The Blade Itself (The First Law Trilogy Book 1)

by Joe Abercrombie

Once you’ve got a task to do, it’s better to do it than to live with the fear of it.

That’s the task that comes with surviving, whether you deserve to live or not. You remember the dead as best you can. You say some words for them. Then you carry on, and you hope for better.

You have to learn to love the small things in life, like a hot bath. You have to love the small things, when you’ve nothing else.

If you mean to kill, you’re better getting right to it than talking about it. Talk only makes the other man ready, and that’s the last thing you want.

“Life—the way it really is—is a battle not between good and bad, but between bad and worse.” —Joseph Brodsky