Glen Cook Quotes

“Simple minds respond to simple answers.”

Source: Soldiers Live (2000), Chapter 87, “Glittering Stone: Fortress with No Name” (p. 639)

“Will, Lady. The Will will reign triumphant. My husband had said that often, confident that nothing could resist his will.
He had believed that right up to the moment I killed him.”

Source: Shadows Linger (1984), Chapter 33, “Juniper: The Encounter” (p. 370)

“Oh, ‘twould be marvelous if the world and its moral questions were like some game board, with plain black players and white, and fixed rules, and nary a shade of grey.”

Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter 60 (p. 419)

“Soldiers live. He dies and not you, and you feel guilty, because you're glad he died, and not you. Soldiers live, and wonder why.”

Source: Shadows Linger (1984), Chapter 33, “Juniper: The Encounter” (p. 367)

“I’m an incurable romantic. The essence of romance is an unshakable conviction that next time will be different.”

Source: Soldiers Live (2000), Chapter 99, “By the Military Cemetery: Missing Persons” (p. 664)
Context: “It doesn’t make much sense, does it?” my darling whispered to me. “People go at the oddest times and from the oddest causes.”
“Soldiers live,” I muttered.
“You’re turning that into a mantra.”
“You feel guilty. You wonder why him and not me, then you’re glad it was him and not you, then you feel guilty. Soldiers live. And wonder why.”

“There were dreams once upon a time, dreams now all but forgotten. On sad days I dust them off and fondle them nostalgically, with a patronizing wonder at the naivete of the youth who dreamed them.”

Source: Soldiers Live (2000), Chapter 135, “Taglios: The Mad Season” (p. 747)

Glen Cook Quotes about time

“Only this time it was just a brief rest, till the stars came out. They stared down with mockery in their twinkles, saying all our sweat and blood really had no meaning in the long eye of time. Nothing we did would be recalled a thousand years from now.
Such thoughts infected us all. No one had any ideals or glory-lust left. We just wanted to get somewhere, lie down, and forget the war.
The war would not forget us.”

Source: The White Rose (1985), Chapter 2, “The Plain of Fear” (p. 456)
Context: An old, tired man. That is what I am. What became of the old fire, drive, ambition? There were dreams once upon a time, dreams now all but forgotten. On sad days I dust them off and fondle them nostalgically, with a patronizing wonder at the naivete of the youth who dreamed them.

“Though it might wear a thousand different names in a thousand different times, and might come from a thousand different directions, darkness always comes.”

Source: The Black Company (1984), Chapter 5, “Harden” (p. 140)

“Morning is wonderful. Its only drawback is that it comes at such an inconvenient time of day.”

Source: She Is the Darkness (1997), Chapter 69 (p. 517)

Glen Cook book Sweet Silver Blues

Source: Sweet Silver Blues

“I must be driven. I figured that as long as I had to stay out there I ought to keep scouting around. Working in my sleep. Ought to have the Old Man double my pay. How much is two times a stab in the back?”

““When you get back to Taglios now, Master, you can establish a mighty reputation by explaining the myths in the words of a being who lived through their creation.”
Santaraksita smiled sourly, “You know better, Dorabee. Mythology is one area where nobody wants to know the absolute truth because time has forged great symbols from raw materials supplied by ancient events. Prosaic distortions of fact metamorphose into perceived truths of the soul.”
He had a point. In religion, precise truth has almost no currency. True believers will kill and destroy to defend their inaccurate beliefs.
And that is a truth upon which you can rely.”

Source: She Is the Darkness (1997), Chapter 70 (p. 523)

“More evil gets done in the name of righteousness than any other way.”

Source: Water Sleeps (1999), Chapter 97 (pp. 351-352)

Glen Cook Quotes about the trip

““Given time we would have become less than indispensable and you would have started looking around for a way to shaft us instead of doing the honorable thing and paying us off and simply terminating our comission.”
“That’s what I love about you, Croaker. Your unflagging faith in humanity.”
“Absolutely. Every ounce of my cynicism is supported by historical precedent,” I grumped.”

Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter 23 (p. 310)
Context: “What do you want, Blade. Why are you doing this?”
He shrugged, an uncharacteristic action. “There are many evils in the world. I guess I’ve chosen one for my personal crusade.”
“Why such a hatred for priests?”
He didn’t shrug. He didn’t give me a straight answer, either. “If each man picks an evil and attacks it relentlessly, how long can evil persist?”
That was an easy one. Forever. More evil gets done in the name of righteousness than any other way. Few villains think they are villains. But I left him his illusion. If he had one. I doubted he did. No more than a sword’s blade does.

“There were prodigies and portents enough, One-Eye says. We must blame ourselves for misinterpreting them. One-Eye’s handicap in no way impairs his marvelous hindsight.”

Source: Shadow Games (1989), Chapter 11, “A March into Yesteryear” (p. 54)

“She wasn’t satisfied with the way things turned out. What the hell can you do with women? You can give them exactly what they ask for and they’ll cuss you because that ain’t what they really want.”

Source: The Black Company (1984), Chapter 1, “Legate” (p. 11; opening paragraph)

“Time has a way of blunting the sharpest edge of determination.”

Source: The Silver Spike (1989), Chapter 38 (p. 569)

“I do not worship any gods myself, though I guess some are real in their own ways. I have to believe that all of them get regular belly-laughs because one of them was ingenious to create human sexuality. Even greed and lust for power do not come close to generating the stupidities that us being male and female do.
But by giving it half a thought I can think of as many glories that spring from the same dichotomy.”

Source: She Is the Darkness (1997), Chapter 55 (p. 466)

“Every ounce of my cynicism is supported by historical precedent.”

Source: Bleak Seasons (1996), Chapter 98 (p. 266)

Glen Cook: Trending quotes

“Evil is relative, Annalist. You can’t hang a sign on it. You can’t touch it or taste it or cut it with a sword. Evil depends on where you are standing, pointing your indicting finger.”

Source: Shadow Games

“Rich men have dreams. Poor men die to make them come true.”

Source: The Black Company (1984), Chapter 6, “Lady” (pp. 192-193)

“I believe in our side and theirs, with the good and evil decided after the fact, by those who survive. Among men you seldom find the good with one standard and the shadow with another.”

Source: Water Sleeps (1999), Chapter 87 (p. 314)

Glen Cook Quotes

“The thing that you know to be true is the lie that will kill you.”

Source: Shadows Linger (1984), Chapter 33, “Juniper: The Encounter” (p. 367)
Context: I do not believe in evil absolute. I have recounted that philosophy in specific in the Annals, and it affects my every observation throughout my tenure as Annalist. I believe in our side and theirs, with the good and evil decided after the fact, by those who survive. Among men you seldom find the good with one standard and the shadow with another.

“The man who counts on the aid of a god deserves the help he doesn't get.”

Source: Soldiers Live (2000), Chapter 5, “An Abode of Ravens: Headquarters” (p. 384)

“There are no self-proclaimed villains, only regiments of self-proclaimed saints. Victorious historians rule where good or evil lies.”

Source: Dreams of Steel

Glen Cook

Source: Chronicles of the Black Company

“Consistency is the sign of a narrow mind.”

Glen Cook

“My favorite sport is female and my favorite food is beer.”

Glen Cook Cold Copper Tears

Source: Cold Copper Tears

“What do you do when old prophecies come true? I’ve never met a priest who honestly expected miracles in his own lifetime. For them miracles are like good wine, best when aged.”

“You mess with people’s religion and you mess with fire. Even people who don’t much give a damn. Religion is something that gets hammered in early, and never really goes away. And has powers to move which go beyond anything rational.”

Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter (p. 430)

“The power to kill becomes the ultimate power in the hands of a man who has no reservations about employing it.”

Source: Shadows Linger (1984), Chapter 38, “Juniper: The Storm” (p. 390)

“I heard Mather’s blather but it did not register as sense. I uttered, “Tooga ain’t no crazier than any other religion around here.”
That seemed to offend everyone equally.
Good.”

Source: Water Sleeps (1999), Chapter 32 (p. 121)

“Man, woman and child, the people of Shadowcatch were privy to the one true secret of the universe: there is always a darker shadow lurking beyond the one whose face you can see.”

Source: Bleak Seasons (1996), Chapter 86 (p. 236)

“She was not listening. If she listened she would have to hear uncomfortable truths.”

Source: Bleak Seasons (1996), Chapter 35 (p. 108)

“The resources would have to come from that absurd wall project. The city was too big to surround effectively. The project could not be justified. It was a tool for transferring the wealth of the state to a few individuals.”

Source: Soldiers Live (2000), Chapter 72, “Midway Between: The Rescuers” (p. 596)

“The poor idiot is a living testimonial to the fact that everything takes longer and costs more. Even magic can’t get you around that.”

Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter 29 (p. 332)

“Desperate people will do what they must to survive. Only a fool would expect the results to be pretty.”

Source: Bleak Seasons (1996), Chapter 91 (p. 250)

“Dawn comes early when you wish it would not. The hours flash when you want them to drag.”

Source: Water Sleeps (1999), Chapter 6 (p. 31)

“Sadly, after years of study, I realize that most history may pivot on personal considerations like that, not on the pursuit of ideals dark or shining.”

Source: The White Rose (1985), Chapter 56, “Time Fading” (p. 686)

“Time is the most wicked of all villains.”

Source: Water Sleeps (1999), Chapter 5 (p. 22)

“Like most villains, he was wicked only most of the time and mainly in small-minded ways.”

Source: Water Sleeps (1999), Chapter 5 (p. 25)

““Truth is a deadly weapon,” Lady said.
“Which is why priests and princes dread it,” I said.”

Source: Water Sleeps (1999), Chapter 7 (p. 34)

““She was stronger than the gods who created her?”
“Guys, I didn’t make this stuff up. Don’t ask me to rationalize it. Goblin, you’ve been everywhere. You ever seen a religion that can’t be picked to shreds by any nonbeliever with brains enough to tie his own bootlaces?”

Source: Shadow Games (1989), Chapter 25, “Taglios: Scouting Southward” (p. 127)

“Hatreds seldom are constrained to rational scales.”

Source: Bleak Seasons (1996), Chapter 42 (p. 120)

“He couldn’t handle what it meant to have somebody in love with you. Running away was the only thing he knew how to do.”

Source: Soldiers Live (2000), Chapter 5, “An Abode of Ravens: Headquarters” (p. 382)

“Generating rumors is one thing even the most inept armed force does exceedingly well.”

Source: The Silver Spike (1989), Chapter 1 (p. 457)

“The people come from everywhere, from five hundred miles, to find their fortunes. But Fortune is an ugly, two-faced goddess.
When you have lived with her handiwork for half a generation, you hardly notice anymore. You forget that this is not the way life has to be. You cease to marvel at just how much evil man can conjure simply by existing.”

Source: Soldiers Live (2000), Chapter 78, “Midway Between: Bad News” (p. 615)

“Life is never like a canal, flowing gently through a straightforward and predictable channel. It is more like a mountain brook, zigging and zagging, tearing things up, sometimes going almost dormant before taking an unexpected and turbulent turn.”

Source: Water Sleeps (1999), Chapter 11 (p. 55)

“He was pursuing a running debate with his own guilts and ghosts—unless he was spouting proverbs and aphorisms, most of the meanings fairly obvious but a few convolute and obscure. He was particularly fond of “Fortune smiles. And then betrays.” He just could not get into bed comfortably with the truth that he had made that bed himself. He still had difficulty separating “ought to be” from “the way things really are.””

Source: Soldiers Live (2000), Chapter 80, “The Taglian Territories: In Camp” (p. 620)

“Every time I see a mirror I’m amazed. I end up wondering who’s taken over the outside of me. A disgusting old goat, from the look of him. The kind I used to snicker at when I was twenty. He scares me, Stance. He looks like a dying man. I’m trapped inside him, and I’m not ready to go.”

Source: Soldiers Live (2000), Chapter 8, “Taglios: Trouble Follows” (p. 389)

“Good morning. I’m honored but I’m also pressed for time. If you have something to discuss please get to the point. I’m an hour behind schedule and didn’t budget time for socializing.”

Source: The White Rose (1985), Chapter 10, “Bomanz’s Story” (p. 497)

“It was a day ripped full-grown from the womb of despair.”

Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter 27 (p. 323)

“Seemed to have made peace with the bad times. Some manage that with comparative ease. Others remain crippled for life. Those are not the sort who remain soldiers. They become ex-soldiers and get intimate with wine or poppies.”

Source: Shadows Linger (1984), Chapter 5, “Juniper: Marron Shed” (p. 229)

“I went back to staring tomorrow in the face. Better than looking backward. But tomorrow refused to shed its mask.”

Source: Soldiers Live (2000), Chapter 131, “Around Taglios: Aerial Recon” (p. 736)

“The best of the diviner breed are never wrong because they never set anything in stone.”

Source: The Black Company (1984), Chapter 1, “Legate” (p. 34)

“Life with me and the Company has not been anything like happily ever after. Reality has a way of slow-roasting romance.”

Source: She Is the Darkness (1997), Chapter 79 (p. 555)

“Nobody had any ideas. The questions just sort of lay there like dead fish too ripe to be ignored and too big to shove out of the way.”

Source: Soldiers Live (2000), Chapter 5, “An Abode of Ravens: Headquarters” (p. 383)

“The sky? Dark as the inside of a priest’s heart, isn’t it?”

Source: The Silver Spike (1989), Chapter 19 (p. 499)

“All is not lost. But neither is it found.”

Source: Bleak Seasons (1996), Chapter 20 (p. 55)

““Best way out,” Elmo observed laconically, “would be to kill everybody who knows anything, then all of us fall on our swords.”
“Sounds a little extreme,” Goblin opined. “But if you want to go first, I’m right behind you.””

Source: Soldiers Live (2000), Chapter 133, “Glittering Stone: A Dangerous Game” (p. 741)

“He knew that he had screwed up but he was the kind of guy who, after he shoots his mouth off, cannot back down or admit any failing. The world is full of those people. All of us would be better off if their fathers would strangle them as soon as they showed signs of being that way. This particular fool was willing to sacrifice an army rather than admit his error.”

Source: Shadows Linger (1984), Chapter 24, “Juniper: Shadow Dancing” (p. 326)

“There are, of course, a thousand sophistries spewed by those who wish to deny individuals the opportunity to choose. Which is an arrogant presumption of a divine scale.”

Source: She Is the Darkness (1997), Chapter 30 (p. 368)

“He had gained all the power he had dreamed of then—and had not known a moment of peace since.”

Source: Soldiers Live (2000), Chapter 10, “An Abode of Ravens: Recovery” (p. 397)

“Soldiers live. And wonder why.”

Source: She Is the Darkness (1997), Chapter 5 (p. 288)

“It was the wee hours of the morning, when even the heartbeat of the world had trouble thumping on.”

Source: Water Sleeps (1999), Chapter 60 (p. 212; repeated on p. 356)

“I’ve always known people for whom a goal was everything, who never thought nothing about the consequences of the goal achieved.”

Source: Soldiers Live (2000), Chapter 104, “Taglios: View from the Protector’s Windows” (p. 676)

“But with royalty you never know. They think differently than real people. The real world never quite seems to reach them.”

Source: The Silver Spike (1989), Chapter 36 (p. 562)

“That damned rain had a personal grudge. It got no heavier but it never let up. Yet to east and west I saw light that indicated clear skies in those directions. The gods, if such existed, were laying on the misery especially for me.”

Source: Soldiers Live (2000), Chapter 126, “Taglios: Royal Return” (p. 720)

“I have seen it before. Little people have to hate, have to blame someone for their own inadequacies.”

Source: Shadow Games (1989), Chapter 28, “Back to Scouting” (p. 148)

“Blade grumbled about the absurdities of the theological imagination and why didn’t people have sense enough to smother would-be priests in their cradles?”

Source: Shadows Linger (1984), Chapter 33, “Juniper: The Encounter” (p. 370)

“Why do sorcerers always use languages nobody understands? Even Goblin and One-Eye do it. Each has confided that he cannot follow the tongue the other uses. Maybe they make it up?”

Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter 10 (p. 261)

“I must be alive. Otherwise I wouldn’t hurt so much.”

Source: The White Rose (1985), Chapter 53, “The Recovery” (p. 677)