David Gemmell Quotations

They dont understand what real treasure is. They see it in gold and copper, and tin. They see in herds of horses or cattle. They gather treasures to themselves, building great storehouses, which they guard ferociously. Then they die. What good is it then?

The point is [...] that you never know whether you've lost until you've lost. Anything can happen.

No one can take away the freedom of a man's soul.

I don't give a damn, laddie. Until the actual moment, when they cut me down, I shall still be looking to win. And the gods of war are fickle at best.

A man's strength is ultimately born of his knowledge of his own weakness ...

When healers yearn to kill then hope begins to die ... Evil cannot be overcome by evil.

Societies need heroes. So we travel to places where the revisionists cannot dismantle the great.

If you look at any ancient civilization, they've all used fantasy stories to train the young.

Warriors fear surrender. They are proud and defiant. They will fight to the death for what they believe in. They will struggle to conquer. Love is not about conquest. The truth is a man can only find true love when he surrenders to it. When he opens his heart to the partner of his soul and says: 'here it is! the very essence of me! It is yours to nurture or destroy.

Nothing of real worth can ever be bought. Love, friendship, honour, valour, respect. All these things have to be earned.

Do not speak badly of yourself, for the warrior that is inside you hears your words and is lessened by them.

A warrior feeds his body well; he trains it; works on it. Where he lacks knowledge, he studies. But above all he must believe. He must believe in his strength of will, of purpose, of heart and soul.

I underestimated you, woman." ... "The cry of men down the ages.

Man is capable of greatness, love, nobility, compassion. Yet never forget that his capacity for evil is infinite. It is a sad truth, boy, that if you sit now and think of the worst tortures that could ever be inflicted on another human being, they will already have been practiced somewhere. If there is one sound that follows the march of humanity, it is the scream.

May all your dreams but one come true, for what is life without a dream?

Be at peace, my friend. One thing I have learnt about Death is that his bark is worse than his bite.

I have discovered in my long life that there are many words and phrases which have more power than any spell of magick. The most well-known of these is, of course, I love you. But by far the most deadly is, if only. For these two words can strip a man's strength, his courage and his confidence. They become the father of regret and anguish and pain.

A man should be free to do what he wants to do, as long as it doesn't hurt others.

We make choices everyday, some of them good, some of them bad. And - if we are strong enough - we live with the consequences.

I caught a pebble in the moonlight.

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.

There's no shame in fear. But understand this - the coward is ruled by fear, while the hero rides it like a wild stallion.

Evil lives in a pit. If you want to fight it, you must climb down into the slime to do so. White cloaks show the dirt more thank black, and silver tarnishes.

Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone fails at something.

I may be stupid, as you say, to believe in honour and friendship and loyalty without price. But these are virtues to be cherished, for without them we are no more than beasts roaming the land.

Trust your instincts, and make judgements on what your heart tells you. The heart will not betray you.

Not one of the creatures of blood can escape death. We all face it, and succumb to it. It follows us like a dark shadow. Yet if we live in terror of it, then we do not live at all. Yes we are born alone, and yes we will die alone. But in between, Tae, we live. We know joy.

Every little bit of good I may do, let me do it now for I may not come this way again.

Love is a mystery. We embrace it where we can. Mostly we do not choose whom we love. It just happens. A voice speaks to us, in ways the ears cannot hear. We recognize a beauty the eye does not see. We experience a change in our hearts that no voice can describe.

We are tiny flames, Helikaon, and we flicker alone in the great dark for no more than a heartbeat. When we strive for wealth, glory and fame, it is meaningless. The nations we fight for will one day cease to be. Even the mountains we gaze upon will crumble to dust. To truly live we must yearn for that which does not die.

There is a darkness in you. In all of us, probably. Beasts we keep chained. Ordinary men have to keep the chains strong, for if we let the beast loose then society will turn upon us with fiery vengeance. Kings though...well, who is there to turn upon them? So the chains are made of straw. It is the curse of kings, Helikaon, that they can become monsters. And they invariably do.

It is easier with strangers, for they touch your life but for an instant. You will not disappoint them, for you owe them nothing; neither do they expect anything. Friends you can hurt, for they expect everything.

Heroes are people who face down their fears. It is that simple.

Nothing in life is sure, my son. Except the promise of death.

Yours is a race whose imagination is limited to its own small appetites. Greed, lust, envy - these are the motivating forces of humankind. What redeems you is that in every man and woman there is a seed that can grow to encompass love, joy and compassion. But this seed is never allowed to prosper in fertile ground. It struggles for life among the rocks of your human soul.

True. The one certainty about riding, Braygan, is that - at some time - you will fall off. It is a fact. Another fact you might like to consider, in your life of perpetual terror, is that you will die. We are all going to die, some of us young, some of us old, some of us in our sleep, some of us screaming in agony. We cannot stop it, we can only delay it.

It would be a fine thing if war could be conducted as a game where no lives were lost. At the end of a battle combatants could meet [...] and drink and talk.

This world has few redeeming features, and one is the capacity for people to love one another with great, enduring passion.

I make little distinction betwee those who commit evil and those who stand by and do nothing.

It's a funny thing about weaknesses....Most people will tell you they know their weaknesses. When asked, they'll tell you, 'Well for one thing, I'm overgenerous.' ... that's what innkeepers are for.

Fear is good, for it makes us cautious and aids survival. Not so with terror. It is like slow poison, paralyzing the limbs and blurring the mind. . . Never, when in danger, ask yourself, What will they do to me? Instead think, What can I do to prevent them?

Men don't change. They just learn to disguise the lack of change.

Most wars are fought for greed, but we are luckier here we fight for our lives and the lives of the people we love.

Foolish: It's all foolish. Life is a farce a stupid, sickening farce played out by fools.

I don't know yet whether I fully believe in fate, but certain things do happen in a man's life that he cannot explain.

A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.

Plan for the worst, expect the best.

Most of the heroes we remember we remember only because they won. To win you must be ruthless. Single-minded ... which was why he had no friends just admirers.

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.

If there is one sound the follows the march of humanity, it is the scream.

Love is both wondrous and yet full of peril. Love is a gateway through which hatred - disguised and unrecognized - can pass.

Fear is an aid to the warrior. It is a small fire burning. It heats the muscles, making us stronger. Panic comes when the fire is out of control, consuming all courage and pride.

I was a man before I was a king, and no true man walks away when a friend needs him.

It is hard to be angry when one has seen the sun rise,' she said. It seems to be true,' he admitted. 'I wonder why.' Because it makes one feel so small and insignificant. It has been rising forever and will rise forever no matter what we do or do not do. All our problems are as nothing to the sun.

Miracles are merely events that happen just when they are needed.

If we are still discussing its merits tomorrow, I will agree with you," said Diagoras. "Cheer up, laddie. Nobody lives forever." "Oh I expect you will, Druss, Old Horse. It's the mortals around you who always seem to kiss the granite.

By nature of definition only the coward is capable of the highest heroism

There are times, Sember, when I could believe your mother had a secret lover. Looking at you makes me wonder if it was one of my goats.

The night has a capacity for terror that the day can never match.

Do not complain of life's unfairness. It is never fair - at best it is impartial.

Old age is not as honorable as death, but most people seek it.

[H]e who fears to lose will never win.

Why must I have the Piglet?' 'Because you are the best.' 'I do not understand.' 'Teach him.' 'And who teaches me?' ' As an officer, my lord, you will have many men under your command and not all will be gifted. You must learn to use each man to his best advantage ...

All men have talents. Some build, some paint, some write, some fight. For me it is different.

I am not going to talk about patriotism, duty, liberty, and the defense of freedom because that's all dung to a soldier.

While men compete in war, there will be warriors. While there are warriors, there will be princes among warriors. Among the princes will be kings, and among the kings an emperor.

There is evil in all of us, and it is the mark of a man how he defies the evil within.

Heroes are people who face down their fears. It is that simple. A child afraid of the dark who one day blows out the candle; a women terrified of the pain of childbirth who says, 'It is time to become a mother'. Heroism does not always live on the battlefield.

Your face may be gone, but you know who you are.

Life is sad enough, Magir. Laughter is a thing to be treasured.

All things are possible, ... Except the passing of regret.

One hundred only, Lord Earl. But judge us not by our number. Rather, watch the numbers of dead we leave behind.

None of us can choose the manner of our passing.

the baresark loses all fear; his method is all-out attack, and invariably he takes his opponent with him even if he falls.

I think maybe it is better to believe than not to believe. But I couldn't tell you why.

Blood always aids blood, my friend.

I think that for the coward every day carries a kind of death.

[F]ear is a great ally.

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.

The nature of a coward is to avoid death. If such a man courts peril there can be only two reasons. Either he is not a coward at all or there is no danger.

Kings are chosen by the Source, so it is said ... Therefore those who fight for the king can be said to be godly. Is that not cause enough?

A man must know his limitations.

It is a merchant's nature to quibble over coins. It is how we become rich and buy satin shirts. The problems of who governs this area is one for another day.

Evil will never be countered while good men do nothing.

Every man has his own reason for every deed. Usually it is selfish.

No matter how impossible this war, I shall fight to win. Whatever I have to do, I will do.

It is not hard to change when your biggest problem is whether the weeds prosper in a vegetable patch.

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.

The purpose of debates is to explore issues, not end them.

Our modern world, though infinitely more complex than that of ancient Greece, is also far more superficial. Where the Greeks offered simple psychological training, we live in an age of style and spin in which perceptions of good and evil slither and shift with the political view of the moment.

Come back and stand with us, lad. We will all go down together that's what makes us who we are.

Some people have a gift for stupidity, an almost mystic ability to withstand any form of logic.

An enemy is like a man's most prized flower. It brings him joy to see it buried in the ground.

How many hopes and dreams are trapped within these bones? How many wonders lie never to be discovered? This is what war is. Desolation, despair and loss. There are no victors.

Life is a struggle, from the agonies of birth to the railing against death. Devour or be devoured. The law of the wild.

A problem shared is a problem doubled.

All beauty is sad. For it fades.

A man with wife and daughters has no place losing his temper.

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.

Makes no sense to me,' said Huntsekker. 'You don't know who is at your door, but you know the thoughts of a man twenty miles away.' 'Life is a mystery,' said Powdermill, with a gold-toothed grin. 'It is that, right enough,' agreed Huntsekker.