The Trouble with Peace (The Age of Madness, #2)

by Joe Abercrombie

“Your Majesty, we are not here to set right all the world’s wrongs.” Orso stared back at him. “What are we here for, then?” Bayaz neither smiled nor frowned. “To ensure that we benefit from them.”

“One cannot despise a thing without acknowledging its importance.”

Trouble with the good fight, I find… once the fight starts, the good stops.”

Rare anger can be inspiring. Frequent anger becomes contemptible.”

“I must confess I have always had some sympathy with villains. Heroism makes fine entertainment but sooner or later someone has to get things done.”

“This is Zuri, my companion.” “Is it?” Rikke narrowed her eyes, then slid them, sly as a cat, towards Savine. “Sure you aren’t hers?”

Foreshadow

“Winning teaches you nothing,” said Tunny. “You see what a man really is when he loses.”