Top 313 Quotes & Sayings by Robert Jordan - Page 5

Tuon's eyes snapped open, and despite the dim light, she focused directly on Mat. She saw the knife in his hand, ready to throw. Then she looked over her shoulder.

Violence harms the one who does it as much as the one who receives it. You could cut down a tree with an axe. The axe does violence to the tree, and escapes unharmed. Is that how you see it? Wood is soft compared to steel, but the sharp steel is dulled as it chops, and the sap of the tree will rust and pit it. The mighty axe does violence to the helpless tree, and is harmed by it. So it is with men, though the harm is in the spirit.

Sometimes six and six make a dozen, and sometimes they make a mess

Two hands. One to destroy, the other to save. Which had he lost?

Strange clothes you wear, Child of the Dragon. Has the Wheel turned so far? Do the People of the Dragon return to the first Covenant? But you wear a sword. That is neither now nor then.

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?

Moiraine: It seems Ryne was wrong as well as a Darkfriend. You were better than he. Lan: He was better. But he thought I was finished, with only one arm. He never understood. You surrender after you're dead.

The Wheel of Time and the wheel of a man's life turn alike without pity or mercy.

Come to think of it, an Aes Sedai would probably follow a man off a cliff, too, if only to explain to him - in detail - all the things he was doing incorrectly in the way he went about killing himself.

A man can get killed in there.

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

Two days' hunger made a fine sauce for anything.

A pig painted gold is still a pig.

Even fools say something worthwhile now and again. Even a blind pig finds an acorn sometimes.

Whatever can be done, can be undone.

A spoonful of hope and a cup of despair

There were many good years. Good decades, good centuries. We believed we were living in paradise. Perhaps that was our downfall. We wanted our lives to be perfect, so we ignored imperfections. Problems were magnified through inattention and war might have become inevitable if the Bore hadn't ever made.

When a woman says she will obey you, of her own will, it is time to sleep lightly and watch your back.

Teach him how you will, a pig will never play the flute.

Well, I can admire stubbornness in a man. There is little to a man who's too easily biddable.

All was shattered, and all but memory lost, and one memory above all others, of him who brought the Shadow and the Breaking of the World. And him they named Dragon.

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.

You could weave silk from pig bristles before you could make a man anything but a man.

The only way to live is to die. I must die. I deserve only death.

If you wish, you may call me Rand Sedai.

I will hate the man you choose because he is not me, and love him if he makes you smile. No woman deserves the sure knowledge of widow’s black as her brideprice, you least of all.

You break your neck, and I’ll see it mended just so I can break it again.

Never kiss a girl whose brothers have knife scars.

Maybe there would be a Tinker city someday, too. They would buy up all of the colored dye, and everyone else in the world would ave to wear brown.' -Mat

My mother always told me the best way to learn to deal with a man was to learn to ride a mule. She said they have about equal brains most of the time. Sometimes the mule is smarter.

I've come to give you your gift back, Mordeth," Cauthon whispered. "I consider our debt paid in full.

If you ask the lion to protect from from wolves, you have only chosen to end in one belly instead of another.

To lead is neither to push or pull.

It was easier to be brave when someone needed your protection.

Thus is our treaty written; thus is agreement made. Thought is the arrow of time; memory never fades. What was asked is given; the price is paid.

I had long wondered," Lan said to Tam. "About the man who had given Rand that heron-marked blade. I wondered if he had truly earned it. Now I know." Lan raised his own sword in salute.

If it's not forbidden, then it's allowed

He doesn't know what to make of me," Mat said softly. "How very uncommon. I can't think of anyone else who has reacted that way to you, Mat.

These?" Mat said, gesturing to his coat and shirt. "I really have no idea. They were just down there. I'm completely baffled." He had been very pleased to learn that Seanchan guards-for all their stoic expressions and too-straight backs-responded to bribes like other people.

You read too much and understand too little.

And his paths shall be many, and who shall know his name, for he shall be beorn among us many times, in many guises, as he has been and ever will be, time without end. His coming shall be like the sharp edge of the plow, turning our lives in furrows form out of the places where we lie in our silence. The breaker of binds; the forger of chains. The maker of futures; the unshaper of destiny. -from Commentaries on the Prophecies of the Dragon, by Jurith Dorine, Right Hand to the Queen of Almoren, 742 AB, the Third Age

Perrin, my father says a general can take care of the living or weep for the dead, but he cannot do both.

Pessimism, she is a fond friend of yours, yes?" - That's uncalled for. I barely know her. Mere acquaintances, at best.

If wishes had wings, sheep would fly.

The leaf lives its appointed time, and does not struggle against the wind that carries it away. The leaf does no harm, and finally falls to nourish new leaves. So it should be with all men and women.

There's no time for winking at the men when you're busy bailing the boat.

No. Please do not name either child after me, Elayne. Let them live their own lives. My shadow will be long enough as it is.' -Rand

The end is near," Moridin said. "The Wheel has groaned its final rotation, the clock has lost its spring, the serpent heaves its final gasps.

You must surrender before you can guide.

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.

If it hurts too much, make it hurt someone else instead.

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

She understood his eyes, colder than winter's heart. A man who knew he was dead and couldn't make himself care; you are spared that. Mashiara. His lost love.

The nobles and the noble Houses maneuver for advantage. They do things they think will help them, or hurt and enemy, or both. Usually, it's all done in secrecy, or if not, they try to make it seem as if they're doing something other than what they are.

The Golden Crane flies for Tarmon Gai'don!

The best lie is often one too ridiculous to be taken for a lie.

Kill a man who needs killing, and sometimes others pay for it. The question is, was it worth doing it anyway? There's always a balance, you know. Good and evil. Light and Shadow. We would not be human if there wasn't a balance.

What woman could I hate enough to marry her to the Dragon Reborn?

By the way, I saved Moiraine. Chew on that as you try to decide which of the two of us is winning." -Mat

If a woman does need a hero, she needs him today, not tomorrow.