Top 179 Quotes & Sayings by Terry Goodkind - Page 2

Everything is valuable under the right conditions. To a man dying of thirst, water be more precious than gold. To a drowning man, water be of little worth and great trouble.

Sometimes, making the wrong choice is better than making no choice. You have the courage to go forward, that is rare. A person who stands at the fork, unable to pick, will never get anywhere.

There is no such thing as pure good or pure evil, least of all in people. In the best of us there are thoughts or deeds that are wicked, and in the worst of us, at least some virtue. An adversary is not one who does loathsome acts for their own sake. He always has a reason that to him is justification. My cat eats mice. Does that make him bad? I don't think so, and the cat doesn't think so, but I would bet the mice have a different opinion.

Love is not about what you want. It's about finding happiness for the one you love.

Once committed to fight, cut. Everything else is secondary. Cut. That is your duty, your purpose, your hunger. There is no rule more important, no commitment that overrides that one. Cut. Cut from the void, not from bewilderment. Cut the enemy as quickly and directly as possible. Cut decisively, resolutely. Cut into the enemy’s strength. Flow through the gaps in his guard. Cut him. Cut him down utterly. Don’t allow him a breath. Crush him. Cut him without mercy to the depths of his spirit." -Richard Rahl

The only thing you can be is yourself nothing more nothing less

Laugh all you want. I know my own worth and don't need to prove it to someone who doesn't know theirs.

There is nothing that exists that has only one side. Even a piece of paper, thin as it is, has two sides.

Never let a beautiful woman pick your path for you when there is a man in her line of sight

Those who have come here to hate should leave now; for in their hate, they only betray themselves.

Faith and feelings are the warm marrow of evil. Unlike reason, faith and feelings provide no boundary to limit any delusion, any whim. They are virulent poison, giving the numbing illusion of moral sanction to every depravity ever hatched. Faith and feelings are the darkness to reason’s light. Reason is the very substance of truth itself. The glory that is life is wholly embraced through reason. In rejecting it, in rejecting reason, one embraces death.

Others made you into who you were. You made yourself into what you have become.

We can't live our lives according to what might have been. We have to live by what is.

Celebrating faith over reason is merely a way of denying what is, in favor of embracing any whim that strikes your fancy.

Wizard's Tenth Rule Willfully turning aside from the truth is treason to one's self.

Every person's life is theirs by right. An individual's life can and must belong only to to himself, not to any society or community, or he is then but a slave.

I love you," she whispered. Richard pulled her tight against him. His fingers traced a trail down the bumps of her spine. "I feel so frustrated that there aren't any better words than "I love you,"" he said. "It doesn't seem enough for the way I feel about you. I'm sorry there aren't any better words to tell you." "They are words enough for me." "Then, I love you, Kahlan. A thousand times, a million times, I love you. Forever.

Grrratch luuug Raaaach aaarg

Honor is honesty to what is, not blind duty to what you wish to be.

It isn't what kind of house you have that matters. This is not happiness. It's what kind of mind you have, and how you care for your fellow man -- what you can do to help others who can be helped by no one else.

Richard," Kahlan said, "what about Siddin? Weselan and Savidlin will be worried sick over him." Her green eyes gazed deep into his. She leaned closer, and whispered, "And we have unfinished business in the spirit house. I believe there is still an apple there we have yet to finish." Her arm tightened around his waist, and a little twist of a smile came to her lips. The shape of the smile caught his breath in his throat.

Fools who won't see the truth are deadly.

I'd rather look a fool than be right and fail to act.

Cut the attacker down, to cut them down to their very soul

Life is the future, not the past. The past can teach us, through experience, how to accomplish things in the future, comfort us with cherished memories, and provide the foundation of what has already been accomplished. But only the future holds life. To live in the past is to embrace what is dead. To live life to its fullest, each day must be created anew.

Richard started to walk away. Zedd called his name. He stopped and turned. Just be glad she cares for you as much as she does. If she didn't, she might have touched you." Richard stared back at him a long moment. "I'm afraid, in a way, she already has.

Emotions are the end result, the sum, of things learned

Why should I live my whole life where I don't want to be. [it's a good point - pretty hard to argue with that sort of logic really isn't it!

Enemies,' the wizard said, 'are the price of honour.

It's only some rice and beans Captain. It's not like I'm giving you Cara's hand in marriage." - Richard

Wizard's Ninth Rule A contradiction can not exist in reality. Not in part, nor in whole.

Being afraid something is true is accepting the possibility. Accepting the possibility is the first step to believing.

Wizard's Sixth Rule The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason.

When you insist someone submit to your will, it is accomplished most easily if you give them a small victory so they can retain their dignity while they do as you insist. ~ Kahlan Mother Confessor

The Second Rule is that the greatest harm can result from the best intentions. It sounds a paradox, but kindness and good intentions can be an insidious path to destruction. Sometimes doing what seems right is wrong, and can cause harm. The only counter to it is knowledge, wisdom, forethought, and understanding the First Rule. Even then, that is not always enough.

Are we our bodies? Is a small person less than a big person, then? If we were our bodies, then when we lost an arm, or a leg, would we be less, would we begin to fade from existence? No. We are the same person. We are not our bodies; we are our thoughts. As they form, they define who we are, and create the reality of our existence.

Wizard's Seventh Rule Life is the future, not the past.

Wizard's Eighth Rule Talga Vassternich. (Deserve Victory)

Once you teach me something, it's mine to use.

When you're the leader, everything is your fault.

...Wizard's Fifth Rule: Mind what people do, not only what they say, for deeds will betray a lie.

To the right person, the person who is truly born to it, duty is a form of love, through which all is possible. Duty is not always a denial of things, but an expansion of them to others. Duty is not always a chore, but is best carried out with love.

Teasingly she took the apple from his mouth. Juice ran down his chin. Slowly, deliberately, she leaned over and licked the sweet juice from his chin. I will have to admit though, that I will never look at an apple in quite the same way.

Hesitation is a mistake that invites defeat. I would not be Mord-Sith had I not hesitated when I was young." - Cara

You can destroy those who speak the truth, but you cannot destroy the truth itself

Many people believe everything others say, even though what they see with their own eyes, should be enough to tell them otherwise.

The mice think they are right, but my cat eats them anyways. This is the point, reality is nothing, perception is everything.

I will have to admit, though, that I will never look at an apple in quite the same way.

Fate does not seek our consent.

His face set in grim determination, Richard slogged ahead, his fingers reaching up to touch the tooth under his shirt. Loneliness, deeper than he had never known, sagged his shoulders. All his friends were lost to him. He knew now that his life was not his own. It belonged to his duty, to his task. He was the Seeker. Nothing more. Nothing less. Not his own man, but a pawn to be used by others. A tool, same as his sword, to help others, that they might have the life he had only glimpsed for a twinkling. He was no different from the dark things in the boundary. A bringer of death.

Wizard's Fourth Rule There is magic in sincere forgiveness; in the forgiveness you give, but more so in the forgiveness you receive.

Everybody knows it. Wizards are supposed to have beards. It's common knowledge.

Only those you trust can betray you" ~ Nathan

Cara waggled a hand over the two of them. "It works better with your clothes off." Richard frowned. His voice came as a hoarse croak. "What?" She seemed mystified by the question. "I believe you will find such things work better without clothes." She put her hands to her hips. "I thought you would know at least that much.

I add my oath of protection to the bone,' he said in a whisper. 'To you now and to any child you may bear in the future. I would trade no day I spend with you for a life of safe slavery. I accepted the post of Seeker of my own free will. And if Darken Rahl takes the whole world into madness, then we will die with a sword in our hands, not chains on our wings. We will not allow it to be easy for them to kill us; they will pay a high price. We will fight with our last breath if need be, and in our death, let us inflict a wound on him that will fester until it claims him.

Dance with me, Death, I am ready.

Dancing with death meant being committed to killing, committed with your heart and soul.

Intent is guilt. Failure to successfully carry out the intent does not absolve the guilt.

If you are unwilling to defend your right to your own lives, then you are merely like mice trying to argue with owls. You think their ways are wrong. They think you are dinner.

Standing for truth is everything. Truth is power. Don't ever forget that.