David Gemmell Quotes
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When your life has been spent in one war after another for forty-five years, you have to be pretty handy to survive.
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Self-preservation is a paramount desire in all of us. Good and evil are interchangeable. When the wolves pull down a fawn I don't doubt the doe would consider it an evil act. For the wolves it is a necessity, and they would see the arrival of fresh meat as good.
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None of us can choose the manner of our passing.
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'I have no wish to argue, Father. Yet it must be said that the monks exist here in peace and security only because of the swords of the defenders. I do not belittle your views — I wish all men shared them. But they do not. ... if all men and women lived as you and I, there would be no children, and no humanity. What then would be the Will of the Source?'
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Come back and stand with us, lad. We will all go down together—that's what makes us who we are.
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I think maybe it is better to believe than not to believe. But I couldn't tell you why.
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If you look at any ancient civilization, they've all used fantasy stories to train the young.
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Liberty is only valued when it is threatened, therefore it is the threat that highlights the value. We should be grateful to the Nadir, since they heighten the value of our liberty.
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In any broth, the scum always rises to the top.
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A man with wife and daughters has no place losing his temper.
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Your men are brave men, And you have won. I can live with that, Earl of Bronze — a poor man would I be if I could not.
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A man's strength is ultimately born of his knowledge of his own weakness ...
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Societies need heroes. So we travel to places where the revisionists cannot dismantle the great.
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Fear is a great ally.
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There is only one way to survive in war, and that is by being willing to die. You will find soon that swordsmen can be downed by untutored savages who would slice their fingers if asked to carve meat. And why? because the savage is willing. Worse, he may be a baresark.
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Many fantasy novels - 'Lord of the Rings', for instance, or 'Lavondyss' by Robert Holdstock - are beautifully written. Geoff Ryman's 'The Child Garden' is exquisite and utterly beguiling. Mervyn Peake's 'Gormenghast' trilogy is an astonishing piece of multi-faceted storytelling. So quality of writing does not condemn the genre.
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I am not going to talk about patriotism, duty, liberty, and the defense of freedom — because that's all dung to a soldier.
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You may think life is sweet now, but when death is a heartbeat away then life becomes unbearably desirable. And when you survive, everything you do will be enhanced and filled with greater joy: the sunlight, the breeze, a good wine, a woman's lips, a child's laughter.
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This is the real magic of fantasy fiction: it can feed souls and change lives.
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A man should be free to do what he wants to do, as long as it doesn't hurt others.
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Each man has a breaking point, no matter how strong his spirit. Somewhere, deep inside him, there is a flaw that only the fickle cruelty of fate can find.
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'I thought you were the best,' she chided. 'Fathers always seem that way,' he said dryly. 'But no. With bow or knife I am superb. But with the sword? only excellent.' 'And so modest. Is there anything at which you do not excel?'
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...the baresark loses all fear; his method is all-out attack, and invariably he takes his opponent with him even if he falls.
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A friend in need is a friend to be avoided.