David Gemmell Quotes

Plan for the worst, expect the best.

[H]e who fears to lose will never win.

Never let anger, or outrage, or fear affect you. That is easy advice to give, but hard to follow. Men will bait you, they will laugh at you, they will jeer. But it is just noise, Kiall. They will hurt the people you love. They will do anything to make you angry or emotional. But the only way you can make them suffer is to win. And to do that you must remain cool.

I am not a hero; I am a soldier. When the battle is lost, I retreat and regroup; when the war is over, I lay down my sword. No last dashing charge; no futile last stand!

War. What was it about the prospect of some bloody enterprises that reduced men to the level of animals?

It is not hard to change when your biggest problem is whether the weeds prosper in a vegetable patch.

What do you mean, why? Is it not obvious? What is life but a betrayal? We start out young, full of hope. The sun is good; the world awaits us. But every passing year shows how small you are, how insignificant against the power of the seasons. Then you age. Your strength fails, and the world laughs at you through the jeers of younger men. And you die. Alone. Unfulfilled. But sometimes ... sometimes there will come a man who is not insignificant. He can change the world, rob the seasons of their power. He is the sun.

A man should not risk his life for beauty alone, Kiall, for that fades. You might as well risk it for a rose. Think on it.

The nature of a coward is to avoid death. If such a man courts peril there can be only two reasons. Either he is not a coward at all — or there is no danger.

Never be glad that another man has died. Not ever. [...] It never ends. Never ... ever ... be glad to kill.

We sit here safe, within a circle of swords held by other men.

One hundred only, Lord Earl. But judge us not by our number. Rather, watch the numbers of dead we leave behind.

But from now on act the part. You will be amazed at the number of people you fool. Don't share your doubts! Life is a game, Scaler. Play it like that.

I never worshipped anything but my sword and my wits; now I suffer for it. But I can take it, for am I not a man? ... It is not hard to be a legend, Tenaka. It is what follows when you have to live like one.

This bow I held had killed many men, and it had power, dread power, in its ebony stock.