Top 148 Quotes & Sayings by David Gemmell
Explore popular quotes and sayings by a British author David Gemmell.
Last updated on November 21, 2024.
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.
This is the real magic of fantasy fiction: it can feed souls and change lives.
If you look at any ancient civilization, they've all used fantasy stories to train the young.
Societies need heroes. So we travel to places where the revisionists cannot dismantle the great.
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.
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.
I caught a pebble in the moonlight.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I underestimated you, woman." ... "The cry of men down the ages.
A man's strength is ultimately born of his knowledge of his own weakness.
A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.
A problem shared is a problem doubled.
Trust your instincts, and make judgements on what your heart tells you. The heart will not betray you.
I make little distinction between those who commit evil and those who stand by and do nothing.
To be truthful i am not entirely sure what people mean when they talk of happiness. There are moments of joy and laughter, the comfort of friendship, but enduring happiness? If it exists i have not found it
Old age is not as honorable as death, but most people seek it.
She was his north star, the fixed point round which his world turned. For as long as his heart beat, or hers, he believed they would always share a destiny.
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.
Steal a loaf of bread and they hang you, steal a land and they'll make you king.
Life is not so simple. There are many futures. The life of a single person is like a great tree: every branch, every twig, every leaf is a possible future.
We make choices everyday, some of them good, some of them bad. And - if we are strong enough - we live with the consequences.
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.
Never violate a woman, nor harm a child. Do not lie, cheat or steal. These things are for lesser men. Protect the weak against the evil strong. And never allow thoughts of gain to lead you into the persuit of evil.
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.
Some people have a gift for stupidity, an almost mystic ability to withstand any form of logic.
Nothing of real worth can ever be bought. Love, friendship, honour, valour, respect. All these things have to be earned.
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.
Heroes are people who face down their fears. It is that simple.
Every little bit of good I may do, let me do it now for I may not come this way again.
Do not complain of life's unfairness. It is never fair - at best it is impartial.
Nothing in life is sure, my son. Except the promise of death.
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.
A man should be free to do what he wants to do, as long as it doesn't hurt others.
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.
In my experience all women deserve someone better.
Foolish: It's all foolish. Life is a farce a stupid, sickening farce played out by fools.
We are full of dreams [...] We long for the unattainable. We believe in the nonsense of fables. There is no pure love; there is lust and there is need.
[H]e who fears to lose will never win.
Love is both wondrous and yet full of peril. Love is a gateway through which hatred - disguised and unrecognized - can pass.
I was a man before I was a king, and no true man walks away when a friend needs him.
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.
May all your dreams but one come true, for what is life without a dream?
There's no shame in fear. But understand this - the coward is ruled by fear, while the hero rides it like a wild stallion.
We all have scars [...] Better by far for them to be worn on the outside.
A warrior...must believe in his strength of will, of purpose, of heart and soul.
Men don't change. They just learn to disguise the lack of change.
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.
Too many people go through life without pausing to enjoy what they have.
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?
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.
Be at peace, my friend. One thing I have learnt about Death is that his bark is worse than his bite.
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.
Do not speak badly of yourself, for the warrior that is inside you hears your words and is lessened by them.
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.
The night has a capacity for terror that the day can never match.
Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone fails at something.
There is evil in all of us, and it is the mark of a man how he defies the evil within.
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