Quotes from The Black Company

Glen Cook ·  319 pages

Rating: (31.3K votes)


“Evil is relative…You can’t hang a sign on it. You can’t touch it or taste it or cut it with a sword. Evil depends on where you are standing, pointing your indicting finger.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company


“If one chooses sides on emotion then the rebel is the guy to go with. He is fighting for everything men claim to honour, freedom, independance, truth, the right.......all the subjective illusions. All the eternal trigger words. We are minions of the villan of the piece. We confess the illusion and deny the substance.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company


“Any man who barely sustains an armistice with himself has no business poking around in an alien soul.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company


“Consider little children. There are not many of them not cute and lovable and precious, sweet as whipped honey and butter. So where do all the wicked people come from?”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company


“Only a conquerer bothers to honor a fallen foe.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company



“You who come after me, scribbling these Annals, by now realize that I shy off portraying the whole truth about our band of blackguards. You know they are vicious, violent, and ignorant. They are complete barbarians, living out their cruelest fantasies, their behavior tempered only by the presence of a few decent men. I do not often show that side because these men are my brethren, my family, and I was taught young not to speak ill of kin. The old lessons die hardest.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company


“I was my usual charming morning self, threatening blood feud with anyone fool enough to disturb my dreams.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company


“Still, the best augurs are those who divine from the portents of the past. They compile phenomenal records.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company


“Ah, the smell of mystery and dark doings, of skulduggery and revenge. The meat of a good tale.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company


“I damned myself for my earlier romanticism. That Croaker who had come north, so thoroughly bemused by the mysterious Lady, was another man. A stripling, filled with the foolish ignorances of youth. Yeah. Sometimes you lie to yourself just to keep going.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company



“One endured with humble dignity the consequences of youthful folly.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company


“The price of order,” I muttered. I tried to run the dog off. It wouldn’t budge.
“The cost of chaos,” Tom-Tom countered. Thump on his drum. “Not quite the same thing, Croaker.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company


“A herd of minuscule lightning bugs poured out of One-Eye's nostrils. Good soldiers all, they fell into formation, spelling out the words Goblin is a Poof.
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company


“Back to the company. Back to business. Back to the parade of years. Back to the annals. Back to fear.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company


“Nevertheless, four hours after dawn they began dying for their cause.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company



“Closer at hand, the wheeling gulls were as surly and lackadaisical as the day promised to make most men.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company


“The Hanged Man stopped gesturing and struck a pose: man listening.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company


“One-Eye’s handicap in no way impairs his marvelous hindsight. Lightning”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company


“Okay, Croaker. What the hell happened?”
“I don't know. The falling sickness?”
“Give him some of his own soup,” somebody suggested. “Serve him right.” A tin cup appeared. We forced its contents down his throat.
His eye clicked open. “What are you trying to do? Poison me? Feh! What was that? Boiled sewage?”
“Your soup,” I told him.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Black Company


About the author

Glen Cook
Born place: in The United States
Born date July 9, 1944
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Master Fellows surprised Ellysetta with an unexpected compliment. "You have a natural regal grace, my lady, and it has been the greatest of pleasures to teach you. Just remember, while some part of you may always be Ellie, the woodcarver's daughter, you are also Lady Ellysetta, the Tairen Soul's queen." He bowed and kissed her hand. "At the palace tonight, let Ellysetta reign.”
― C.L. Wilson, quote from Lady of Light and Shadows


“Got to say, dying would really wreck my best day. Been there, done that, and now that I think about it, Artemis forgot to give me the t-shirt.”
― Sherrilyn Kenyon, quote from Retribution


“you will probably be eaten by either wild boar, coyotes, or at the very least these fucking annoying pterodactyl mosquitoes.”
― T.M. Frazier, quote from The Dark Light of Day


“Before he had come to the town he had known about nothing but death: here he had learnt to live, to decide things for himself; he had learnt what it felt like to wash in clean water in the sunshine until he was clean himself, and what it felt like to satisfy his hunger with food that tasted good; he had learnt the sound of laughter that was free from cruelty; he had learnt the meaning of beauty”
― quote from I Am David


“You trying to make me crazy?”
“Everyone needs a hobby.”
― Nalini Singh, quote from Branded by Fire


Interesting books

The Secret Letters of the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
(5.2K)
The Secret Letters o...
by Robin S. Sharma
Kitchens of the Great Midwest
(26.2K)
Kitchens of the Grea...
by J. Ryan Stradal
Men We Reaped
(8.6K)
Men We Reaped
by Jesmyn Ward
Because You'll Never Meet Me
(3.9K)
Because You'll Never...
by Leah Thomas
The Disenchantments
(8.2K)
The Disenchantments
by Nina LaCour
In the After
(10.7K)
In the After
by Demitria Lunetta

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.