“This is where the wise man turns away. This is where the holy kneel and call on God. These are the last miles, my brothers. Don't look to me to save you. Don't think I will not spend you. Run if you have the wit. Pray if you have the soul. Stand your ground if courage is yours. But don't follow me.
Follow me, and I will break your heart.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“No half measures. Some things can’t be cut in half. You can’t half-love someone. You can’t half-betray, or half-lie.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“There's a slope down toward evil, a gentle gradient that can be ignored at each step, unfelt. It's not until you look back, see the distant heights where you once lived, that you understand your journey.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“Dark times call for dark choices. Choose me.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“Every man has his thorns, not of him, but in him, deep as bones.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“Hurt spreads and grows and reaches out to break what’s good. Time heals all wounds, but often it’s only by the application of the grave, and while we live some hurts live with us, burning, making us twist and turn to escape them. And as we twist, we turn into other men.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“I kissed her cheek then, because I feared to do it and though commonsense may occasionally bind me, I'll be fucked if fear will.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“When you're in a dark place, and your light is going to run out before too long, you get on with things. It's a wonder to me how few people apply that same logic to their lives.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“I knew myself broken, to burn over every refusal, to feel my blood rise at the slightest provocation, but knowing and fixing are different things.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“After all, getting everything you wish for is nearly as dire a curse as having all your dreams come true.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“Words are blunt instruments, better suited to murder than to making sense of the world.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“Some tell it that "sorry" is the hardest word, but for me it has always been "help".”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“Nature shaped the claw to trap, and the tooth to kill, but the thorn...the thorn's only purpose is to hurt.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“If you must run, have something to run toward, so it feels less like cowardice.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“I maintain a balanced view of the world, but that balance is always in my favour.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“There are truths you know but will not speak. Even to yourself in the darkness where we are all of us alone. There are memories you see and yet don't see.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“We can’t be trapped by fear. Lives lived within such walls are just slower deaths.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“It's an irony of our times that men seeking peace must make war.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“I would shake the world until its teeth rattled if that was required to have it spit out an answer.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“There's a road to hell that is paved with good intentions but it's a long route. The quicker path is paved with the kind of ignorance that clever men who just don't want to know are best at.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“Every man has his thorns, not of him, but in him, deep as bones. The scars of the briar mark me, a calligraphy of violence, a message of blood-writ, requiring a lifetime to translate.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“Take a rest and the world catches up with you. Lesson in life—keep moving.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“People who talk about the weather would be better served by admitting they've nothing to say but like the sound of their own voice.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“Clarity of vision is a thing much prized. I find when you turn that clear sight upon yourself—and see through to the truth behind your own actions—it might be better to be blind.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“But I respected his instincts as a killer and I liked the honesty of the man. And who was I to judge? I'd F'ed a necromancer and killed a Pope within the space of a week.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“Pretty armour doesn't make a warrior.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“My enemies defeated, and yet the sorrow remained, keener, more true, more clean, for I had always owned it. It echoed back to the thorns, the tone of a bell resounding through the years. We're fashioned by our sorrows - not by joy - they are the undercurrent, the refrain. Joy is fleeting.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“Two dozen--and yet you killed all but one?" The provost arched a brow and set her quill down again as if unwilling to record a falsehood.
"Dear lady, I killed them from youngest child to oldest woman, and when I was done I blunted three axes dismembering their corpses. I am Jorg of Ancrath--I burned ten thousand in Gelleth and didn't think it too many.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“Men who are certain of everything—well perhaps they're not men at all.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
“A man can reach into anything and turn it to his cause. It's not want, or desire, just certainty. Only be assured that whatever you reach into will reach into you in turn.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from Emperor of Thorns
Mark Lawrence
Born place: in The United States
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“To write a song that is remembered and taken to heart," Richards notes, "is a connection, a touching of bases. A thread that runs through all of us. A stab to the heart." Keith Richards from his autobiography”
― Keith Richards, quote from Life
“Child's evidence is always the best evidence there is. I'd rely on it every time. No good in court, of course. Children can't stand being asked direct questions. They mumble or else look idiotic and say they don't know. They're at their best when they're showing off.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from Crooked House
“She looks a little small though and would probably be frightened of us.” Tiger remembered her pulling his hair at the base of his neck to jerk his face down to meet her lips after she’d demanded he kiss her.”
― Laurann Dohner, quote from Tiger
“When you have all eternity, the word hurry is relative."
"And the guards, being mortal, have less of it, and their version of slugglish doesn't approach your version of fast?"
"Something very like that.”
― Michelle Sagara, quote from Cast in Secret
“I want to hurt you.
I want to own you.
I want to devour you.
I want to make you mine.
I’m already yours.”
― Pepper Winters, quote from Tears of Tess
Second Foundation
Fear
The Brothers Lionhea...
The Rum Diary
Hunger
The Gulag Archipelag...BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.
