Quotes from Shield of Thunder

David Gemmell ·  480 pages

Rating: (7.6K votes)


“Nothing of real worth can ever be bought. Love, friendship, honour, valour, respect. All these things have to be earned.”
― David Gemmell, quote from Shield of Thunder


“I may be stupid, as you say, to believe in honour and friendship and loyalty without price. But these are virtues to be cherished, for without them we are no more than beasts roaming the land.”
― David Gemmell, quote from Shield of Thunder


“There is a darkness in you. In all of us, probably. Beasts we keep chained. Ordinary men have to keep the chains strong, for if we let the beast loose then society will turn upon us with fiery vengeance. Kings though...well, who is there to turn upon them? So the chains are made of straw. It is the curse of kings, Helikaon, that they can become monsters. And they invariably do.”
― David Gemmell, quote from Shield of Thunder


“Love is a mystery. We embrace it where we can. Mostly we do not choose whom we love. It just happens. A voice speaks to us, in ways the ears cannot hear. We recognize a beauty the eye does not see. We experience a change in our hearts that no voice can describe.”
― David Gemmell, quote from Shield of Thunder


“It seems to me, that you people spend a great deal of time talking about honour, but strip away the high sounding words and you are no different from any other race. Family? Has Priam not killed wayward sons? When a king dies do his sons not go to war with one another to succeed him? Men speak of how you reacted to your father's death. They say it was amazing, for you did not order your little brother's execution. Your race thrives on blood and death, Helikaon. Your ships raid the coasts of other nations, stealing slaves, burning and plundering. Warriors brag of how many men they have killed, and women they have raped. Almost all of your kings either seized their thrones with swords and murder, or are children of men who seized power with swords and murder. So put all this talk of honour to one side.”
― David Gemmell, quote from Shield of Thunder



“would ride into fire. For Odysseus that whip was pride.”
― David Gemmell, quote from Shield of Thunder


About the author

David Gemmell
Born place: in London, England, The United Kingdom
Born date August 1, 1948
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“It's a special form of scholarly neurosis,´ said Camel. `He's no longer able to distinguish between life and literature.´”
― David Lodge, quote from The British Museum Is Falling Down


“Relationship is thus always slavery of a kind, which leaves a residue of guilt.”
― Ernest Becker, quote from The Denial of Death


“Was he willing to blend into the life of another human being for the rest of his days, and have hers blend into his? That, of course, was the Bible’s bottom line on marriage: one flesh. Not separate entities, not two autonomous beings merely coming together at dinnertime or brushing past one another in the hallway, holding on to their singleness, guarding against invasion. One flesh!" (p. 207).”
― Jan Karon, quote from A Light in the Window


“You feel even more naked and alone, he said silently, when you reveal yourself, a gratuitous act, for the strength and comfort you look for, any of those last illusions of consolations, can finally be only within you.”
― Upamanyu Chatterjee, quote from English, August: An Indian Story


“But any religion would be found lacking if judged solely by its human servants.”
― Joan Wolf, quote from The Road to Avalon


Interesting books

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
(1.2K)
The Dangerous Lives...
by Chris Fuhrman
Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts
(18.2K)
Mistakes Were Made (...
by Carol Tavris
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
(40.3K)
The Goal: A Process...
by Eliyahu M. Goldratt
On the Other Side
(5.1K)
On the Other Side
by Carrie Hope Fletcher
A Long Way Gone
(134.5K)
A Long Way Gone
by Ishmael Beah
The Girl In Between
(6.3K)
The Girl In Between
by Laekan Zea Kemp

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.