Quotes from King of Thorns

Mark Lawrence ·  449 pages

Rating: (43.3K votes)


“We die a little every day and by degrees we’re reborn into different men, older men in the same clothes, with the same scars.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“There is no sound more annoying than the chatter of a child, and none more sad than the silence they leave when they are gone.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“Memory is all we are. Moments and feelings, captured in amber, strung on filaments of reason. Take a man’s memories and you take all of him. Chip away a memory at a time and you destroy him as surely as if you hammered nail after nail through his skull.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“As a child there's a horror in discovering the limitations of the ones you love. The time you find that your mother cannot keep you safe, that your tutor makes a mistake, that the wrong path must be taken because the grown-ups lack the strength to take the right one...each of those moments is the theft of your childhood, each of them a blow that kills some part of the child you were, leaving another part of the man exposed, a new creature, tougher but tempered with bitterness and disappointment.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“Is this going to be one of those times when you pretend not to have a plan until the last moment? And then turn out to really not have one?- Sir Makin to King Jorg”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns



“A Dark time comes.
My time.
If it offends you.
Stop Me.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“I've always seen 'no' as a challenge rather than an answer.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“We’re built of contradictions, all of us. It’s those opposing forces that give us strength, like an arch, each block pressing the next. Give me a man whose parts are all aligned in agreement and I’ll show you madness. We walk a narrow path, insanity to each side. A man without contradictions to balance him will soon veer off.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“I’d be happier on a horse,” Makin said.
“I’d be happier on a giant mountain goat,” I said. “One that shat diamonds. Until we find some, we’re walking.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“There is something brittle in me that will break before it bends. Perhaps if the [the enemy] had brought a smaller army I might have had the sense to run. But he overdid it.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns



“They say that time is a great teacher but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“The way I’d put it,” said Makin, “is that Rike can’t make an omelet without wading thigh deep in the blood of chickens and wearing their entrails as a necklace.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“The Prince of Arrow has a much bigger army than you," Miana said. No "Your Highness" no "My Lord."

"Yes, he does." I kept waving to the crowd, the big smile on my face.

"He's going to win, isn't he?" she said. She looked twelve but she didn't sound twelve.

"How old are you?" I asked, a quick glance down at her, still waving.

"Twelve."

Damn.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“A fool may scrawl on a slate and if no one has the wit to wipe it clean for a thousand years, the scrawl becomes the wisdom of ages.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“Makin once told me that a man who's got no fear is missing a friend.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns



“Sometime, it's easier to love someone with flaws you can forgive in return for them forgiving yours.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“So what was that about?" Makin asked, striding up behind.

"They shot my idiot," I said.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“Some men name their swords. I've always found that a strange affection. If I had to call it something I would all it "Sharp”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“I watched her backside as she went. I thought perhaps I wouldn't die if I could still find time to watch a well-crafted bottom”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“Three months previously I had entered the Haunt alone, covered in blood that was not my own and swinging a stolen sword. By Brothers followed me in. Now I left the castle in the hands of another. I had wanted my uncle's blood. His crown I took because other men said I could not have it.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns



“You're going now?" Makin asked, putting down his bottle-in-a-basket.

"Well, unless you want to drink till we're all sunburnt and maudlin and then declare undying love for each other and part with drunken hugs?" I said.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“This is a bad idea."

"If you ever stop saying that, I'll know it's time to start worrying.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“Some pain you can distance yourself from, but a headache sits right where you live.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“If the sins of the flesh ever got old I didn't ever want enough years on me to know it.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“In battle though his hands grow clever, and you'd think him whole, until the din fades, the dying fall, and Maical wanders the fields weeping.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns



“Orrin of Arrow might have given them bread. He might have resolved to change this place. I just walk through it. Later I will scrape it from my shoes.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“In the end though, everybody dies, but not everybody lives—the climber, though he may die young, will have lived.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“All of us fractured, awkward collages of experience wrapped tight to present a defensible face to the world. And what makes us human is that sometimes we snap. And in that moment of release we’re closer to gods than we know.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“All men will dig their heels in if pushed enough. All men will reach the point that they say "no" for no reason other than opposition, for no reason other than the word fits their mouth, and tastes as good as it sounds.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns


“The bladder-pipe, a local Highlands speciality, is to music what warthogs are to mathematics. Largely unconnected.”
― Mark Lawrence, quote from King of Thorns



About the author

Mark Lawrence
Born place: in The United States
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“He wears his pain on his sleeves, and hides his joys in his heart, because he’s so damn terrified of losing them. And maybe that’s why you clash sometimes, because you’re the opposite, Becca. You only share your joy, while you hide your pain. And, maybe, if you can both find a way to balance that, you’ll find the coast.”
― Jay McLean, quote from Coast


“You have risen from the ashes before. The only way to survive, " he said, "is to believe you always will.”
― Samantha Shannon, quote from The Song Rising


“You mean Heiron,’ said Lamen. ‘Yes, that’s right,’ said Charls. ‘I can’t meet Heiron,’ said Lamen. ‘It’s understandable to be nervous around great men like the Kyros, Lamen. But the Prince wouldn’t have you as an assistant if he didn’t believe in your abilities.’ Lamen passed his hand over his face and had a look of distraught amusement. ‘Charls—’ ‘Don’t worry, Lamen. Here it is not as it is with smaller houses. The Kyros is a great but remote figure. Most likely our dealings will be with the Keeper.’ Lamen”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from The Adventures of Charls, the Veretian Cloth Merchant


“Life ... is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Macbeth (Wordsworth Classics)


“At home in Moscow everything was in its winter routine; the stoves were heated, and in the morning it was still dark when the children were having breakfast and getting ready for school, and the nurse would light the lamp for a short time. The frosts had begun already. When the first snow has fallen, on the first day of sledge-driving it is pleasant to see the white earth, the white roofs, to draw soft, delicious breath, and the season brings back the days of one's youth. The old limes and birches, white with hoar-frost, have a good-natured expression; they are nearer to one's heart than cypresses and palms, and near them one doesn't want to be thinking of the sea and the mountains.”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from Dama s psičkom


Interesting books

After You
(203.3K)
After You
by Jojo Moyes
Light on Snow
(25.5K)
Light on Snow
by Anita Shreve
Audrey, Wait!
(13.9K)
Audrey, Wait!
by Robin Benway
100 Cupboards
(13.5K)
100 Cupboards
by N.D. Wilson
Existentialism Is a Humanism
(17.1K)
Existentialism Is a...
by Jean-Paul Sartre
Bed of Roses
(50.5K)
Bed of Roses
by Nora Roberts

About BookQuoters

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.