“Wise words are like arrows flung at your forehead. What do you do? Why, you duck of course.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“One day, perhaps, you will see for yourself that regrets are as nothing. The value lies in how they are answered.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“Shadow is ever besieged, for that is its nature. Whilst darkness devours, and light steals. And so one sees shadow ever retreat to hidden places, only to return in the wake of the war between dark and light.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“I was needed, but I myself did not need. I had followers, but not allies, and only now do I understand the difference. And it is vast.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“Ammanas slipped noiselessly forward until he was on the other side of the corpse. ‘It’s her, isn’t it.’
‘It is.’
‘How many times do our followers have to die, Cotillion?’ the god asked, then sighed. ‘Then again, she clearly ceased being a follower some time ago.’
‘She thought we were gone, Ammanas. The Emperor and Dancer. Gone. Dead.’
‘And in a way, she was right.’
‘In a way, aye. But not in the most important way.’
‘Which is?’
Cotillion glanced up, then grimaced. ‘She was a friend.’
‘Ah, that most important way.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“Innocence is only a virtue, lass, when it is temporary. You must pass from it to look back and recognize its unsullied purity. To remain innocent is to twist beneath invisible and unfathomable forces all your life, until one day you realize yourself, and it comes to you that innocence was a curse that had shackled you, defeated your every expression of living.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“The stars, they are as the sun. Each star. Every star. And those spheres- they are worlds, realms, each one different yet the same.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“Karsa's expression soured. 'When I began this journey, I was young. I believed in one thing. I
believed in glory. I know now, Siballe, that glory is nothing. Nothing. This is what I now understand.'
'What else do you now understand, Karsa Orlong?'
'Not much. Just one other thing. The same cannot be said for mercy.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“You have learned much, Karsa Orlong."
"I have, T'lan Imass. As you shall witness.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“So you say, with your shiny hair and pouty lips - and those breasts - just wait till you start dropping whelps, they'll be at your ankles one day, big as they are - not the whelps, the breasts. The whelps will be in your hair - no, not the shiny hair on your head, well, yes, that hair, but only as a manner of speech.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“Behind us, our paths stretch, long and worn deep. There is bitter pathos in the prospect of retracing them. Yet, for those of us who remain... awake, it seems we do nothing but just that. An endless retracing of paths, yet each step we take is forward, for the path has proved itself to be a circle. Yet- and here is the true pathos- the knowledge never slows our steps.
"Wide-eyed stupid", the Malazans say.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“What matter the colour of the collar around a man’s neck, if the chains linked to them were identical?”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“Is that all we mortals are? The victims of tortured irony to amuse an insane murder of gods?
A murder of crows, a murder of gods-I like that, lass.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“Love changes, aye, in the manner of growing to encompass as much of its subject as possible. Virtues, flaws, limitations, everything—love will fondle them all, with child-like fascination.’ She”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“I see no value in modest ambitions
- Karsa Orlong”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“The heart is neither given nor stolen. The heart surrenders.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“I'm not a god in the traditional fashion, I am a patron. Patrons have responsibilities. Granted, I rarely have the opportunity to exercise them.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“Karsa shrugged. ‘The Malazan soldiers in Genabaris said the Seven Cities was going to rebel against their occupiers. This is why the Teblor do not make conquests. Better that the enemy keeps its land, so that we may raid again and again.’
‘Not the imperial way,’ the Daru responded, shaking his head. ‘Possession and control, the two are like insatiable hungers for some people. Oh, no doubt the Malazans have thought up countless justifications for their wars of expansion. It’s well known that Seven Cities was a rat’s warren of feuds and civil wars, leaving most of the population suffering and miserable and starving under the heels of fat warlords and corrupt priest-kings. And that, with the Malazan conquest, the thugs ended up spiked to the city walls or on the run. And the wilder tribes no longer sweep down out of the hills to deliver mayhem on their more civilized kin. And the tyranny of the priesthoods was shattered, putting an end to human sacrifice and extortion. And of course the merchants have never been richer, or safer on these roads. So, all in all, this land is rife for rebellion.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“There’s little value in seeking to find reasons for why people do what they do, or feel the way they feel. Hatred is a most pernicious weed, finding root in any kind of soil. It feeds on itself.’ ‘With words.’ ‘Indeed, with words. Form an opinion, say it often enough and pretty soon everyone’s saying it right back at you, and then it becomes a conviction, fed by unreasoning anger and defended with weapons of fear. At which point, words become useless and you’re left with a fight to the death.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“The past is all patterns, and those patterns remain beneath our feet, even as the stars above reveal their own patterns—for the stars we gaze upon each night are naught but an illusion from the past.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“Too old to dream of perfection, perhaps, she had instead discovered a certain delicious appeal in flaws.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“You`re learning, friend.`
`The lessons of civilization.`
`Just so. There`s little value in seeking to find reasons for why people do what they do, or feel the way they feel. Hatred is a most pernicious weed, finding root in any kind of soil. It feeds on itself.`
`With words.`
`Indeedm with words. Form an opinion, say it ofren enough and pretty soon everyone`s saying it right back at you, and then it becomes a conviction, fed by unreasoning anger and defended with a fight to the death.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“Secrets have power so long as they remain secrets”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“With ever greater frequency they annihilate themselves, for success breeds contempt for those very qualities that purchased it.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“Extraordinary, how single lives just fold into the whole mess, over and over again, all caught up in the greater swirl. Spinning round and round, and ever downward, it seems. Ever downward. Fools, all of us, to think we can swim clear of that current.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“At night ghosts come In rivers of grief, To claw away the sand beneath a man’s feet.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“You think too much, Pearl. It’s your most irritating flaw, and, let us be honest, given the severity and sheer volume of your flaws, that is saying something. Since this seems to be a time for advice, I suggest you stop thinking entirely.’ ‘And how might I achieve that? Follow your lead, perhaps?’ ‘I think neither too much nor too little. I am perfectly balanced—this is what you find so attractive. As a capemoth is drawn to fire.’ ‘So I am in danger of being burned up?’ ‘To a blackened, shrivelled crust.’ ‘So, you’re pushing me away for my own good. A gesture of compassion, then.’ ‘Fires neither push nor pull. They simply exist, compassionless, indifferent to the suicidal urges of flitting bugs. That is another one of your flaws, Pearl. Attributing emotion where none exists.’ ‘I could have sworn there was emotion, two nights past—’ ‘Oh, fire burns eagerly when there’s fuel—’ ‘And in the morning there’s naught but cold ashes.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“I have tolerated the deceitful and the malicious for long enough. My sword shall now answer them.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“My shamans have read the sands. They have learned much of your future. (...)’
Gamet was scowling. ‘I do not wish to offend, Warchief, but I hold little faith in divination. No mortal—no god—can say we are doomed, or destined. The future remains unknown, the one thing we cannot force a pattern upon.’
(...)
‘Do you not see patterns in history, Fist? Are you blind to the cycles we all suffer through? Look upon this desert, this wasteland you cross. Yours is not the first empire that would claim it. And what of the tribes? Before the Khundryl, before the Kherahn Dhobri and the Tregyn, there were the Sanid, and the Oruth, and before them there were others whose names have vanished. Look upon the ruined cities, the old roads. The past is all patterns, and those patterns remain beneath our feet, even as the stars above reveal their own patterns—for the stars we gaze upon each night are naught but an illusion from the past.’ He raised the jug again and studied it for a moment. ‘Thus, the past lies beneath and above the present, Fist. This is the truth my shamans embrace, the bones upon which the future clings like muscle.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
“Even the gods felt close, drawn to witness all that was to come. Witness, or to seize the moment and act directly. A nudge here, a tug there, if only to appease their egos… if only to see what happens.”
― Steven Erikson, quote from House of Chains
Steven Erikson
Born place: in Toronto, Canada
Born date October 7, 1959
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“You are too late," he cried proudly, "I have shot the Wendy. Peter will be so pleased with me."
Overhead Tinker Bell shouted "Silly ass!" and darted into hiding.”
― J.M. Barrie, quote from Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens / Peter and Wendy
“Truth! Truth! Truth! crieth the Lord of the Abyss of Hallucinations”
― Aleister Crowley, quote from The Book of Lies
“I have heard what the talkers were talking, the talk of the beginning and the end. But I do not talk of the beginning or the end.”
― Michael Cunningham, quote from Specimen Days
“She ate from my plates and wore my clothes and slept in my bed like Goldilocks while the benevolent, lumbering bear went south for the holidays.”
― Ann Patchett, quote from Truth and Beauty
“In the bad old days, men kept women from choosing to work. In the bad new days, women keep women from choosing to stay home.”
― Jennifer Crusie, quote from Manhunting
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A Spy in the House o...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.
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