Top 500 Joe Abercrombie Quotes (2026 Update)
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101. “On the battlefield there are no rules.”

— Joe Abercrombie

102. “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

103. “When God means to punish a man He sends him stupid friends and clever enemies.”

— Joe Abercrombie

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

— Joe Abercrombie

105. “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

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

— Joe Abercrombie

107. “It’s a hard world. No one gets what they deserve.”

— Joe Abercrombie

108. “In violent times folk like to kneel to violent men. In peaceful times they remember they’re happier standing.”

— Joe Abercrombie

109. “But you know what they say – old milk turns sour but old scores just get sweeter.”

— Joe Abercrombie

110. “Call it art, you can get away with anything.”

— Joe Abercrombie

111. “Promises are like flowers, often given, rarely kept.”

— Joe Abercrombie

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

— Joe Abercrombie

113. “Here is the perennial trouble with burying your past. Others are forever trying to dig it up.”

— Joe Abercrombie

114. “Why do I do this?”

— Joe Abercrombie

115. “If you can’t find anything to complain about you aren’t looking hard enough.”

— Joe Abercrombie

116. “To the starving man, bread is beautiful. To the homeless man, a roof is beautiful. To the drunkard, wine is beautiful. Only those who want for nothing else need find beauty in a lump of rock. “Stolicus.”

— Joe Abercrombie

117. “I was too busy wallowing in pain and bitterness. Too busy being tragic.”

— Joe Abercrombie

118. “When men spoke of changing the world, they always meant to suit their own interests.”

— Joe Abercrombie

119. “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

120. “But it’s ’cause real life is what it is that a man needs daydreams.”

— Joe Abercrombie

121. “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

122. “There’s no disappointment like getting what you’ve always wanted...”

— Joe Abercrombie

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

— Joe Abercrombie

124. “When men say things used to be better, they invariably mean they were better for them, because they were young, and had all their hopes intact. The world is bound to look a darker place as you slide into the grave.”

— Joe Abercrombie

125. “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

126. “Life’s a queue of small irritations with the Last Door at the end.”

— Joe Abercrombie

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

— Joe Abercrombie

128. “But I’d rather not add to my regrets. The gods know I got a queue of the bastards.”

— Joe Abercrombie

129. “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

130. “Some would say the best time to cross an obstacle is when one finds oneself on the wrong side of it!”

— Joe Abercrombie

131. “But things are always going to be better, or were better long ago. No politician ever got anywhere by telling people things are just right as they are.”

— Joe Abercrombie

132. “There’s no changing yesterday. Only tomorrow.”

— Joe Abercrombie

133. “It was difficult to maintain any sense of superiority in the face of his utter dependence on other people.”

— Joe Abercrombie

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

— Joe Abercrombie

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

— Joe Abercrombie

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

— Joe Abercrombie

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

— Joe Abercrombie

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

— Joe Abercrombie

139. “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

140. “I’m no drunk,” croaked Cosca. “I simply like the taste of wine. So much so that I have to drink some every few hours or become violently ill.” He clung to his fork while the room swayed around him, fixed his aching smile while they chuckled away. He hoped they enjoyed their laughter while they could, because Nicomo Cosca always laughed last. Provided he wasn’t being sick, of course.”

— Joe Abercrombie

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

— Joe Abercrombie

142. “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

143. “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

144. “The mistakes of old,” intoned Bayaz with the highest pomposity, “should be made only once. Any worthwhile education, therefore, must be founded on a sound understanding of history.”

— Joe Abercrombie

145. “A choice between killing and dying is no choice at all. You have to be realistic about these things. b.”

— Joe Abercrombie

146. “Pardon me,” said Glokta, wiping his running eye with a finger, “but I spent two years in the Emperor’s prisons. I daresay, if I had known I’d be there half that long at the start, I would have made a more concerted effort to kill myself. Seven hundred days, give or take, in the darkness. As close to hell, I would have thought, as a living man can go. My point is this – if you mean to upset me, you’ll need more than harsh language.”

— Joe Abercrombie

147. “Walk in God’s footsteps, Ferro Maljinn.” “Huh. They have no God here.” “Say rather that they have many.” “Many?” “Had you not noticed? Here, each man worships himself.”

— Joe Abercrombie

148. “Mercy and cowardice are the same,” she snapped out. “But you want their land, not their lives, no? Dead men can’t obey.”

— Joe Abercrombie

149. “Take everything as a compliment, you can never be insulted.”

— Joe Abercrombie

150. “A great leader must share the hardships of his followers, of his soldiers, of his subjects. That is how he wins their respect. Great leaders do not complain. Not ever.”

— Joe Abercrombie