Joe Abercrombie Quotes

Enjoy the top 445 famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Joe Abercrombie.

“There was a time hed heard tales of Dab Sweet and hed stuck thumbs in his belt and chin to the sky and tricked himself that was how his life had been. But the years scraped by hard as ever and he got less and the stories more til they were tales of a man hed never met succeeding at what hed never have dreamed of attempting.”
— Joe Abercrombie —

“Sometimes it doesn't matter too much what choice you make, as long as you make it quick and stick to it.”

— Joe Abercrombie

You should laugh every moment you live, for you'll find it decidedly difficult afterwards.

— Joe Abercrombie

“'The Blade Itself' was my first book. Probably I should've tried a few short stories first, but for some reason I decided to begin with Everest.”

— Joe Abercrombie

“That was the difference between a hero and a villain, a soldier and a murderer, a victory and a crime. Which side of a river you called home.”

— Joe Abercrombie

If life has taught me one thing, it's that there are no villains. Only people, doing their best.

— Joe Abercrombie

The only difference between war and murder is the number of dead.

— Joe Abercrombie

“So you love war. I used to think you were a decent man. But I see now I was mistaken. You're a hero.”

— Joe Abercrombie

That's what courage is. Taking your disappointments and your failures, your guilt and your shame, all the wounds received and inflicted, and sinking them in the past. Starting again. Damning yesterday and facing tomorrow with your head held high. Times change. It's those that see it coming, and plan for it, and change themselves to suit that prosper.

— Joe Abercrombie

“You ever have the feeling you were in the wrong place? That if you could just get over the next hill, cross the next river, look down into the next valley, it'd all ... fit. Be right."
"All my life, more of less"
"All your life spent getting ready for the next thing. I climbed a lot of hills now. I crossed a lot of rivers. Crossed the sea even, left everything I knew and came to Styria. But there I was, waiting for me at the docks when I got off the boat, same man, same life. Next valley ain't no different from this one. No better anyway. Reckon I've learned ... just to stick in the place I'm at. Just to be the man I am.”

— Joe Abercrombie

“I'm trying to put things in the best light, but a turd's a turd, whatever light it's in!”

— Joe Abercrombie

“The lamplight gleamed on the Magus' white grin. People like to watch the pretty puppets, Superior. Even a glimpse of the puppeteer can be most upsetting for them. Why, they might even suddenly notice the strings around their own wrists”

— Joe Abercrombie

“The lowly squabble over trifles. The great wage secret wars for power and wealth, and they call it government. Wars of words, and tricks, and guile, but no less bloody for that.”

— Joe Abercrombie

“One act presses upon another, on a path we have no choice but to follow, and each time there are reasons. We do what we must, we do what we are told, we do what is easiest. What else can we do but solve one sordid problem at a time? Then we look up and find ... this.”

— Joe Abercrombie

“Savor the little moments, son, that's my advice. They're what life is. All the little things that happen while you're waiting for something else.”

— Joe Abercrombie

Few indeed are those who get a choice. We do as we are told. We stand or fall beside those who were born near to us, who look as we do, who speak the same words, and all the while we know as little of the reasons why as does the dust we return to.

— Joe Abercrombie

“Lorsen shook his head in amazement. 'You truly are disgusting.'
'I would be the last to disagree, but you fail to see that you are worse. No man capable of greater evil than the one who thinks himself in the right. No purpose more evil than the higher purpose. I freely admit I am a villain. That's why you hired me. But I am no hypocrite.”

— Joe Abercrombie

“The more you learn the more you understand the size of your own ignorance.”

— Joe Abercrombie

“You're no fun at all, you boys, you do nothing but worry. You need to think on the sunny side o' this. The worst that can happen is that Bethod don't show!'
'The worst?' Dogman stared at him. 'You sure? What about if Bethod does come, and his Carls kick your wall over like a pile o' turds and kill every last one of us?'
Crummock's brow furrowed. He frowned down at the ground. He squinted up at the clouds. 'True,' he said, breaking out in a smile. 'That is worse. You got a fast mind, lad.'
Dogman gave a long sigh, and stared down into the valley.”

— Joe Abercrombie

“That got him thinking about his life. It seemed a bitter, pointless sort of life now. No one was any better off because of it. Full of violence and pain, with not much but disappointment and hardship in between.”

— Joe Abercrombie

These are dangerous times alright, and yet danger and opportunity often walk hand in hand.

— Joe Abercrombie

“Jezal swallowed and hunched his shoulders, watching the chunks of long dead wood file slowly past like rows of tombstones. "I don't like this," he muttered under his breath.
"You think I do?" Bayaz frowned grimly over at him. "You think any of us do? Men must sometimes do what they do not like if they are to be remembered. It is through struggle, not ease, that fame and honor are won. It is through conflict, not peace, that wealth and power are gained.”