determined to struggle just the same, and to die in the most radiant blaze of glory he could muster.”
― Daniel McCoy, The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion

“The idea of fate permeated the religion of the Vikings at every turn. Everything in the universe, even the Gods, was subject to it.”
― Daniel McCoy, The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion

“Your wits do not impress me thus far.”
― Demi Winters, The Road of Bones

“The other sources, even when they mention Hel, rarely describe it. But when they do, it's cast in neutral or even positive terms. For example, the mention that the land of the dead is "green and beautiful" in Ibn Fadlan's account is mirrored in a passage from Saxo (The medieval Danish historian, as you likely recall). In Saxo's telling of the story of Hadding, the hero travels to the "Underworld" and finds a "fair land where green herbs grow when it is winter on earth." His companion even beheads a rooster just outside of that land and flings its carcass over the wall, at which point the bird cries out and comes back to life - a feat which is highly reminiscent of another detail from Ibn Fadlan, namely the beheading of a rooster and a hen whose bodies are then tossed into the dead man's boat shortly before it's set aflame. In both cases, the emphasis is on abundant life in the world of the dead, even when death and absence prevail on earth.”
― Daniel McCoy, The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion

“The male sphere of Norse shamanism consisted of the elite warrior groups known as the berserkir ("bear-shirts") and the úlfheðnar ("wolf-skins"). The berserkers (as we'll refer to the members of both of those groups for the sake of convenience), were shamans of a very different sort. After undergoing a period of rigorous training and initiation, they developed the ability to fight in an ecstatic trance that rendered them fearless - and, according to some sources, impervious to danger - while nevertheless inspiring a tremendous amount of fear in their opponents by their behavior, which was
at once animalistic and otherworldly. Perhaps needless to say, there was no ergi associated with being a berserker. Quite the opposite, in fact - the berserker was seen as something of a model of manliness.”
― Daniel McCoy, The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion

“If they Stand Behind you, Protect Them
If they Stand Beside you, Respect Them
If they Stand Against you, Defeat them”
― Viking Saying

“Mein Gott, Mrs. Windham. You may look like your Polish mother, but you have the icy heart of a fucking Viking.”
― Allie Ray, Inheritance

“With a good woman, if you wish to enjoy her words and her good will, pledge her fairly and be faithful to it: Enjoy the good you are given.”
― The Havamal

“Words – and the intentions and ideas behind them – had
the power to change physical reality, just like any other physical phenomenon.”
― Daniel McCoy, The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion

“In ‘Hakon’s of Rogen’s Saga’, I have attempted to tell the story of a boy who lived at the end of the Viking period. It was not written for ‘youth,’ in the sense that I have blunted my pen before I started. I abhor those writers who have not the skill to keep the attention of adults, and therefore think themselves equipped to write for children. I have done my best, and I leave you to be my critic.”
― Erik Christian Haugaard, Hakon of Rogen's Saga

“Then my sentence remains death and I will take it.’ Freydis said. ‘As a skjoldmoy, with a battle-axe in my hand. But I will make Valhalla a place on earth before it happens. I will make Vinland the gates to all of the Nordic Empire and they will be open for all eternity to those persecuted by these one-God heathens, wherever they may be.”
― Max Davine, Spirits of the Ice Forest

“The Pale Ones are demons,’ Wobee said. ‘Does your fire crackle with the tears of Mammasumit’s family? Does it sing to you the screams of his women as they were set upon and taken as slaves? Come more Pale Ones. Come enough that they cover the ocean. If the Great River runs red, it will be with their blood and mine.”
― Max Davine, Spirits of the Ice Forest

“The battle raged, the blood, gore and the stench of death of hundreds of the fallen, of both Saxons and Vikings permeated the air around her. With Every move Her chest guard dug painfully into her side from a gouge from a broad sword. Her helm obscured her peripheral vision as it had been her brothers, and sat awkwardly on her head due to its size. No time to catch her breath as the huge Saxon assaulted her, her shield fending off the vicious blows of his claymore. Being nearly half his size, she needed to be nimble and smart, a swift upper cut to his jaw with her shield caught him off balance, followed by a slice from her modified broad sword. The Saxon fell to his knees, allowing just enough decrease in stature for Brynhild to finish him off with a jab to the neck, arterial spray covered her face and chest.
No time to rest, the next Saxon was upon her, hacking forcefully at her shield she was sure it
would splinter. It took all her strength to maintain her footing. His attack was merciless, forcing
her to careen backwards, steel crashed against steel in a maddened melee. She feinted
left, then put all her velocity in shouldering him in his midsection, momentum taking him swiftly
to the blood sodden ground. In the distance a call to retreat was heard from the Saxon Lord,
the battle broke, the Viking horde was victorious, Brynhild slumped down a nearby tree, too
exhausted and weak to move her last conscious thought was to wonder who the strong
Shield-maiden was that gently picked her up and carried her forward.
The next thing she knew, she was in a magnificent Hall, filled with raucous laughter and the
scent of roasted boar. The sound of sword play was also heard from a nearby doorway.
Warriors sat with horns filled with mead, in earnest discourse of the battles they had fought.
A clearing of a throat brought her eyes to the great table at the head of the hall, there stood a
heavily muscled bearded, one-eyed Man, the hall was moved to silence as the great man strode
toward her.
“Welcome to Valhalla Brynhild,” he clapped a hand on her shoulder “You have fought bravely,
Please take your place among the warriors and enjoy the feast.” Shouts of Skal! filled the hall.
Happiness assailed her, resurrected, to one day fight again for Odin in the twilight of the Gods,
The Battle of Ragnarök.”
― Shelly MacDougall Tremblay

“Visvaviking (Sonnet 1504)

Smiling through my martyrdom
I took the world into my care.
Ice cold currents of catastrophe
are no match for my asgardian dare.

Swimming through a tsunami of sneer,
I found my peace in world's welfare.
Beware, o merchants of malice and hate,
Better not force your fate out of layer!

Crushing all memorials of invading scourge,
Parting the ocean to deliver from divide,
Rushing as apocalypse to right the wrong,
I am Sapiothunder to all genocidal pride.

I don't need invite from some puny paradise;
Cosmos, my Shangri-la - me, the Servant King.
Odin doesn't wait up for Valhalla to call -
Valhalla is my empire - I am Visvaviking!”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

“Arise, O Atlas (Sonnet 1100)

Vakna, Stå upp, o Modige Atlas!
Ta världen på din axel,
Förkasta allt som är ojust.

Awake, Arise, O Atlas Supreme,
Take the world on your shoulder.
Denounce all roots of hate and hurt,
Wielding your humanitarian viking thunder.

I don't write for creatures of gutter,
I write for those craving for open skies.
If you can give up your golden fancies,
I'll give you a world beyond the lies.

Despierta, levántate, oh loco amante!
El mundo entero está a tu cuidado.
Give up your aphrodisiac of wild ancestry,
Somos humanos cuando nos descubrimos en cada humano.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo

“Her every move careful not to disturb my injured chest. Then there was the way she sighed my name, quietly. Sending a different shudder through my limbs.”
― Ashley Earley, Forbidden Captive

“And I found myself wondering … if I tasted him, would my tastebuds sting with the saltiness of sand? Breath rushed out of me at the thought.”
― Ashley Earley, Forbidden Captive

“Beginning anew was the only way to have a life at all, but to avoid my old life was to abandon.”
― Ashley Earley, Forbidden Captive

“By the time her eyes found me, she couldn’t speak. I watched how the light left her crystal-blue eyes. Still, when her eyes became lifeless to the world around us, it seemed so sudden.
I didn’t care if I was showing weakness.
I let fear swallow me whole. Agony suffocating my heart, I allowed my tears to fall.”
― Ashley Earley, Forbidden Captive

“I bit back a shout as my fresh burns burst with pain. The bars dug into my back—the only part of my body that remained unharmed. Despite that, she was not touching any of my wounds. She knew where all of them were, yet she wasn’t digging into them to get me to submit—like her red-cloaked companion surely would have if their places had been reversed.”
― Ashley Earley, Forbidden Captive

“When I had taken the whip to the Viking, my mind had clouded. Anger had corrupted my thoughts—claimed my body and mind. Losing myself to the harsh emotion had scared me. I felt like the bloodthirsty beast the Viking saw whenever he looked at me, and I never wanted to be that.”
― Ashley Earley, Forbidden Captive

“My mind was still reeling from having saved her. I was not entirely sure why I had acted so irrationally. Something had just … snapped. When it came down to it, I couldn’t let her die. I was unable to take her life, and I couldn’t walk away when another had tried.”
― Ashley Earley, Forbidden Captive

“I wanted to eliminate what remained of curses and judgment and the hatred we had been spat our whole lives. Because this—this was something I could not ignore. This was something bigger than I could explain. And I was more than confident I was not the only one who felt such an urge for the forbidden.”
― Ashley Earley, Forbidden Captive

“Closing in, I moved from behind to loop around the trees beside him, knowing once we reached the small clearing ahead, there would be nothing to separate us. Once he broke into the moonlight, there would be nowhere for him to hide.”
― Ashley Earley, Forbidden Captive

“I swallowed the repulsion of having her so close, my fingers eager for the ax lying just out of reach.”
― Ashley Earley, Forbidden Captive

“I needed to hear her, to know she was here. But I couldn’t reach her—couldn’t open my eyes to search for her. The aching pang had me trapped in the fog of my mind, keeping me from reaching her through the haze.”
― Ashley Earley, Forbidden Captive

“It had taken me a while to realize she was beautiful. But once I got up close to her, once I spent so much time around her, finding those sharp, green eyes watching me with a threat or the spark of something else—there was no going back. I had broken through her barriers and my own prejudices, and there was no undoing it.”
― Ashley Earley, Forbidden Captive