Anthony Ryan Quotes

I was a slave, but never a fool. This empire is vast beyond imagining and we have killed only a fraction of the force they will bring against us. They will kill us, all of us, for we are slaves and we cannot be allowed even the barest hope of freedom. Without us, they have no empire.

is just a word. You can't eat it or drink it and yet everywhere I go men talk of it endlessly, and they all tell a different tale of what it actually means. For the Alpirans it's all about duty, the Renfaelins think it's the same as courage. In these islands it appears it means killing a son for a crime committed by his father then slaughtering a helpless man when the pantomime fails to go to plan.

a White breathing fire on a group of Spoiled kneeling in obvious supplication. An egg bathed in fire and cracking open to reveal the screaming infant Black inside, the flames fading to reveal an old man in a robe staring down at the fledgling drake with the expression of a proud father.

Leadership is not learned by watching your brothers beat each other bloody. Nor is it learned by letting them fail their tests.

Tell me, do you really believe all this tripe you spout?" There was no venom in Nortah's tone, just vague curiosity. "We call each other brothers but we share no blood. We're just boys forced together by this Order. Don't you ever wonder what it would have been like if we had met on the outside? Would we have been friends then, or enemies? Our fathers were enemies, did you know that?

It was as if hardship bred indifference.

Caenis surveyed the celebrating crowd with naked disgust. Vaelin couldn't hear the word he mouthed but the shape of his lips carried the meaning clearly enough: "Scum.

Herlia, goddess of justice, weeping as she passes her first judgement (...) She fell in love with a mortal man, but his passion for her drove him to commit a terrible crime and so she judged him, consigning him to the depths of the earth, chained to a rock, where his flesh is eternally eaten by vermin (...) Indeed, he stole a magic sword and with it slew a god, thinking him a rival for her affections. In fact he was her brother, Ixtus, god of dreams. now, whenever we suffer nightmares it is the shade of the fallen god taking his revenge on mortal kind.

My finest student, and also my greatest disappointment.

War is never good for commerce. Lest your trading in steel o'course.

Wise Bear said something in his own language, mouth twisting in disgust as if the words stained his tongue. He caught Vaelin's enquiring gaze and provided a terse translation, "Cat People.

I pray you weep no more my love, let no tears fall for my demise, lift your face to the sky above, and let the sun dry your eyes...

Courage?" I gave a very soft laugh. "I find courage is just another of life's illusions. In the end, we all do what we must.

A fool is any man who doesn't think he's a fool.

I have no need for riches, Highness. I can't be bought either.

They are hung from the walls whilst still alive and left to starve to death. Their tongues are cut so their screams will not disturb passerby. This is done purely because they follow a different faith (...) I told you I had been all over this world. The are countless faiths, countless gods. There are more ways to honour the divine than there are stars in the sky.

Is that what I've been doing all these years? cutting my path though life? All the blood spilled and lives taken, just verses in a song?

It's a rare man who can guard against beauty.

Nature has a voice (...) Learn to hear it and you'll never be lost and no man will ever take you unawares.

War is always an adventure to those who've never seen it.

Speaking it aloud would reveal the absurdity of it, and he preferred the dream.

Have we freed this man or cursed him?" he wondered aloud.
"Freedom is never a curse, brother," Thirty-four insisted. "But it is often a hard road.

Ignorant people will believe anything if they're scared enough.

If Caenis had been here, he could have named all the constellations but Vaelin could pick out only a few of the more obvious ones: the Sword, the Stag, the Maiden. Caenis had told him of a legend that claimed the first souls of the Departed has cast the stars into the sky from the Beyond as a gift for the generations to come, making patterns to guide the living through the path of life.

For a moment he was lost in the scent and the closeness of her, the grief and self-loathing vanished by this new intimacy. He knew he should tell her to stop, that this was inappropriate, but found himself too intoxicated to care.

A man doesn't know his true strength until he fears for his life

Lord Antesh," Uncle Sentes said. "I see no recognisable flag of truce, do you?" Antesh pursed his lips and shook his head. "Can't say as I do, my lord." "Well then." ". . . swift transportation to any land of your choice," the Volarian was saying, the scroll held in front of his eyes. "Plus one hundred pounds in gol - " He choked off as Antesh's arrow punched through the scroll and the breastplate beyond. He tumbled from the saddle and lay still, the scroll pinned to his chest. "Right," the Fief Lord said, turning away. "Let me know when the rest get here.

There was something new in his expression, something Vaelin had never seen before and couldn't name. In later years he would see it in the faces of a thousand men and know it as an old friend: fear.

It was said that the winds would carry into the Beyond and the Departed used them to send messages back to the Faithful, some of whom would stand for hours on hillsides straining for words of wisdom or comfort from lost loved ones.

She didn't like seeing it, Vaelin realised. Didn't like seeing the killer in me.

A book's value rests in the knowledge it contains, and knowledge is ever a dangerous thing.

We found a jewel in the desert,'" I quoted. "'And from it fashioned a charred cinder.
'Queen of Fire Pg 313

Love must risk all or perish.

It's always the way with such things, burn a book and the ashes spawn a thousand copies.

Oh I don't always do what I'm told. I'm a bad girl. I don't do the things girls should.

It's called star silver because it glows brighter than the heavens when it's put to the flame (...) But it's not silver, it's a form of iron, rare iron that comes from the earth like all metals, there's nothing Dark about it. But it's this that makes swords of the Order stronger than others. With this, your blades will withstand blows that would shatter others and, if wielded with skill, will cut through mail and armour.

A woman of keen mind but no moral scruple whatever. And an occasionally violent temper. Just how many time did you stab that merchant, Derla? I forget.

Many words came to me than as I stood clutching my bleeding face, many bile-filled, loathsome words sure to cute her to the core with lacerating truth. But meeting her blazing eyes, I felt the words die in my breast, my anger shriveling and flying away on the seaborne wind, replaced by a depth of pity and regret I knew had always lurked in my soul.

Curiosity is also my worst vice, and once stirred one not to be denied.

Give them the right lie and they'll believe it.

It felt safer to run, a moving target was harder to hit. But this vague sense of security evaporated when the darkness came, it was like running in a void where every step brought the threat of a painful fall.

Between lovers, betrayal is always the worst sin.

Is a lie really a lie if it is honestly believed?

The price of stability is unpreparedness.

The Lonak have no word for secret. Did you know that? To them everything is important, to be written down, recorded, told over and over. The Order has no such belief. We have fought battles that left more than a hundred corpses on the ground an not a word of it has ever been set down. The Order fights, but often it fights in shadow, without glory or reward.

A man engaged in a constant search for the weaknesses of others, Hilemore decided. Perhaps the means by which he maintains faith in his own superiority. "Chief

You hide it well, but I can see it, Lord Verniers. You hate us. We have beaten you to obedience but it's still there, like dry tinder waiting for a spark.

Knowledge is what shapes us, little brothers," he told them, for once his smile was absent, his tone entirely serious. "It makes us who we are. What we know informs everything we do and every decision we make.

All knowledge is a threat to someone." Vaelin

The impulse to lie, to continue to wallow in secrets as he had for years, was only the faintest whisper now, a nagging sense of stepping too far on an uncharted path, easily overridden by need to tell her. If he couldn't tell her, at least he could find some comfort in confidence.

For nine more nights they trained, after an arduous day's march, Vaelin would try to turn a poet into a swordsman.

Honour' is just a word. You can't eat it or drink it and yet everywhere I go men talk of it endlessly, and they all tell a different tale of what it actually means.

He was knowledgeable and often frighteningly intelligent but he was also a dreamer. He had a mental library of a thousand stories and seemed to believe them all. Heroes, villains, princesses in need of rescue, monsters and magical swords. It all lived in his head, as vital and real as his own memories.

My people do, I do not. Gods are a myth, a comforting story for children." "Such

A miser is merely a pauper with fewer friends.

He recalled those brief years when his song had fallen silent, his refusal to heed it leaving him bereft, without guidance. It had been hard to be so rudderless in a sea of chaos and war. This, however, was much worse, because now there was the chill, the bone-deep cold that had seeped into him in the Ally's domain and lingered on here in this world of myriad paths, all seemingly so dark. And the words, of course, those words that hounded him from the Beyond. We will make an ending, you and I.

I cannot believe the path to victory lies in staining our souls so black we become indistinguishable from those we fight.

Hunger is the best seasoning.

The only aspect of his appearance to match his legend was his eyes: black as jet and piercing as a hawk's. They said his eyes could strip man's soul bare, that no secret could be hidden if he met your gaze.

Your men?" His face took on an expression of deep confusion. "But you came alone. He said you would come alone." His sword fell to his side as he stumbled back a few steps, his gaze distant, unfocused. "He said you would come alone

Brothers of the Second Order searched her house and found evidence of Deniers activity. Forbidden books, images of gods, herbs and candles, the usual stuff. Turned out she and her father were followers of the Sun and the Moon, a minor sect. They're pretty harmless mostly since they don't try to convert others to their heresy, but a Denier's a Denier.

Face after face contorted in hate, men, women, children. Whatever lies had been voiced against me had clearly gained near-universal acceptance. I knew then that, regardless of what transpired here, my home was now lost to me. It wasn't just that these people would never accept me, more that I would never forgive their gullibility.

Battle is a hard business, sister. Soft training will make for soft soldiers, who will in turn become soft corpses.

One day I will write the story of our service in the Faith. I feel our Order has been sadly missing in recording its history. Do you know we are the only Order not to have its own library? (Caenis, about the Book of the Five Brothers)

Desert winds blow hard at me
Till we reach the shining sea.
And borne away across the waves
My lover's life I'll sail to save.

He could feel her gaze on his torso, knowing her eyes lingered on his scars, sensing her sorrows. "Nothing I didn't earn, sister", he told her, reaching out for his razor. "All of it, and more besides".

No-one knows what became of him, although some say on the coldest nights, in a place where it's said a village once stood, you can hear laughter echoing through the woods, for that is how it is with those who give themselves over to the Dark so completely, release from life is denied them, and the Beyond closed to them forevermore.

Somehow he knew it, knew the beast and whatever commanded it had tracked them from the Firejack to the Badlands and back again. And, although it was just a small speck, he could have sworn he saw the swaddled man perched on the drake's back before it angled its wings and disappeared from view. -

I did wonder if I'd have cause to rue my action. Now I believe it can safely be filed under Necessary Regrets.

He found his shivers receding as his resolve grew. It really wasn't that cold. The fear and horror of his night in the forest had left a mark on him, a mark that might never fade, but he would face it and overcome it. There was no other choice.

Some memories are best left to wither.

He looked down at his hands - resting on his knees - flexing the fingers, the veins and sinews standing out clearly amidst the scars. Killer's hands, I thought, knowing they could choke the life from me in a few seconds.

What is broken remains so, it is the way of things.

An axe without a blade is just a stick.

Beware the seduction of the quick conclusion. Do not indulge in the answer you desire until you know all you need to know.

How far can they travel before you lose them?" Kiral asked the shaman, who seemed puzzled by the question.

Love may claim our hearts but lust will always claim our bodies. It is the traitor that lurks in every soul.

Liquor wasn't forbidden in the Order, but it was frowned upon by the more Faithful masters. Some said anything that dulled the senses was a barrier to the Faith, the less a man remembered of his life the less he had to take with him to the Beyond.

Truth is the heart of the song, Rat. If you cannot hear truth, you cannot hear anything.

There," he said, pointing. "We'll camp on the westward slope. No fires, and it would be greatly appreciated, Baron, if your men refrained from excessive noise." "I'll do what I can, my lord. But they're not peasants, y'know. Can't just flog them like your lot." "Maybe you should, milord," Dentos suggested. "Remind 'em they bleed the same colour as us peasants.

My mother used to say that men would fight and kill for money, but they would only die for their gods.

Life isn't what you want it to be, it's what you make it become.

There was a continual sense of something hovering out of reach, a profound conclusion even then blood-song couldn't divine. But can she? And if she can, could she be trusted with the knowledge? The idea of trusting her was absurd, of course. but even the untrustworthy could be useful.

I expect the notions of personal freedom and representative government would appear radical to a slave of the corporate world." "A

Well he could hate too, hate was easy, hate would fuel him if his mother's love could not. Loyalty is our strength. He snorted a silent laughed of derision. Let loyalty be your strength, Father. My hate for you will be mine.

Trust is more important than fear.

He wants to make an end. And we will.

She greeted him with a smile, holding her hand out for him to kiss (...) Nevertheless he went to one knee and pressed his lips against her knuckles. Her flesh was warmer than he'd expected and he angered himself for enjoying the sensation.

Only in war does the madman become sane.

The Dark is a word for the ignorant. The people hare are Gifted. Different powers, different abilities. But Gifted. Like you.