Top 500 Joe Abercrombie Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “The wise speaker first learns when to stay silent.”

— Joe Abercrombie

52. “Nobility is shown not by the respect one is given by the highest, but the respect one gives to the lowly.”

— Joe Abercrombie

53. “A man lost in the desert must take such water as he is offered, no matter who it comes from.”

— Joe Abercrombie

54. “Say one thing for Logen Ninefingers, say he’s a lover.”

— Joe Abercrombie

55. “There were too many bad men in the North and Caul Shivers, by most accounts, was one of the very worst. Bad men are a terrible curse, no doubt, right up until you’re in bad trouble and there’s one on your side. Then they’re the best thing ever.”

— Joe Abercrombie

56. “You, that judge men by the handle and the sheath, how can I make you know a good blade?’ Jedediah.”

— Joe Abercrombie

57. “Tomorrow came, and it was much like yesterday. Just more so.”

— Joe Abercrombie

58. “The blade itself incites to deeds of violence’ Homer.”

— Joe Abercrombie

59. “The Great Leveller,′ Dogman whispered to himself, since he was in a thoughtful frame of mind. That’s what the hillmen call him. Death, that is. He levels all differences. Named Men and nobodies, south or north. He catches everyone in the end, and he treats each man the same.”

— Joe Abercrombie

60. “The best steel doesn’t always shine the brightest.”

— Joe Abercrombie

61. “It is easy to forget how much you have, when your eyes are always fixed on what you have not.”

— Joe Abercrombie

62. “The goal of government, you see,” and the Arch Lector prodded at the air with his bony forefinger, “is to load the unhappiness onto those least able to make you suffer for it.”

— Joe Abercrombie

63. “The only difference between war and murder is the number of dead.”

— Joe Abercrombie

64. “Everything beautiful has a dark side, and some of us must dwell there, so that others can laugh in the light.”

— Joe Abercrombie

65. “Hard words are for fools and cowards.”

— Joe Abercrombie

66. “I would be the last to disagree, but you fail to see that you are worse. No man capable of greater evil than the one who thinks himself in the right. No purpose more evil than the higher purpose. I freely admit I am a villain. That’s why you hired me. But I am no hypocrite.”

— Joe Abercrombie

67. “Empathy? What’s that?” Glokta winced as he rubbed at his aching leg. “It’s a sad fact, but pain only makes you sorry for yourself.”

— Joe Abercrombie

68. “More often than not bad luck meant bad plans.”

— Joe Abercrombie

69. “My father used to say the seeds of the past bear fruit in the present.”

— Joe Abercrombie

70. “That’s the one. I’m an optimist.’ ‘How’s it working out for you?’ ‘Not great, but I keep hoping.’ ‘That’s optimists. You bastards never learn.”

— Joe Abercrombie

71. “What is the world coming to when an honest man cannot burn corpses without suspicion?” asked Notning.”

— Joe Abercrombie

72. “Nostalgia was becoming a favoured hobby of his. Strange, how the best moments of our lives we scarcely notice except in looking back.”

— Joe Abercrombie

73. “I span the entire geek spectrum.”

— Joe Abercrombie

74. “Suffering is what gives a man strength, my boy, just as the steel most hammered turns out the hardest.”

— Joe Abercrombie

75. “That’s the trouble with running. Wherever you run to, that’s where you are.”

— Joe Abercrombie

76. “But some things have to be done. Better to do ’em, than to live with the fear of ’em.”

— Joe Abercrombie

77. “It’s a fool who makes folk choose too often between loyalty and good sense.”

— Joe Abercrombie

78. “History is littered with dead good men.”

— Joe Abercrombie

79. “It can be a fearsome weapon, patience. One that few men ever learn to use.”

— Joe Abercrombie

80. “He shook his head as he peered down at the corpses. “Some courage, to come at us like this, over and over, against defences so strong and so well manned. I’ve rarely seen men so willing to give their lives.” “They have that most strange and dangerous of qualities,” said Cosca. “They think they’re in the right.”

— Joe Abercrombie

81. “One should learn the lessons of history. The mistakes of the past need only be made once.”

— Joe Abercrombie

82. “The world is all change, my friend. We all would like to go back, but the past is done. We must look forwards. We must change ourselves, however painful it may be, or be left behind.”

— Joe Abercrombie

83. “On the battlefield there are no rules.”

— Joe Abercrombie

84. “The clever words leaked out of his mind and he spoke without thinking, looking her straight in the eye. Maybe this was what honesty felt like.”

— Joe Abercrombie

85. “You are too full of your own hopes to hold anyone else’s.”

— Joe Abercrombie

86. “No matter how great and glorious the making, time will unmake it. No matter how strong the word, strong the thought, strong the law, all must return to chaos.”

— Joe Abercrombie

87. “Men must sometimes do what they do not like if they are to be remembered. It is through struggle, not ease, that fame and honour are won. It is through conflict, not peace, that wealth and power are gained.”

— Joe Abercrombie

88. “The failure of something great is never a simple matter, but where there is success and glory, there must also be failure and shame.”

— Joe Abercrombie

89. “Un hombre debe ser capaz de conocer sus propias limitaciones.”

— Joe Abercrombie

90. “Better to do it, than to live with the fear of it, and so forth.”

— Joe Abercrombie

91. “The ever so slightly stupid will act more stupidly in clever company.”

— Joe Abercrombie

92. “The Bloody-Nine opened his mouth, and shrieked out all of his bottomless love and his endless hate in one long wail.”

— Joe Abercrombie

93. “Back to the mud with you, Forley. We’re the poorer, and the ground’s the richer for it.”

— Joe Abercrombie

94. “A man is measured by his enemies. Worthy ones can be more missed than friends.”

— Joe Abercrombie

95. “I hope this is a lesson to you. Never take eggs from a metal-eyed man.”

— Joe Abercrombie

96. “You’d have to be a bold man to bet your life on what I’d dare. How bold are you? -Sand dan Glokta.”

— Joe Abercrombie

97. “Just keep your mouth shut and smile. That’s always good advice.’ Jezal.”

— Joe Abercrombie

98. “A man without discipline is no better than a dog. A soldier without discipline is no better than a corpse. Worse, in fact. A corpse is no threat to his comrades.”

— Joe Abercrombie

99. “But chaos is the natural state of things, for men pull always in their own directions. It is those who want the world to march all the same way that give themselves the challenge.”

— Joe Abercrombie

100. “Every man has his excuses, and the more vile the man becomes, the more touching the story has to be. What is my story now, I wonder?”

— Joe Abercrombie