Before They Are Hanged (The First Law, #2)

by Joe Abercrombie

‘We should forgive our enemies, but not before they are hanged.’

‘Anyone can face ease and success with confidence. It is the way we face trouble and misfortune that defines us. Self-pity goes with selfishness, and there is nothing more to be deplored in a leader than that. Selfishness belongs to children, and to halfwits.

There was no such thing as luck. Luck was a word idiots used to explain the consequences of their own rashness, and selfishness, and stupidity. More often than not bad luck meant bad plans. And here was the proof.

Only friends get left behind. Enemies are always at your heels.