Life is nothing unless death has been faced down. — David Gemmell

“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.”

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

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