# Quote — David Gemmell, The Swords of Night and Day

> We are closest to life when we are vying with death ... The blood runs hot, the air smells sweet, the sky becomes an unbearably beautiful blue. Battle is intoxicating. That is why the ghastly vileness of war has always been so popular.

- Author: [David Gemmell](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-gemmell.md)
- Book: [The Swords of Night and Day](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-gemmell/the-swords-of-night-and-day.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Gemmell#The_Swords_of_Night_and_Day) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-gemmell/the-swords-of-night-and-day/we-are-closest

## More from this book

> All legends have a base in fact.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-gemmell/the-swords-of-night-and-day/all-legends-have.md)

> In my experience all women deserve someone better.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-gemmell/the-swords-of-night-and-day/in-my-experience.md)

> It is the curse of absolute power, Olek. There is no one to admonish you, no laws save those you make. We like to believe there is something special, even alien, about evil. We like to think that tyrants are different from the rest of us. That they are somehow inhuman. They are not. They are merely unchained, unfettered; free to do as they please.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-gemmell/the-swords-of-night-and-day/it-is-the.md)