The Blade Itself (The First Law, #1)

by Joe Abercrombie

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.

But some things have to be done. It’s better to do them, than to live with the fear of them.

“There’s always something dark about a man with money,”

The tree is only as strong as its root, and knowledge is the root of power.”

The more you learn, the more you realise how little you know. Still, the struggle itself is worthwhile. Knowledge is the root of power, after all.”

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

The great wage secret wars for power and wealth, and they call it government.

the conversation of the drunk is only interesting to the drunk. A few glasses of wine can be the difference between finding a man a hilarious companion or an insufferable moron.

“No one cares about the past any more,” he whispered. “They don’t see that you can’t have a future without a past.”