Half the World Quotes

“Take everything as a compliment, you can never be insulted.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“Those with bad luck should at least attempt to balance it with good sense.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“Fools boast of what they will do. Heroes do it.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“The trouble with being able to lift heavy things is that when heavy things need lifting folk step out of the way and smile at you.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“There's no disappointment like getting what you've always wanted...”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“...the more you learn the more you understand the size of your own ignorance.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“You want a thing when you can't have it. When you get it you suddenly sprout doubts. Then when you think you might lose it you find you need it worse than ever.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“Where do we find allies?"
Father Yarvi smiled. "Among our enemies, where else?”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“Heresy and progress often look much alike.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“Pain is the best schoolmaster, as you will soon discover.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“I always thought of being together as the end of the work. Turns out it's where the work starts.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“You keep an oath not for the oath but for yourself”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“Why the mad hair, girl?"
"Because damn you," growled Thorn, "that's why.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“Facing an enemy on the battlefield took courage, but you had your friends beside you. Standing alone against your friends, that was a different kind of courage.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“Enemies are the price of success.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“Of all things, men most love to watch ohers face Death. It reminds them they yet live.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“There aren’t many good things don’t have a splinter of selfishness in them somewhere, after all.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“There is a time for wondering what a man wants,” said Fror, no fear at all in his. “And there is a time for splitting his head. This is that second time.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“Your death comes.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“A man who gives all his thought to doing good, but no thought to the consequences …” Father Yarvi lifted his withered hand and pressed its one crooked finger into Brand’s chest. “That is a dangerous man.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“Grom-gil-Gorm," she said softly as she rode between Laithlin and Yarvi. "Breaker of Swords." Mother Isriun's horse shied back out of her way. "Maker of Orphans." Thorn reined in beside him, his frowning face lit red by the blazing light of her elf-bangle, and she leaned from her saddle to whisper.
"Your death comes.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“You are lucky, Thorn. You are very lucky."
"Doubtless. Not every girl gets to be stabbed through the face."
"And by a duke of royal blood too!”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“It was either bluster or look weak and Thorn reckoned that no choice at all, so she puffed herself up and snapped out, "How did you get the scar?"
"How did you get the scar?"
Thorn frowned. "What scar?"
"That's the face the gods gave you?" And with the faintest of smiles the Vansterman went back to coiling rope.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“If you could kill a man by frowning at his back, the Breaker of Swords would have fallen bloody through the Last Door that day, but a frown is no blade, and Thorn's hatred cut no one but her.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“Vengeance only walks a circle. From blood, back to blood. Death waits for us all. You can follow your path to her bent under a burden of rage. I did, for many years. You can let it poison you.” He took a long breath, and let it sigh away. “Or you can let it go.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“The gods hate those who plan badly, and help those with good friends, good swords, and good sense. Worry less about what the gods might do and more about what you can, that’s my advice.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“Time hasn't been kind."
"Time never is. A fighter keeps fighting even so. Thought you were a fighter?”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“The gods hate those who plan badly, and help those with good friends, good swords, and good sense.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“You keep an oath not for the oath but for yourself.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World

“Killing a man by accident had made her a villain. Killing another on purpose had made her a hero. But all she could do was frown at the body as they dragged it out, and feel there was something very odd in all this.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Half the World