Scott Lynch Quotes

Damn it, when will you learn that refusing to admit you’ve lost isn’t the same as winning?

Only gods-damned fools die for lines drawn on maps.

Liquor does this? Even after you're sober?
A cruel joke, isn't it? The gods put a price tag on everything, it seems.

Gods, all this maneuvering for moral advantage. You’d think we were married.

Better to say nothing and be thought a fool, said Amarelle, than to interfere in the business of wizards and remove all doubt.

I never even liked cats all that much.
Surely you realize, said Patience, that cats are no great respecters of human opinion.

Nikoros, your job this afternoon is to say yes to anything that comes out of my mouth. The more you rehearse this, the sooner it'll become a smooth mechanical process allowing no time for painful reflection. Can you practice for me?
Yes.
You're a natural.

Time went by with all the speed of a sleepless night.

By rights he was still outrunning his age, still ahead of most men nearing threescore years, but he knew deep in his heart that there would never be any way of running fast enough.

“What’s your hand [of cards] look like?“
“A parched desert...How’s yours?“
“A wasteland of bitter frustration.“

“I suspect that drink has made you impulsive.“
“Drink makes me see funny; the gods made me impulsive.“

The trouble with creating military dictators, Locke reflected, was getting rid of them after the immediate crisis was past.

I find it best to make corpses of complications.

“That’s a sweet piece,“ said Jean, briefly forgetting to be aggravated. “You didn’t snatch that off a street.“
“No,“ said Locke, before taking another deep draught of the warm water in the decanter. “I got it from the neck of the governor’s mistress.“
“You can’t be serious.“
“In the governor’s manor.“
“Of all the—“
“In the governor’s bed.“
“Damned lunatic!“
“With the governor sleeping next to her...It is possible,“ said Locke with a sheepish grin, “that I have been slightly too bold.“

Hard lessons were handed out. As many men learned to their sorrow, it’s impossible to be intimidating when one angry woman has your cock between her teeth and another is holding a stiletto to your kidneys.