The Empty Throne (The Saxon Stories #8)

by Bernard Cornwell

I wondered why the gods no longer came to earth. It would make belief so much easier.

Many men do not beat their wives, even though the law allows it and the church encourages it, but a man gains no reputation by beating a weaker person. Æthelred had beaten Æthelflaed, but he was a weak man, and it takes a weak man to prove his strength by striking a woman.

Wyrd bið ful āræd. Fate is inexorable. We are given power and we lose it.

We live in a world where the strongest win, and the strongest must expect to be disliked. Then I am a pagan, and though Christians teach that they must love their enemies, few do.

We pick sides, lord, and sometimes loyalty gives us no choice in our opinions.”

A man who loves his daughter does not let her go into Wales.

Fate is a bitch.

Instinct is a strange thing. You cannot touch it, feel it, smell it, or hear it, but you must trust it,

We leave nothing in this world but bones and reputation,

The Christians call it a sin, but no poet sings of men who have no pride. Christians say the meek will inherit the earth, but the meek inspire no songs.