Quotes from Tower Lord

Anthony Ryan ·  602 pages

Rating: (32K votes)


“It’s always the way with great men, they can’t see the knives of those who live in their shadow.”
― Anthony Ryan, quote from Tower Lord


“Beware the seduction of the quick conclusion. Do not indulge in the answer you desire until you know all you need to know.”
― Anthony Ryan, quote from Tower Lord


“Mercy is the sweetest wine and the bitterest wormwood,” Eliss, the mother, said. “For it rewards the merciful and shames the guilty.”
― Anthony Ryan, quote from Tower Lord


“Is a lie really a lie if it is honestly believed?”
― Anthony Ryan, quote from Tower Lord


“I may not be the best Fief Lord, but I’m resolved to be the best uncle. And as a present to my niece I intend to find this priest and watch when you gut him. Would you like that?”
― Anthony Ryan, quote from Tower Lord



“Cruelty is in all of us,” he said. “But they made it a virtue.”
― Anthony Ryan, quote from Tower Lord


“He doesn’t address you properly,” she said. “Because I told him not to. Seems a little silly to stand on ceremony with a man who’s had his finger up your arse.”
― Anthony Ryan, quote from Tower Lord


“If the stars in the sky are not fixed, then nothing is fixed. Nothing is eternal, all is temporary and ever-changing.” She turned away from the stars, meeting his gaze. “Nothing is fixed, my lord. No course is so set it cannot be changed.”
― Anthony Ryan, quote from Tower Lord


“You hide it well, but I can see it, Lord Verniers. You hate us. We have beaten you to obedience but it's still there, like dry tinder waiting for a spark.”
― Anthony Ryan, quote from Tower Lord


“Nobility is a lie. A pretence that high standing comes from anything more than money or martial prowess. Any dolt can play the noble, and as you'll discover in time, daughter, it's mostly dolts who do.”
― Anthony Ryan, quote from Tower Lord



“What is broken remains so, it is the way of things.”
― Anthony Ryan, quote from Tower Lord


“You mistake purpose for cruelty, and I have always had a purpose. I am not mindless.”
― Anthony Ryan, quote from Tower Lord


“Lord Antesh,” Uncle Sentes said. “I see no recognisable flag of truce, do you?” Antesh pursed his lips and shook his head. “Can’t say as I do, my lord.” “Well then.” “. . . swift transportation to any land of your choice,” the Volarian was saying, the scroll held in front of his eyes. “Plus one hundred pounds in gol—” He choked off as Antesh’s arrow punched through the scroll and the breastplate beyond. He tumbled from the saddle and lay still, the scroll pinned to his chest. “Right,” the Fief Lord said, turning away. “Let me know when the rest get here.”
― Anthony Ryan, quote from Tower Lord


“Your realm is an insane place. In Volaria, no-one goes hungry, slaves are no use when they starve. Those freeborn too lazy or lacking in intelligence to turn sufficient profit to feed themselves are made slaves so they can generate wealth for those deserving of freedom, and be fed in return. Here, your people are chained by their freedom, free to starve and beg from the rich. It's disgusting.”
― Anthony Ryan, quote from Tower Lord


About the author

Anthony Ryan
Born place: in The United Kingdom
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Popular quotes

“...You think I lead these people for my own whim? I lead these people, honorable knight, because they have no one but me. Because they came to me when the humans slaughtered their families and drove them out. And I'll keep this place safe for them no matter how much spying and lying and killing it takes. You've never been a commander, lordling, or you'd know that it's easy to prate about honor when you're not responsible for others' lives. But let me tell you a bit of truth--sometimes honor doesn't get it done.”
― Hilari Bell, quote from The Goblin Wood


“In point of fact, he was not afraid to die, not anymore. He now understood with a faith that he had never before possessed that he would see those he had lost when he died, that everything would be made whole, that he would talk to Boukman, and his mother and father and sister, again. It was true that there was no need on earth that could not be slaked and satisfied. When you are thirsty there is water. When you are hungry there is food. It is impossible to need a thing without that thing being available for the having. A man may want a green horse that flies, but he canot need one, for there is no such thing.
At this precise moment, Toussaint felt that he needed Boukman, that he could not bear it if he never saw him again, and he knew, because this need existed, that it would be met.”
― Nick Lake, quote from In Darkness


“The result of pretending to be a more amiable, a more forgiving, a more high-minded person than one really is, has sooner or later the effect of causing one to behave as a more disagreeable, a more ruthless and an altogether more unpleasant person than is actually the case! If you dam the stream of natural behaviour, mon ami, sooner or later the dam bursts and a cataclysm occurs!”
― Agatha Christie, quote from Hercule Poirot's Christmas


“There is a witchery in the sea, its songs and stories, and in the mere sight of a ship, and the sailor's dress, especially to a young mind, which has done more to man navies, and fill merchantmen, than all the pressgangs of Europe.”
― Richard Henry Dana Jr., quote from Two Years Before the Mast: A Sailor's Life at Sea


“English should not stoop to embrace the lowest common denominator. Rather, society should step up and grant the language the respect it deserves.”
― Terry Fallis, quote from The Best Laid Plans


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