Ten Arrows of Iron Quotes

“The first lie we're ever told is that we're better than beasts.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“A new world isn't worth it."
"It is, Sal. A hundred worlds are worth it."..."I would burn all of them down and build them back up, every time."
"Until I found one that didn't hurt you anymore.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“Love dies the same way everything else dies.

Quietly. Softly. With no one bothering to try to save it.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“Sometimes, it was real nice just being with someone who hurt like you did.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“I held his hand, there on my skin, not willing to let go of that warmth, that touch, that...feeling.

Of not being broken. For a little while, anyway.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“People fear what they don't understand.
It's an immutable fact in life that's been used for all manner of people to do all manner of horrible things to all manner of other people. To fear the unknown is to build a bridge in your mind and promptly burn it down. With one exception, it's always better to confront the unknown and understand it.
That exception, of course, being when a shit-ton of bombs are involved.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“Wine is a drink for assholes.
Now, don't get me wrong, I know many fine wine drinkers. I count them among some of my oldest and dearest friends. That doesn't mean they aren't assholes. though.
Not that whiskey isn't a drink for assholes, too, but whiskey is for honest assholes. Whiskey is a drink that doesn't lie-within one sip of it, you know where it came from, how much it's worth, and whether or not you're going to survive the night with it. Wine is for an entirely different kind of asshole,
With whiskey, you fight and, if the company is nice, you make up. With wine, you mostly spend a lot of time talking.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“No matter what the chroniclers, the sages, and the poets tell you, all deaths are equal.
To the dead, anyway.
No matter what you die for-a cause, true love, yourself-people eventually forget that. Great causes fall apart, true loves find other true loves, and you eventually become the same bones and dust as everyone else.
Pain, though...
Pain is different. Not all pain is equal. I've taken hits from warlords charging at me on birdback that dragged me for twenty feet and walked them off with a stiff drink. I've been given four words in a dark room that made me go days without sleep, they cut me so deep.
Pain is a weapon. And it all comes down to whoever's the one holding it when it sticks into you.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“NononononoNONONONONONONONO-”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“WHO WILL BUY THIS MONSTER COCK?”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“Life is measured in deals. Specifically, bad ones.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“I noted with some irritation that it would be a lot easier to get myself killed if people would quit f*cking interrupting me.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“However, as with love, sex, money, and war, the real things always end up being worse the fantasy.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“One: If something calls to you, don't call back.
Two: Don't stand in the way of anything bigger than yourself.
Three: If you can't tell how to kill it by looking at it, run away.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“Sal the Cacophony does not face death. Death can't bear to look.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“Love dies the same way everything dies. Quietly. Softly. With no one bothering to try to save it.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“But there are moments. Moments where all the fighting seems worth it. Moments where you don't think twice about bleeding for someone else. Moments where one person's tears, one person's smile, are enough to convince you to get back on your feet, to keep breathing, to keep living.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“There was something comforting in knowing that even the very strong could be stupid.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“same sweat and road that I did. Always beautiful, even”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“He wasn't staring into the fire anymore. He wasn't even here anymore. Behind those eyes, there was nothing but a dark place, far away and lightless, that he'd disappeared into.

I knew that look.

I knew that place.

...

Wherever he went , whatever dark place inside his head he crawled into, it wasn't a place for laughter, for words. It wasn't a place I could follow.

Places like that, everyone has to go through on their own.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“Maybe, sometimes...it's just nice to be with someone who hurts the same way you do.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“Pain, though... Pain is different. Not all pain is equal....Pain is a weapon. And all it comes down to whoever's the one holding it when it sticks into you.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron

“When you get down to it, people aren't too different from scars. You go through life collecting them. And when you get a new one, you feel it. The pain, at first, is so raw and vibrant that you feel it with every step you take beside them....

The one day, before you even know it, you wake up and just feel a numbness where something else used to be.

But you never forget it's there. Not once.”
― Sam Sykes, Ten Arrows of Iron