Robert Jordan Quotes

Light, women would believe anything about a man so long as it was bad. And the worse it was, the more they had to talk about it. ~ Robert Jordan

I don't know. They could put up a warning sign or something. Hello. Welcome to Hindstrap. We will murder you in the night and eat your bloody face if you stay past sunset. Try the pies. Martna Maily makes them fresh daily. ~ Robert Jordan

Men," Thom murmured. "Men who shook the pillars of heaven and rocked the world on its
foundations." He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Forget about them. They are dust now. ~ Robert Jordan

The Shadow shall rise across the world, and darken every land, even to the smallest corner, and there shall be neither Light nor safety. And he who shall be born of the Dawn, born of the Maiden, according to Prophecy, he shall stretch forth his hands to catch the Shadow, and the world shall scream in the pain of salvation. All Glory be to the Creator, and to the Light, and to he sho shall be born again. May the Light save us from him.
-from Commentaries on the Karaethon Cycle Sereine dar Shamelle Motara Counsel-Sister to Comaelle, High Queen of Jaramide (circa 325 AB, the Third Age) ~ Robert Jordan

I never saw or heard or smelled anything that couldn't be talked about ~ Robert Jordan

But trust is the color of a dark seed growing. Trust is the color of a heart's blood flowing. Trust is the color of a soul's last breath. Trust is the color of death. ~ Robert Jordan

We all do as we must, as the Pattern decrees. For some there is less freedom than for others. It does not matter whether we choose or are chosen. What must be, must be. ~ Robert Jordan

It was a simple truth; the Creator made women so men would not find life too easy. ~ Robert Jordan

Let most men have a finger and they will have the whole hand before you know. Let a clan cheif have a finger and he will have the entire arm. ~ Robert Jordan

He did not own her, and she did not own him. The act of his movement so that they faced the same direction meant far more to her than other gesture could.

-Aviendha about Rand ~ Robert Jordan

Why, to see, Loial said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. I read the books, all the travelers' accounts, and it began to burn in me that I had to see, not just read. ~ Robert Jordan

At least Aielwomen did not walk around with their noses in the air, or think you should jump just because they said so. Of course, some of their games were on the rough side, and they did have the habit of trying to kill you now and again. ~ Robert Jordan

The seals that hold back night shall weaken, and in the heart of winter shall winter's heart be born amid the wailing of lamentations and the gnashing of teeth, for winter's heart shall ride a black horse, and the name of it is Death.
-from The Karaethon Cycle: The Prophecies of the Dragon ~ Robert Jordan

You stand up straw men," Nynaeve said. "We have a saying in the Two Rivers. 'Whether the bear beats the wolf or the wolf beats the bear, the rabbit always loses.' Take your contest somewhere else and leave Emond's Field folk out of it. ~ Robert Jordan

It seems to me that kings and queens can be fools when they forget what they are and act like who they are, but they're worse when they only remember what they are and forget who. ~ Robert Jordan

How did you ever come to like a common blacksmith?"
"The word is 'love', Perrin Aybara. ~ Robert Jordan

Mat had tried to make her say she saw a hat floating around Mat's head. That would persuade Tuon to stop trying to get rid of his, would it not? ~ Robert Jordan

Till Shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder's eye on the Last Day. By my honor and the Light, my life will be a dagger for Sightblinder's heart.
Until the Last Day, To Shayol Ghul itself. ~ Robert Jordan

Morning. A time for new hopes; a time to be up and doing. New ~ Robert Jordan

Never make a plan without knowing as much as you can of the enemy. Never be afraid to change your plans when you receive new information. Never believe you know everything. And never wait to know everything. ~ Robert Jordan

A gnarled old branch dulls the blade that severs a sapling. ~ Robert Jordan

Stories have power. Gleemen's tales, and bards' epics, and rumors in the street alike. They stir passions, and change the way men see the world. ~ Robert Jordan

For as long as I live and after. ~ Robert Jordan

wind stiffened as dusk closed in. Mat began to ask querulously ~ Robert Jordan

A man falling off a cliff to certain death will stretch out a hand even to his worst enemy. ~ Robert Jordan

Time to toss the dice ~ Robert Jordan

Not all options will be good ones. Sometimes you have to make the best of a bad lot and ride the storm. ~ Robert Jordan

He said the Dark One intended to blind the Eye of the World, and slay the Great Serpent, kill time itself. ~ Robert Jordan

If you have a sword, and the Aielman has his bare hands, it is an even fight. If you're good. ~ Robert Jordan

A flapping tongue has killed more men than sudden storms ever did. ~ Robert Jordan

Whether the bear beats the wolf or the wolf beats the bear, the rabbit always loses. ~ Robert Jordan

How do you know when a woman wants to kill you?" Rand mused. "When she knows your name?" Dobraine did not sound as if he were joking. ~ Robert Jordan

Blood of our blood mixed with the old blood, raised by an ancient blood not ours. ~ Robert Jordan

When a dangerous path was your only route to safety, you had to take it. ~ Robert Jordan

I'll not have you bleeding to death on me. That would be just like you, to die and leave me the work of burying you. You have no consideration. ~ Robert Jordan

I have lived for four centures," he said. "Perhaps I am still a youth, in that all of us are, compared to the timeless age of the Wheel itself. That said, I am one of the oldest people in existence."
Moiraine smiled. "Very nice. Does that work on the others?"
He hesitated. Then, oddly, he found himself grinning. "It worked pretty well on Cadsuane."
Moiraine sniffed. "That one ... Well, knowing her, I doubt you fooled her as well as you assume. You may have the memories of a man four centuries old, Rand al'Thor, but that does not make you ancient. Otherwise, Matrim Cauthon would be the patriarch of us all."
"Mat? Why Mat?"
"It is nothing," Moiraine said. "Something I am not supposed to know. You are still a die-eyed sheepherder at heart. ~ Robert Jordan

I've only have time for one last lesson...
"I have you," Demandred finally growled, breathing heavily. "Who ever you are, I have you. You cannot win."
"You didn't listen to me," Lan whispered.
One last lesson. The hardest...
Demandred struck, and Lan saw his opening. Lan lunged forward, placing Demandred's sword point against his ow side and ramming himself forward onto it.
"I did not come here to win", Lan whispered, smiling, "I came here to kill you. Death is lighter that a feather."
Demandred's eyes opened wide, and he tried to pull back. Too late. Lan's sword took him straight through the throat.
The world grew dark as Lan slipped backward off the sword. He felt Nynaeve's fear and pain as he did, and he sent his love to her. ~ Robert Jordan

You break your neck, and I'll see it mended just so I can break it again." ~ Nynaeve ~ Robert Jordan

Can you make it past me, thief-catcher?" Mat called, careful not to take his eyes off the man waiting for him with blade poised to strike. Sandar had insisted irritably on "thief-catcher," not "thief-taker," though Mat could not see any difference.
"I cannot," Sandar called from behind him. "If you move to let me by, you will lose room to swing that oar you call a staff, and he will spit you like a grunt."
Like a what? "Well, think of something, Tairen. This ragamuffin is grating my nerves."
The man in the gold-striped coat sneered. "You will be honored to die on the blade of the High Lord Darlin, peasant, if I allow it so." It was the first time he had deigned to speak. "Instead, I think I will have the pair of you hung by the heels, and watch while the skin is stripped from your bodies - "
"I do not think I'd like that," Mat said. ~ Robert Jordan

As he did so, a wind rose up around him, around the man who had been called lord, Dragon Reborn, king, killer, lover and friend. ~ Robert Jordan

A woman's love can be violent.
Sometimes they hurt a man worse than they think they have, worse than they mean to.
Sometimes, they're even sorry afterwards. ~ Robert Jordan

Fear will kill you if you don't control it. ~ Robert Jordan

She saw some boulders she would have wagered had once been toes on a statue, though why anyone would make a statue that large with bare feet she could not imagine, and another time the way led through a forest of thick fluted stones among the trees, the weathered stumps of columns, many toppled and all long since mined almost to the ground for their stone by local farmers. A pleasant ~ Robert Jordan

If your enemy offers you two targets, strike at a third. ~ Robert Jordan

Almost dead yesterday, maybe dead tomorrow, but alive, gloriously alive, today. ~ Robert Jordan

You never escape the traps you spin yourself. ~ Robert Jordan

If you tried to solve every problem yourself, you ended by solving none. ~ Robert Jordan

Keep fighting, you daughters and sons of goats!" Birgitte yelled, loosing arrows at the mercenaries. "I might be dead, but I'm still your bloody commander, and you will obey orders! ~ Robert Jordan

Stop sucking your finger," Gawyn said with a grin. "We know you are a pretty little girl; you do not need to prove it to us. ~ Robert Jordan

No man can walk so long in the Shadow that he cannot come again to the Light. ~ Robert Jordan

Life is uncertainty and struggle, choice and change; one who knew how her life was woven into the Pattern as well as she knew how a thread was laid into a carpet would have the life of an animal. If she did not go mad. Humankind is made for uncertainty, struggle, choice and change. ~ Robert Jordan

In his cradle he had been given four gifts. The ring in his hands and the locket that hung around his neck, the sword on his hip and an oath sworn in his name. The locket, containing the painted images of the mother and father he could not remember seeing in life, was the most precious, the oath the heaviest. "To stand against the Shadow so long as iron is hard and stone abides. To defend the Malkieri while one drop of blood remains. To avenge what cannot be defended." And then he had been anointed with oil and named Dai Shan, consecrated as the next King of Malkier and sent away from a land that knew it would die. ~ Robert Jordan

Anyone who claimed that old age had brought them patience was either lying or senile. ~ Robert Jordan

It has been quite a weight, hasn't it?" Tam asked. "What weight?" Rand replied. "That lost hand you've been carrying." Rand looked down at his stump. "Yes. I believe it has been at that. ~ Robert Jordan

As the Wheel of Time turns, places wear many names. Men wear many names, many faces. Different faces, but always the same man. Yet no one knows the Great Pattern the Wheel weaves, or even the Pattern of an Age. We can only watch, and study, and hope. ~ Robert Jordan

When you wish for so long that you could hear something, and then suddenly, with no warning, you do, it is like a lightning strike and rain on parched ground at the same time. You're stunned, but you cannot hear enough. ~ Robert Jordan

That the fighting was done, townspeople began to flood out of alleys and recesses, timidly making for the gate and - presumably - safety. ~ Robert Jordan

Confidence was one key to victory. The other side believing you were confident was sometimes almost as good as actually being confident. ~ Robert Jordan

He crawled on across the farmyard, keeping as low as he could, but trying to watch every direction, too. He had never thought he would envy an earthworm. ~ Robert Jordan

A Myrddraal has less cunning than a woman, and a Trolloc fights with more honor. And a goat has more sense. ~ Robert Jordan

The lions sing and the hills take flight. The moon by day, and the sun by night. Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool. Let the Lord of Chaos rule.
-chant from a children's game heard in Great Arvalon, the Fourth Age ~ Robert Jordan

If you try putting a woman on a horse when she does not want to go, she may put a knife in your ribs. ~ Robert Jordan

At present, talk of negotiations is limited to five Sitters, ~ Robert Jordan

A hunter? You? You can not be a hunter. You are a GIRL. - Perin Ibarra to Faiel, in the Dragon Reborn ~ Robert Jordan

A long, white banner spread out, lifting on the air. Rand could only stare. The whole thing seemed of a piece, neither woven, nor dyed, nor painted. A figure like a serpent, scaled in scarlet and gold, ran the entire length, but it had scaled legs, and feet with five long, golden claws on each, and a great head with a golden mane and eyes like the sun. The stirring of the banner made it seem to move, scales glittering like precious metals and gems, alive, and he almost thought he could hear it roar defiance. ~ Robert Jordan

Almost everyone stopped when he did, but Enaila and Jalani exchanged glances and kept on right past him toward the garden. He raised his voice a fraction and hardened it considerably more. "The Maidens here will come with me. Anyone who wants to put on a dress and discuss matchmaking can stay behind."
..................................
Bashere motioned, and one of the younger Saldaeans loped ahead in that rolling stride of a man more used to a saddle. "A man must know when to retreat from a woman," Bashere said to the air, "but a wise man knows that sometimes he must stand and face her."

"Young men," Bael said indulgently. "A young man chases shadows and runs from moonlight, and in the end he stabs himself in the foot with his own spear." Some of the other Aiel chuckled, Maidens and Knife Hands alike. The older ones did.

Irritated, Rand looked over his shoulder again. "Neither of you would look well in a dress." Surprisingly, the Maidens and Knife Hands laughed again, more loudly. Maybe he was getting a grip on Aiel humor. ~ Robert Jordan

A wise man tried to avoid battles he would not only lose, but look foolish losing. ~ Robert Jordan

A fool moans when fortune takes him down, and it takes a true fool to moan when fortune takes him up. ~ Robert Jordan

You ride to battle?" Karede asked.
"I was thinking more of a saunter," Mat said. He shook his head. "I need a feel for what Demandred is doing ... I'm going out there, Karede, and putting you fellows between me and the Trollocs sounds delightful. Are you coming? ~ Robert Jordan

Often you don't know whether a woman is friend, enemy or lover until it is too late. Sometimes, she is all three. ~ Robert Jordan

Don't trust. Trust is death. Kill him. Kill them all. Oh, to die and be done, done with it all, sleep without dreams, dreams of Ilyena, forgive me, Ilyena, no forgiveness, only death, deserve to die. . . . Rand ~ Robert Jordan

When you have never known a thing except to dream, it becomes more than a talisman. ~ Robert Jordan

A man should never give promises in bed. ~ Robert Jordan

What is already woven cannot be undone. It will not make the trees grow again for you to bring the building down on our heads. ~ Robert Jordan

Women do not become exhausted they only exhaust others. ~ Robert Jordan

Robert Jordan knew that now his papers were being examined by the man who could not read. ~ Ernest Hemingway,

A man needed all of his wits dealing with a woman. Too often even that was not enough; ~ Robert Jordan

Always leave a way out, unless you really want to find out how hard a man can fight when he's nothing to lose. ~ Robert Jordan

They could put up a warning sign or something. Hello. Welcome to Hinderstap. We will murder you in the night and eat your bloody face if you stay past sunset. Try the pies. Martna Baily makes them fresh daily. ~ Robert Jordan

That one you have tried to kill many times, Rand said, that one who lost his kingdom, that one from whom you took everything ...
Lurching, bloodied from the sword strike to his side, the last king of the Malkieri stumbled to his feet. Lan thrust his hand into the air, holding by its hair the head of Demandred, general of the Shadow's armies.
That man, Rand shouted. That man still fights! ~ Robert Jordan

Sometimes she thought the Creator had only made men to cause trouble for women. ~ Robert Jordan

Well perhaps you humans do have short lives but you do so much with them. Always jumping around, always so hasty and you have the whole world to do it in. - Loial ~ Robert Jordan

Who we were is lost to all men, and life is bitter. ~ Robert Jordan

Yes, I'm alive," Mat said. "I'm usually pretty good at staying alive. I've only failed one time that I can remember, and it hardly counts. ~ Robert Jordan

So your luck still holds with women, too." Ryne's laugh had an edge. Perhaps he fancied her himself. "The Light knows, they can't find you handsome; you get uglier every year. Maybe I ought to try some of that coy modesty, let women lead me by the nose." Lan opened his mouth, then took a drink instead of speaking. He should not have to explain, but it was too late for explanation with Ryne in any case. His father had taken him to Arafel the year Lan turned ten. The man wore a single blade on his hip instead of two on his back, yet he was Arafellin to his toenails. He actually started conversations with women who had not spoken to him first. Lan, raised by Bukama and his friends in Shienar, had been surrounded by a small community who held to Malkieri ways. If Lira did share his bed tonight, as seemed certain, she would discover there was nothing shy or retiring about him once they were abed, yet the woman chose when to enter that bed and when to leave. ~ Robert Jordan

The aroma of kaf," Turak said, "is almost as enjoyable as the flavor. ~ Robert Jordan

A slow horse does not always reach the end of the journey. ~ Robert Jordan

All things change. Until we wake, the dream drifts on the wind. ~ Robert Jordan

What is too absurd to be believed is believed because it is too absurd to be a lie. ~ Robert Jordan

That was the trouble with the best of men. They always thought they were doing the right thing. ~ Robert Jordan

Some men [ ... ] choose to seek greatness, while others are forced to it. It is always better to choose than to be forced.
A man who is forced is never completely his own master. He must dance on the strings of those who forced him. ~ Robert Jordan

You're welcome in my house when this is over. We'll open a cask of Master al'Vere's best brandy. We'll remember those who fell, and we'll tell our children how we stood when the clouds turned black and the world started to die. We'll tell them we stood shoulder to shoulder, and there was just no space for the Shadow to squeeze through. ~ Robert Jordan

Stopping a man from what he wants to do is like taking a sweet from a child. Sometimes you have to do it, but sometimes it just isn't worth the trouble. ~ Robert Jordan

The pin was the smallest part of a pair of scissors, and the easiest made, but without it, the scissors cut no cloth. ~ Robert Jordan

Robert Jordan ... is a lot of writer ~ Piers Anthony

Why do you call me 'wetlander'?" Gaul gestured toward the river; even Perrin's eyes could not be sure in the moonlight, but he thought the Aiel looked uneasy for the first time. ~ Robert Jordan

Twice and twice shall he be marked
twice to live, and twice to die.
Once the heron, to set his path.
Twice the heron, to name him true.
Once the Dragon, for remembrance lost.
Twice the Dragon, for the price he must pay. ~ Robert Jordan

Most of those we call heroes only did what they had to do. ~ Robert Jordan

But it was an ending. ~ Robert Jordan

Defying the Dark One no matter the length of his shadow. We will live, that defiance said. We will love and we will hope. ~ Robert Jordan