Top 15 David Eddings Quotes

Why must they always set fires?" Bheid asked Althalus as the two of them stood on the portico of the temple waiting and watching the columns of smoke rising from various quarters of the city. "I'm not really sure, Bheid," Althalus confessed. "It might just be accidental. Looters are usually fairly excited, and sometimes they get careless. My best guess, though, is that the fires are being set deliberately to punish the noblemen for their bad habits." "That's pure stupidity, Althalus," Bheid objected. "Of course it is. It's the nature of mobs to be stupid. A mob's only as clever as its stupidest member.

I’ve seen this all before, Althalus ... many, many times. An idea that’s born in glory starts to tarnish almost immediately.

The theorists make high-minded speeches. Their followers cheer and applaud—briefly—and then they get back to the business of appropriating everything of value.

Surely you don't agree with that apostate!"
"I was talking about his skill, not his message, Aleikon ... He's good. There's no question about that.

When some idiot jumps up and starts shouting, ‘My God’s better than your God,’ I don’t pay very much attention—except to hide my purse.

I've looked deeply into the hearts of my fellow men, [...] and to be honest with you, I'd rather look into a cesspool.

What's really going on in Perquaine?"
"A peasant rebellion—at least on the surface."
Albron shook his head mournfully. "The lowlanders just don't understand ordinary people, do they?"
"They haven't got a clue. The aristocrats spend so much time admiring themselves in their mirrors that they don't pay much attention to the commoners. From what I've heard, these rebellions break out every ten years or so. You'd think that after five or six times, the aristocrats might start to realize that they're doing something wrong."
"I certainly hope not. If the lowlanders start behaving like rational human beings, the clans of Arum are going to be out of work.

The Queen of Night was in full voice when Althalus and the others reached the battlements on the eastern side of the city, and her catapults were hurling boulders at the walls of Mawor with a monotonous thudding sound. “I’m starting to get a bellyful of that,” Duke Nitral growled. “I spent a fortune on that marble sheathing on the outer wall, and she’s breaking it all to pieces with those accursed engines. Excuse me, gentlemen. I’m going to do something about that right now.” He went on down the parapet to a cluster of peculiar-looking engines. “What are those things?” Eliar asked curiously.
“Nitral calls them arbalests,” Koleika replied. “They’re sort of an oversized bow. They’ll throw a spear for half a mile. Nitral and I’ve come up with a way to make life very interesting for those catapult crews out there.”
Duke Nitral barked a sharp command to the men around the arbalests, and a sheet of spears trailing fire shot out in long arcs from the high walls of Mawor.

You don't have to be so apologetic with me, Bheid," Althalus told him. "I'm very tolerant about things like that. I gather that your murderers are on a salary of some kind?" "A yearly retainer with a bonus for each murder, yes." "Then they aren't just assorted fanatics who kill for their God?" "Good heavens no! Fanatics want to be captured and executed. That makes them martyrs, and martyrs are rewarded in heaven. Our assassins are thoroughgoing professionals who never get caught." "Good policy. Never hire amateurs when you can get professionals.

I'll need a few kegs of your gold, though," he added.
Althalus shrugged. "I had a feeling that might crop up."
"'Money makes the mare go,'" Kreuter quoted.
"Wouldn't she settle for oats?"
"She might, but I won't.

A good soldier avoids politics and religion, but if all you want me to do is spank them and send them home, we’ll do it that way.

You don't carry spears or bows?"
"They'd just get in the way, sir. A sling doesn't weigh hardly anything, and you can find good rocks anywhere."
"I thought the sling was just a child's toy."
"Oh, no, Sergeant Khalor," Althalus told him. "I carried a sling for years myself when I was younger. It kept me eating on a regular basis."
"Could a man kill a horse with one?"
"Easily. The bone between a horse's eyes isn't very thick. I haven't used a sling for a long time, but I'm fairly certain I could drop a horse in midstride from a hundred paces."
"That's a little hard to swallow, Althalus."
"I've taken rabbits at fifty paces — and a horse is quite a bit bigger than a rabbit.

The prosperity of all Arum might well hinge upon what we do here in this day... [If] Arum Chiefs are dishonorable men, who will ever come to these sacred mountains again with gold to deal with us? Take less, my sons, that ye may gain more.

Astonishing!" Andine said in mock amazement. "Everybody says that making speeches is difficult. I didn't seem to have any trouble at all."
"Any speech goes over better with musical accompaniment, Andine," Leitha suggested. "And Eliar plays the gold keg like a world-renowned virtuoso." "It's the most beautiful music I've ever heard," Koleika said fervently. "I'm glad I stayed for the concert.

I wouldn't have any trouble working for a woman," Chief Gweti bleated, "as long as she's rich enough. I'd work for a rich goat, if he offered me enough gold.