Stephen R. Donaldson > Quotes

“I respect my limitations, but I don't use them as an excuse. ”
― Stephen R. Donaldson

“Any belief that puts itself beyond doubt nurtures its own collapse.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, Reave the Just and Other Tales

“He who waits for the sword to fall upon his neck will surely lose his head.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson

“Joy is in the ears that hear.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson

“We didn't make the world. All we have to do is live in it.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, Lord Foul's Bane

“There is no life which does not possess its own importance, no life which may not be touched by greatness at any time -- Yes, be touched by greatness and have a hand in it.


(from The Mirror of Her Dreams)”
― Stephen R. Donaldson

“Be true, Unbeliever”
― Stephen R. Donaldson

“It is wrong to ask for more than you give freely. In this way, we come to resemble what we hate.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever

“...are you a person - with volition and maybe some stubborness and at least the capacity if not the actual determination to do something surprising - or are you a tool? A tool just serves its user. It's only as good as the skill of its user, and its not good for anything else. So if you want to accomplish something special - something more than you can do for yourself - you can't use a tool. You have to use a person and hope the surprises will work in your favor. You have to use something that's free to not be what you had in mind.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

“The story of Terisa and Geraden began very much like a fable. She was a princess in a high tower. He was a hero come to rescue her. She was the only daughter of wealth and power. He was the seventh son of the lord of the seventh Care. She was beautiful from the auburn hair that crowned her head to the tips of her white toes. He was handsome and courageous. She was held prisoner by enchantment. He was a fearless breaker of enchantments.

As in all the fables, they were made for each other.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, The Mirror of Her Dreams

“Gradually, the night stumbled as if stunned and wandering aimlessly into an overcast day -- limped through the wilderland of transition as though there were no knowing where the waste of darkness ended and the ashes of light began. The low clouds seemed full of grief -- tense and uneasy with accumulated woe -- and yet affectless, unable to rain, as if the air clenched itself too hard for tears. And through the dawn, Atiaran and Covenant moved heavily, unevenly, like pieces of a broken lament.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, Lord Foul's Bane

“Stone and sea are deep in life
Two unalterable symbols of the world
Permanence at rest
And permanence in motion
Participants in the power that remains”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever

“And he who wields white, wild magic gold is a paradox
For he is everything and nothing
Hero and fool
Potent, helpless
And with one word of truth or treachery
He will save or damn the earth
Because he is mad and sane
Cold and passionate
Lost and found”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever

“Part of him wanted to weep... but his purpose was rigid within him. He felt he could not bend to gentleness without breaking.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever

“Are you a storyteller, Thomas Covenant?"
Absently he replied, "I was, once."
"And you gave it up? Ah, that is as sad a tale in three words as any you might have told me. But a life without a tale is like a sea without salt. How do you live?"
... Unconsciously, he clenched his fist over his ring. "I live."
"Another?" Foamfollower returned. "In two words, a story sadder than the first. Say no more -- with one word you will make me weep.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson

“Where do you get dreams like this?”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, Lord Foul's Bane

“Futility is the defining characteristic of life.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, Lord Foul's Bane

“But he could not call the doctors at the leprosarium. They would return him to Louisiana. They would treat him and train him and counsel him. They would put him back into life as if his illness were all that mattered, as if wisdom were only skin deep, as if grief and remorse and horror were nothing but illusions, tricks done with mirrors, irrelevant to chrome and porcelain and clean, white, stiff hospital sheets and fluorescent lights.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever

“...are you a person with volition and maybe some stubbornness and at least the capacity if not the actual determination to do something surpring or are you a tool? A tool just serves it's user, and it's not good for anything else. So if you want to accomplich something special -something more than you can do for yourself - you can't use a tool. You have to use a person and hope the surprises will work in your favor. You have to use something that's free to not be what you had in mind.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson

“And you require no answers", Foamfollower was laughing in his gladness, "You are sufficient to every question".”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever

“Golden Boy with feet of clay
Let me help you on your way
A proper push will take you far -
But what a clumsy lad you are!”
― Stephen R. Donaldson

“I was sitting at the bar of the Hegira that night when Ginny came in. The barkeep, an ancient sad-eyed patriarch named Jose, had just poured me another drink, and I was having one of those rare moments any serious drunk can tell you about. A piece of real quiet. Jose's cheeks bristled because he didn't shave very often, and his apron was dingy because it didn't get washed very often, and his fingernails had little crescents of grime under them. The glass he poured for me wasn't all that clean. But the stuff he poured was golden-amber and beautiful, like distilled sunlight, and it made the whole place soothing as sleep—which drunks know how to value because they don't get much of it.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, The Man who Killed his Brother

“For a moment after his voice faltered and fell, the sanctuary was silent, and the voice throbbed like weeping, as if in his words the people recognized themselves, recognized the failure he described as their own. But then a new voice arose. Saltheart Foamfollower said boldly, "My Lord, we have not reached our end. True, the work of our lifetime has been to comprehend and consolidate the gains of our forebearers. But our labour will open the doors of the future. Our children and their children will gain because we have not lost heart, for faith and courage are the greatest gift that we can give to our descendants. And the Land holds mysteries of which we know nothing -- mysteries of hope as well as of peril. Be of good heart, Rockbrothers. Your faith is precious above all things."”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, Lord Foul's Bane

“Pacing back and forth now on the spur of his conflicting needs, Covenant growled, "Baradakas said just about the same thing. By hell! You people terrify me. When I try to be responsible, you pressure me -- and when I collapse you -- You're not asking the right questions. You don't have the vaguest notion of what a leper is, and it doesn't even occur to you to inquire. _That's_ why Foul chose me for this. Because I can't-- Damnation! Why don't you ask me about where I come from? I've got to tell you. The world I come from doesn't allow anyone to live except on its own terms. Those terms-- those terms contradict yours."

"What are its terms?" the High Lord asked carefully.

"That your world is a dream."”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, Lord Foul's Bane

“He lay in darkness, like a sacrifice; he could hear the teeth of his leprosy devouring his flesh. There was a smell of contempt around him, insisting on his impotence. But his lips were bowed in a placid smile, a look of fondness, as if he had come at last to approve his disintegration.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, Lord Foul's Bane

“Another blast from Rivenrock shivered the air. It snatched Mhoram's head up, and he faced Covenant with tears streaming down his cheeks. "It is as I have said," he breathed achingly. "Madness is not the only danger in dreams."”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, The Illearth War

“Be true, unbeliever.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever

“The idea that his wedding band was some kind of talisman nauseated him like the smell of attar.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, Lord Foul's Bane

“Something in her expression made Covenant feel that he came from a very poor world, where no one knew or cared about the healing of stoneware pots.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, Lord Foul's Bane

“Melenkurion abatha! Binas mill Bana Nihoram khabaal! Melenkurion abatha! Abatha Nimoram!”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, Lord Foul's Bane

“Covenant did not reply at once. He trembled also, and hand to clench himself before he could say without a tremor, "Why? Why do you trust me?"

The Hirebrand's eyes gleamed as if he were on the verge of tears, but he was smiling as he said, "You are a man who knows the value of beauty."”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, Lord Foul's Bane

“In perfect unison, all the townspeople vomited gouts of blood onto the pavement.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, Lord Foul's Bane

“But then a bubbling tenor voice said kindly, "Do not fear. It is a dream." The reassurance spread over him like a blanket. But he could not feel it with his hands, and the ambulance kept on moving. Needing the blanket, he clenched at the empty air until his knuckles were white with loneliness.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson, Lord Foul's Bane