Last Argument of Kings (The First Law, #3)

by Joe Abercrombie

There’s nothing worth less than what men think of you after you’re back in the mud.

“If you believe that I chose any part of the pitiful shadow of a life you see before you, you are very much mistaken. I chose glory and success. The box did not contain what was written on the lid.”

It can be a terrible curse for a man to get everything he ever dreamed of. If the shining prizes turn out somehow to be empty baubles, he is left without even his dreams for comfort.

Power makes all things right. That is my first law, and my last. That is the only law that I acknowledge.”