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

Life is nothing unless death has been faced down.

“I understand why some men become soldiers: to protect the nation and all that. But a whole race of people living to be soldiers seems … unhealthy. Does that sound right?”“Indeed it sounds right. But the northern steppes make poor farmland. Mainly they breed goats and ponies. Any luxuries they desire, they must steal.”

When your life has been spent in one war after another for forty-five years, you have to be pretty handy to survive.