David Gemmell quotes

Nothing of real worth can ever be bought. Love, friendship, honour, valour, respect. All these things have to be earned.
-- David Gemmell

#Real #Friendship Love #Honour

Do not speak badly of yourself, for the warrior that is inside you hears your words and is lessened by them.
-- David Gemmell

#Warrior #Speak

We make choices everyday, some of them good, some of them bad. And - if we are strong enough - we live with the consequences.
-- David Gemmell

#Strong #Choices #Everyday

A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.
-- David Gemmell

#Hero #Cynic

Why must I have the Piglet?' 'Because you are the best.' 'I do not understand.' 'Teach him.' 'And who teaches me?' ' As an officer, my lord, you will have many men under your command and not all will be gifted. You must learn to use each man to his best advantage ...
-- David Gemmell

#Men #Piglet #Use

I have discovered in my long life that there are many words and phrases which have more power than any spell of magick. The most well-known of these is, of course, I love you. But by far the most deadly is, if only. For these two words can strip a man's strength, his courage and his confidence. They become the father of regret and anguish and pain.
-- David Gemmell

#Pain #Regret #Father

Man is capable of greatness, love, nobility, compassion. Yet never forget that his capacity for evil is infinite. It is a sad truth, boy, that if you sit now and think of the worst tortures that could ever be inflicted on another human being, they will already have been practiced somewhere. If there is one sound that follows the march of humanity, it is the scream.
-- David Gemmell

#Boys #Greatness #Men

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

#Loyalty #Stupid #Believe

A warrior feeds his body well; he trains it; works on it. Where he lacks knowledge, he studies. But above all he must believe. He must believe in his strength of will, of purpose, of heart and soul.
-- David Gemmell

#Meaningful #Believe #Heart

Heroes are people who face down their fears. It is that simple. A child afraid of the dark who one day blows out the candle; a women terrified of the pain of childbirth who says, 'It is time to become a mother'. Heroism does not always live on the battlefield.
-- David Gemmell

#Mother #Children #Pain

If we are still discussing its merits tomorrow, I will agree with you," said Diagoras. "Cheer up, laddie. Nobody lives forever." "Oh I expect you will, Druss, Old Horse. It's the mortals around you who always seem to kiss the granite.
-- David Gemmell

#Horse #Cheer #Kissing

It is hard to be angry when one has seen the sun rise,' she said. It seems to be true,' he admitted. 'I wonder why.' Because it makes one feel so small and insignificant. It has been rising forever and will rise forever no matter what we do or do not do. All our problems are as nothing to the sun.
-- David Gemmell

#Forever #Rising #Matter

Old age is not as honorable as death, but most people seek it.
-- David Gemmell

#People #Age #Honorable

There's no shame in fear. But understand this - the coward is ruled by fear, while the hero rides it like a wild stallion.
-- David Gemmell

#Fear #Hero #Coward

We are tiny flames, Helikaon, and we flicker alone in the great dark for no more than a heartbeat. When we strive for wealth, glory and fame, it is meaningless. The nations we fight for will one day cease to be. Even the mountains we gaze upon will crumble to dust. To truly live we must yearn for that which does not die.
-- David Gemmell

#Fighting #Dark #Dust

The night has a capacity for terror that the day can never match.
-- David Gemmell

#Night #Capacity #Terror

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

#Strong #Kings #Men

Trust your instincts, and make judgements on what your heart tells you. The heart will not betray you.
-- David Gemmell

#Heart #Decision #Judgement

Do not complain of life's unfairness. It is never fair - at best it is impartial.
-- David Gemmell

#Complaining #Unfairness

I was a man before I was a king, and no true man walks away when a friend needs him.
-- David Gemmell

#Kings #Men #Needs

Love is both wondrous and yet full of peril. Love is a gateway through which hatred - disguised and unrecognized - can pass.
-- David Gemmell

#Love Is #Hatred #Gateways

Fear is an aid to the warrior. It is a small fire burning. It heats the muscles, making us stronger. Panic comes when the fire is out of control, consuming all courage and pride.
-- David Gemmell

#Warrior #Pride #Fire

She was his north star, the fixed point round which his world turned. For as long as his heart beat, or hers, he believed they would always share a destiny.
-- David Gemmell

#Stars #Heart #Destiny

May all your dreams but one come true, for what is life without a dream?
-- David Gemmell

#Dream #May #What Is Life

Not one of the creatures of blood can escape death. We all face it, and succumb to it. It follows us like a dark shadow. Yet if we live in terror of it, then we do not live at all. Yes we are born alone, and yes we will die alone. But in between, Tae, we live. We know joy.
-- David Gemmell

#Dark #Blood #Joy

True. The one certainty about riding, Braygan, is that - at some time - you will fall off. It is a fact. Another fact you might like to consider, in your life of perpetual terror, is that you will die. We are all going to die, some of us young, some of us old, some of us in our sleep, some of us screaming in agony. We cannot stop it, we can only delay it.
-- David Gemmell

#Fall #Sleep #Agony

Life is a struggle, from the agonies of birth to the railing against death. Devour or be devoured. The law of the wild.
-- David Gemmell

#Struggle #Law #Agony

A man cannot spend his life worrying about the unexpected.
-- David Gemmell

#Men #Worry #Unexpected

While men compete in war, there will be warriors. While there are warriors, there will be princes among warriors. Among the princes will be kings, and among the kings an emperor.
-- David Gemmell

#Kings #War #Men

It would be a fine thing if war could be conducted as a game where no lives were lost. At the end of a battle combatants could meet [...] and drink and talk.
-- David Gemmell

#War #Games #Battle

Your men are brave men, And you have won. I can live with that, Earl of Bronze a poor man would I be if I could not.
-- David Gemmell

#Men #Brave #Poor

You may think life is sweet now, but when death is a heartbeat away then life becomes unbearably desirable. And when you survive, everything you do will be enhanced and filled with greater joy: the sunlight, the breeze, a good wine, a woman's lips, a child's laughter.
-- David Gemmell

#Sweet #Laughter #Children

It is not hard to change when your biggest problem is whether the weeds prosper in a vegetable patch.
-- David Gemmell

#Weed #Vegetables #Problem

All beauty is sad. For it fades.
-- David Gemmell

Bow to nothing, son. I make mistakes as well as any man. If you think me wrong, be so good as to damn well say so.
-- David Gemmell

#Mistake #Son #Men

Be at peace, my friend. One thing I have learnt about Death is that his bark is worse than his bite.
-- David Gemmell

#Bark

This world has few redeeming features, and one is the capacity for people to love one another with great, enduring passion.
-- David Gemmell

#Passion #People #World

Life is nothing unless death has been faced down.
-- David Gemmell

#Life Is

The very odd thing about sagas [...] is that they very rarely mention dry mouths and full bladders.
-- David Gemmell

#Odd Things #Dry #Mouths

In any broth, the scum always rises to the top.
-- David Gemmell

#Scum

A problem shared is a problem doubled.
-- David Gemmell

#Problem

I am a stranger. You do not need to lie to me or pretend. Only with friends do you need masks..
-- David Gemmell

#Lying #Needs #Stranger

When healers yearn to kill then hope begins to die ... Evil cannot be overcome by evil.
-- David Gemmell

#Evil #Overcoming #Healer

All men have talents. Some build, some paint, some write, some fight. For me it is different.
-- David Gemmell

#Writing #Fighting #Men

A man with wife and daughters has no place losing his temper.
-- David Gemmell

#Daughter #Men #Wife

What is life if a man cannot count on his friends when he has gone mad?
-- David Gemmell

#Men #Mad #Gone

Evil lives in a pit. If you want to fight it, you must climb down into the slime to do so. White cloaks show the dirt more thank black, and silver tarnishes.
-- David Gemmell

#Fighting #White #Evil

Evil will never be countered while good men do nothing.
-- David Gemmell

#Men #Evil #Good Man

The nature of a coward is to avoid death. If such a man courts peril there can be only two reasons. Either he is not a coward at all or there is no danger.
-- David Gemmell

#Men #Two #Coward

[F]ear is a great ally.
-- David Gemmell

#Allies #Ears

Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone fails at something.
-- David Gemmell

#Mistake #Making Mistakes #Failing

Liberty is only valued when it is threatened, therefore it is the threat that highlights the value. We should be grateful to the Nadir, since they heighten the value of our liberty.
-- David Gemmell

#Grateful #Liberty #Nadir

Win or lose, we achieve nothing in the world that we understand [...]' 'But then the world does not matter.' 'Indeed it does not [...] It is good to understand that.
-- David Gemmell

#Winning #Doe #World

Steal a loaf of bread and they hang you, steal a land and they'll make you king.
-- David Gemmell

#Kings #Land #Bread

No need for confusion, my dear Mulgrave [...] Beautiful wine and sour vinegar come from exactly the same source. Curiously if one leaves a bottle of wine open for long enough it will become vinegar. Happily in this house wine never survives long enough to go bad.
-- David Gemmell

#Beautiful #Wine #Confusion

Makes no sense to me,' said Huntsekker. 'You don't know who is at your door, but you know the thoughts of a man twenty miles away.' 'Life is a mystery,' said Powdermill, with a gold-toothed grin. 'It is that, right enough,' agreed Huntsekker.
-- David Gemmell

#Men #Doors #Gold

War. What was it about the prospect of some bloody enterprises that reduced men to the level of animals?
-- David Gemmell

#War #Animal #Men

[...] In real war an officer may have only one chance at succeeding. Consider each problem.
-- David Gemmell

#Real #War #May

A man must know his limitations.
-- David Gemmell

#Men #Limitation

None of us can choose the manner of our passing.
-- David Gemmell

#Passing #Passings

[H]e who fears to lose will never win.
-- David Gemmell

#Winning

When your life has been spent in one war after another for forty-five years, you have to be pretty handy to survive.
-- David Gemmell

#War #Years #Handy

Plan for the worst, expect the best.
-- David Gemmell

#Worst #Plans

You are getting too old for this." "A man is as old as he feels, woman!" "And how old do you feel?" "About ninety.
-- David Gemmell

#Men #Ninety #Feels

By nature of definition only the coward is capable of the highest heroism
-- David Gemmell

#Coward #Heroism #Definitions