David Gemmel

"Foolish: It's all foolish. Life is a farce— a stupid, sickening farce played out by fools."

"I don't think I would be too comfortable with many of his compliments ... He's a butcher!" "More than that, my friend ... he is a warmaster. And that makes him a master butcher."

Most of the heroes we remember—we remember only because they won. To win you must be ruthless. Single-minded ... which was why he had no friends—just admirers.

It is easier with strangers, for they touch your life but for an instant. You will not disappoint them, for you owe them nothing; neither do they expect anything. Friends you can hurt, for they expect everything.

"I underestimated you, woman." ... "The cry of men down the ages."

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

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.

...love is in the eyes, and one woman knows when another woman is in love.

Rubbish! ... No man fights for dirt and grass. No, nor mountains. Those mountains were here before the fall and they will be here when the world topples again.

Too many people go through life without pausing to enjoy what they have.

No matter how impossible this war, I shall fight to win. Whatever I have to do, I will do.

Women were strange creatures. They fell in love with a man and then sought to change him. Mostly they succeed - to spend the rest of their lives wondering how they could have married such boring conformists.