Baptism of Fire Quotes

“- Kompania mi się trafiła - podjął Geralt, kręcąc głową. - Towarzysze broni! Drużyna bohaterów! Nic, tylko ręce załamać. Wierszokleta z lutnią. Dzikie i pyskate pół driady, pół baby. Wampir, któremu idzie na pięćdziesiąty krzyżyk. I cholerny Nilfgaardczyk, który upiera się, że nie jest Nilfgaardczykiem.
- A na czele drużyny wiedźmin, chory na wyrzuty sumienia, bezsiłę i niemożność podjęcia decyzji - dokończył spokojnie Regis. - Zaiste, proponuję podróżować incognito, by nie wzbudzać sensacji.
- I śmiechu - dodała Milva.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Chrzest ognia

“You surround the dead with veneration and memory, you dream of immortality, and in your myths and legends there’s always someone being resurrected, conquering death. But were your esteemed late great-grandfather really to suddenly rise from the grave and order a beer, panic would ensue.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“What a company I ended up with,’ Geralt continued, shaking his head. ‘Brothers in arms! A team of heroes! What have I done to deserve it? A poetaster with a lute. A wild and lippy half-dryad, half-woman. A vampire, who’s about to notch up his fifth century. And a bloody Nilfgaardian who insists he isn’t a Nilfgaardian.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“When there’s hunger you don’t share out your food, you just devour the weakest ones. This practice works among wolves, since it lets the healthiest and strongest individuals survive. But among sentient races selection of that kind usually allows the biggest bastards to survive and dominate the rest.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“Life, it turns out, isn’t poetry! And do you know why? Because it’s so resistant to criticism!”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“Since when did you know anything about mimicking bird calls, Zoltan?’ ‘That’s the whole point. If you hear a strange, unrecognisable sound, you’ll know it’s me.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“Everyone has some kind of debt. Such is life. Debts and liabilities, obligations, gratitude, payments, doing something for someone. Or perhaps for ourselves? For in fact we are always paying ourselves back and not someone else. Each time we are indebted we pay off the debt to ourselves. In each of us lies a creditor and a debtor at once and the art is for the reckoning to tally inside us. We enter the world as a minute part of the life we are given, and from then on we are ever paying off debts, To ourselves. For ourselves. In order for the final reckoning to tally.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“I predict a bad end for your race, humans,' Zoltan Chivay said grimly. 'Every sentient creature on this earth, when it falls into want , poverty and misfortune, usually cleaves to his own. Because it's easier to survive the bad times in a group, helping one another. But you humans, you just wait for a chance to make money from other people's mishaps. When there's hunger you don't want want to share out your food, you just devour the weakest ones. The practice works among wolves, since it lets the healthiest and strongest individuals survive. But among sentient races selection of that kind usually allows the biggest bastards to survive and dominate the rest.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“We enter the world as a minute part of the life we are given, and from then on we are ever paying off debts. To ourselves. For ourselves. In order for the final reckoning to tally.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“A baptism of fire, the Witcher thought, furiously striking and parrying blows. I was meant to pass through fire for Ciri. And I'm passing through fire in a battle which is of no interest to me at all. Which I don't understand in any way. The fire that was meant to purify me is just scorching my hair and face.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Chrzest ognia

“Men are psychologically unstable, too prone to emotions; not to be relied upon in moments of crisis.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“- Ha - zaciekawił się Jaskier, który właśnie zbliżył się do nich. - Więc to są słynne tajne runy krasnoludów? Co głosi ten napis? - “Na pohybel skurwysynom!”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Chrzest ognia

“Ignorance is no justification for ill-conceived actions. When one doesn't know or has doubts it's best to seek advice.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“In this rotten world, Zoltan Chivay, goodness, honesty and integrity become deeply engraved in the memory.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“Thirdly,’ the Witcher replied in a tired voice, ‘the monthly quota on miracles was used up when the woman from Kernow found her missing husband.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“The sunrise, however, represents another victory in the fight for life, a new day, the continuation of existence.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“What a company I ended up with,’ Geralt continued, shaking his head. ‘Brothers in arms! A team of heroes! What have I done to deserve it? A poetaster with a lute. A wild and lippy half-dryad, half-woman. A vampire, who’s about to notch up his fifth century. And a bloody Nilfgaardian who insists he isn’t a Nilfgaardian.’ ‘And leading the party is the Witcher, who suffers from pangs of conscience, impotence and the inability to take decisions,’ Regis finished calmly. ‘I suggest we travel incognito, to avoid arousing suspicion.’ ‘Or raising a laugh,’ Milva added.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“It’s impossible to repay something that has no price. Some say everything in the world–everything, with no exception–has a price. It’s not true. There are things with no price, things that are priceless. But you realise it belatedly: when you lose them, you lose them forever and nothing can get them back for you. I have lost many such things. Which is why I can’t help you today.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“Advice is superfluous to you, allies are superfluous, you’ll get by without any travelling companions. The goal of your expedition is, after all, personal and private. More than that, the nature of the goal demands that you accomplish it alone, in person. The risks, dangers, hardships and constant struggle with doubt must only burden you. For, after all, they are components of the penance, the expiation of guilt you want to earn. A baptism of fire, I’d say. You’ll pass through fire, which burns, but also purges. And you’ll do it alone. For were someone to support you in this, help you, take on even a scrap of that baptism of fire, that pain, that penance, they would, by the same token, impoverish you. They would deprive you of part of the expiation you desire, which would be owed to them for their involvement. After all, it should be your exclusive expiation.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“The freshly dubbed knight, Geralt of Rivia, bowed low, so that Queen Meve, his suzerein, would not see the smile - the bitter smile - that he was unable to resist.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“But they’re your countrymen, Witcher,’ Regis said. ‘I mean, they call you Geralt of Rivia.’ ‘A slight correction,’ he replied coldly. ‘I call myself that to make my name sound fancier. It’s an addition that inspires more trust in my clients.’ ‘I see,’ the vampire said, smiling. ‘And why exactly did you choose Rivia?’ ‘I drew sticks, marked with various grand-sounding names. My witcher preceptor suggested that method to me, although not initially. Only after I’d insisted on adopting the name Geralt Roger Eric du Haute-Bellegarde. Vesemir thought it was ridiculous; pretentious and idiotic. I dare say he was right.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“Unbridled altruism is a huge vice of mine,’ he explained. ‘I simply have to do good. I am a sensible dwarf, however, and know that I’m unable to do everyone good. Were I to attempt to be good to everyone, to the entire world and to all the creatures living in it, it would be a drop of fresh water in the salt sea. In other words, a wasted effort. Thus, I decided to do specific good; good which would not go to waste. I’m good to myself and my immediate circle.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“The bounty hunter looked at him long and hard. Until Tawny Owl's smirk finally vanished. 'Indeed,' he said. 'Everyone has to make a living. Some earn money doing what they've learned. Others do what they have to. But not many craftsmen have been as lucky in life as I am: they pay me for a trade I truly and honestly enjoy. Not even whores can say that.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“Cuando alguien me comunica que es apolítico, siempre pregunto en qué política concreta está pensando.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Chrzest ognia

“But you don’t even know how to destroy things wisely,’ Zoltan griped, ordering yet another attempt to pull a wheel out of a hole. ‘Why can’t you remove the stones gradually, from the edges of the road? You’re like children! Instead of eating a doughnut systematically, you gouge the jam out with a finger and then throw away the rest because it’s not sweet any more.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“Ambition is the undoing of men. They always want what they know to be impossible and unattainable. And they are unaware of the attainable.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“Forgive me,’ he said a moment later. ‘You’re right. I put you at risk. It was too dangerous a task for a—’ ‘For a woman, you mean?’ she said, jerking her head back, flicking her still wet hair from her shoulder with a sudden movement. ‘Is that what you were going to say? Are you playing the gentleman all of a sudden? I may have to squat to piss, but my coat is lined with wolf skin, not coney fur! Don’t call me a coward, because you don’t know me!”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Chrzest ognia

“In each of us lies a creditor and a debtor at once and the art is for the reckoning to tally inside us. We enter the world as a minute part of the life we are given, and from then on we are ever paying off debts. To ourselves. For ourselves. In order for the final reckoning to tally.’ ‘Is”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire

“- On tylko tak głupio wygląda - potwierdził Jaskier. - Ale cały czas liczę na to, że wreszcie zechce mu się wytężyć mózgownicę. Może wyciągnie słuszne wnioski? Może zrozumie, że jedyną czynnością, która dobrze wychodzi samotnym, jest samogwałt?”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Chrzest ognia

“For a war is raging, and disinformation is a weapon whose blade must always be kept sharp.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire