Barry Mann

“He told them that going willingly to their deaths in Christ’s name was a sure path to salvation. Of course, it was one thing for Bernard to write this, theorizing a thousand miles from the Holy Land and glorifying in a martyrdom he would never himself experience. It was quite another for a band of ninety Templars, called from their castle and told to attack against impossible odds, to swallow down their fear and do it. Yet they did.”
― Dan Jones, The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors

“Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the Apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, ‘Give me also this power, that any one on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.’ But Peter said to him, ‘May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!”
― Robert Harris, Conclave

“Last night there seemed to be a chance. Anything was possible last night. That was the trouble with last nights. They were always followed by this mornings.”
― Terry Pratchett, Small Gods

“Winners never talk about glorious victories. That’s because they’re the ones who see what the battlefield looks like afterward. It’s only the losers who have glorious victories.”
― Terry Pratchett, Small Gods