Yarvi Quotes

Did you see it?" asked Yarvi.
"I had that questionable privilege."
"What do you think?"
"She is wretched. She is all pride and anger. She has too much confidence and too little. She does not know herself." The figure pushed back her hood. A black-skinned old woman with a face lean as famine and hair shaved to gray fuzz. She picked her nose with one long forefinger, carefully examined the results, then flicked them away "The girl is stupid as a stump. Worse. Most stumps have the dignity to rot quietly without causing offense."
"I'm right here," Thorn managed to hiss from her hands and knees.
"Just where the drunk boy put you." The woman flashed a smile at Brand that seemed to have too many teeth. "I like him, though: he is pretty and desperate. My favorite combination. ~ Joe Abercrombie

Gold and silver is everything to everyone. Some of us have enough of it to pretend otherwise. ~ Joe Abercrombie

Grom-gil-Gorm," she said softly as she rode between Laithlin and Yarvi. "Breaker of Swords." Mother Isriun's horse shied back out of her way. "Maker of Orphans." Thorn reined in beside him, his frowning face lit red by the blazing light of her elf-bangle, and she leaned from her saddle to whisper.
"Your death comes. ~ Joe Abercrombie

Whatever have you been feeding her?"
"Fire and whetstones," said Yarvi, smiling. ~ Joe Abercrombie

I'm no high judge of righteousness."
"Who is?"
"But I find this to be a good thing."
"Don't let anyone know, it might ruin my reputation."
Yarvi saw an old woman glaring at him from across the square, and he smiled back, and waved, and watched her scuttle away.
"It seems I've become the villain of this piece. ~ Joe Abercrombie

What's his story?' asked Yarvi.
'I don't know his name. Nothing, we all call him. When I was first brought to the South Wind he pulled an oar. One night, off the coast of Gettland, he tried to escape. Somehow he got free of his chain and stole a knife. He killed three guards and cut another's knee so he never walked again, and he gave our captain that scar before she and Trigg put a stop to him.'
Yarvi blinked at the shambling scrubber. 'All that with a knife?'
'And not a large one. ~ Joe Abercrombie

Glorious victories make fine songs, Yarvi, but inglorious ones are no worse once the bards are done with them. Glorious defeats, meanwhile, are just defeats. ~ Joe Abercrombie

Does a king let his friends die for him?" Yarvi glanced guiltily across at Shadikshirram's sword, and remembered the feeling, punching, punching, the red knife in his red hand, and shivered under his stolen cloak. "Does a king stab women in the back?" The tears were still wet on Nothing's wasted face. "A good one sacrifices everything to win, and stabs whom he must however he can. The great warrior is the one who still breathes when the crows feast. The great king is the one who watches the carcasses of his enemies burn. Let Father Peace spill tears over the methods. Mother War smiles upon results." "That's what my uncle would have said." "A wise man, then, and a worthy enemy. Perhaps you will stab him in the back and we can watch him burn together. ~ Joe Abercrombie

Where do we find allies?"
Father Yarvi smiled. "Among our enemies, where else? ~ Joe Abercrombie

The most civilized place in the world," murmured Father Yarvi. "Though that mostly means folk prefer to stab each other in the back than in the front. ~ Joe Abercrombie

You are lucky, Thorn. You are very lucky."
"Doubtless. Not every girl gets to be stabbed through the face."
"And by a duke of royal blood too! ~ Joe Abercrombie

And Yarvi realized that Death does not bow to each person who passes her, does not sweep out her arm respectfully to show the way, speaks no profound words, unlocks no bolts. The key upon her chest is never needed, for the Last Door stands always open. She herds the dead through impatiently, needles of rank or fame or quality. She has an ever-lengthening queue to get through. A blind procession, inexhaustible. ~ Joe Abercrombie

Yarvi: 'If we had known the hardship of it, we might have chosen another.'
Shidwala: 'So it is with many choices.'
Yarvi: 'All we can do now is see it through.'
Shidwala: 'So it is with many choices. ~ Joe Abercrombie