1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. Robert Jordan

Robert Jordan Quotes
page 3

James Oliver Rigney Jr. , better known by his pen name Robert Jordan, was an American author of epic fantasy. He is best known for the Wheel of Time series, which was finished by Brandon Sanderson upon Jordan's death, which comprises 14 books and a prequel novel. He is one of several writers to have written original Conan the Barbarian novels; his are highly acclaimed to this day. Rigney also wrote historical fiction under his pseudonym Reagan O'Neal, a western as Jackson O'Reilly, and dance criticism as Chang Lung. Additionally, he ghostwrote an "international thriller" that is still believed to have been written by someone else. Wikipedia  

✵ 17. October 1948 – 16. September 2007  •  Other names جيمس أوليفر ريجني, رابرت جوردن
Robert Jordan photo
Robert Jordan: 305 quotes16 likes

Robert Jordan Quotes

“Knowing serves no real purpose, but then, neither does not knowing. Myself, I always prefer knowing to not.”

Robert Jordan The Great Hunt

Source: The Great Hunt

“Remember that any meal can be your last. You chose to travel with us, so tonight you will eat fish. Tomorrow, you may die.”

Robert Jordan The Dragon Reborn

Source: The Dragon Reborn

“It's not evil, Rand. I know something evil when I smell it. This isn't evil, it's just incredibly stupid.”

Robert Jordan The Wheel of Time

Source: A Memory of Light

“As sure as peaches are poison.”

Robert Jordan

New Spring

“You cannot please everyone. You cannot soothe everyone.”

Robert Jordan

Moiraine Damodred to Rand al'Thor
(15 October 1994)

“You could weave silk from pig bristles before you could make a man anything but a man.”

Robert Jordan

Lini
(15 September 1992)

“As well you try to understand the sun, Perrin. It simply is, and it is not to be understood. You cannot live without it, but it exacts a price. So with women.”

Robert Jordan

Gaul
(15 September 1992)

“…but who can know the heart of a man? Not even he himself, I suspect. A man is the easiest animal to put on a leash, and the hardest to keep leashed. Even when he chooses it himself.”

Robert Jordan The Dragon Reborn

Siuan Sanche
The Dragon Reborn (15 October 1991)

“Men believe the worst easily, and women believe it hides something still darker.”

Robert Jordan

Two Rivers saying
(15 October 1994)

“A man without trust might as well be dead.”

Robert Jordan

Lews Therin Telamon
(15 October 1994)

“If a woman does need a hero, she needs him today, not tomorrow.”

Robert Jordan

Egwene al'Vere
(7 January 2003)

“We hear less, Davram Bashere, but perhaps sometimes we see more.”

Robert Jordan

Bael to Davram Bashere
(15 October 1994)

“I would burn the world and use my soul for tinder to hear her laugh again.”

Robert Jordan

Lews Therin Telamon
(15 October 1993)

“The best way to avoid trouble is to make sure no one wants to trouble you.”

Robert Jordan

Birgitte Trahelion
(15 October 1994)

“A cat for a hat, or a hat for a cat. But nothing for nothing.”

Robert Jordan

Taren Ferry saying
(15 October 1994)

“There’s no point letting honey age too long before you eat it.”

Robert Jordan

Lini
(15 October 1993)

“What could not be changed must be endured.”

Robert Jordan

Variant: What could not be changed must be endured.
Source: New Spring (January 2004), Chapter 1: The Hook. p. 5

“Love is an odd thing. As odd a thing as there is.”

Robert Jordan

al'Lan Mandragoran
(15 November 1990)

“There is some delight in ale and wine
And some in girls with ankles fine
But my delight, yes always mine
Is to dance with Jak O’ the Shadows

We will toss the dice however they fall
And snuggle the girls be they short or tall
Then follow lord Mat whenever he calls
To dance with Jak O’ the Shadows.”

Robert Jordan

Band of the Red Hand's rendition of the song Dance With the Jak O' Shadows
(11 October 2005)

“To fight the raven you may make alliance with the serpent until the battle is done.”

Robert Jordan

Byar, Children of the Light
(11 October 2005)

“It’s too late to change your mind after you’ve jumped off the cliff.”

Robert Jordan

Lini
(15 October 1993)

“Never gamble without knowing a back way out.”

Robert Jordan

Matrim Cauthon
(15 October 1993)

“Weep for what is lost forever.”

Robert Jordan

Moiraine Damodred
(15 January 1990)

“You always had to pay the butcher.”

Robert Jordan A Crown of Swords

Gawyn Trakand
A Crown of Swords (15 May 1996)

“Ravens and crows. Rats. Mists and clouds. Insects and corruption. Strange events and odd occurences. The ordinary twisted and strange. Wonders. The dead are beginning to walk and some see them. Others do not, but more and more, we all fear the night. These have been our days. They rain upon us beneath a dead sky, crushing us with their fury, until as one, we beg, "Let it begin."”

Robert Jordan

Journal of the Unknown Scholar, entry for the Feast of Freia, 1000 NE
(27 October 2009)

“Trust is as slippery as a basket of eels sometimes.”

Robert Jordan

Siuan Sanche
(15 October 1991)

“I’m no lord. I’ve more respect for myself than that.”

Robert Jordan

Matrim Cauthon
(15 October 1993)

“Nobody tells us how to be men. We just are.”

Robert Jordan

Perrin Aybara
(15 January 1990)

“Young men can be impetuous, young men can be rush, young men can be fools, but the Car'a'carn cannot let himself be a young man.”

Robert Jordan

Nandera to Rand al'Thor
(15 October 1994)

“Tonight you will eat fish. Tomorrow, you may die.”

Robert Jordan

Moiraine Damodred to Faile Bashere
(15 October 1991)

“We are going to tickle some Aes Sedai under the chin, rescue a mule, and put a snip-nosed girl on the Lion Throne. Oh, yes. That's Aviendha. Don't look at her crosswise, or she'll try to cut your throat and probably slit her own by mistake.”

Robert Jordan

Mat Cauthon
(15 October 1994)

“When you wish for so long that you could hear something, and then suddenly, with no warning, you do, is like a lightning strike and rain on parched ground at the same time. You're stunned, but you cannot hear enough.”

Robert Jordan

Gawyn Trakand
(15 October 1994)

“Anger narrowed the vision and made for foolish choices.”

Robert Jordan

Source: (January 2004), Chapter 1: The Hook. p. 8

“It is better to be the hammer than the nail.”

Robert Jordan

Egwene al'Vere
(15 October 1991)

“Better ten days of love than years of regretting.”

Robert Jordan

Min Farshaw
(15 October 1991)

“The weak must be bold cautiously.”

Robert Jordan A Crown of Swords

Siuan Sanche
A Crown of Swords (15 May 1996)

“Prophecy is most dangerous when you try to make it happen… The Pattern weaves itself around you, but when you try to weave it, even you cannot hold it.”

Robert Jordan

Moiraine Damodred
(15 September 1992)

“Better to try understanding the sun than a woman.”

Robert Jordan

Thom Merrilin
(15 October 1993)

“Young men and fools sometimes bear pain they do not have to as a badge of their pride. Or their foolishness.”

Robert Jordan A Crown of Swords

Nandera
A Crown of Swords (15 May 1996)

“The pike does not ask the frog’s permission before dining.”

Robert Jordan

Lini
(15 October 1994)

“You cannot tell a man he has the power to make the earth shake, then expect him to walk small.”

Robert Jordan

Mazrim Taim
(15 October 1994)

“The more tragic things get, the more I feel like laughing.”

Robert Jordan

Mat Cauthon
(27 October 2009)

“For the young, death is an enemy they wish to try their strength against. For those of us a little older, she is an old friend, an old lover, but one we are not eager to meet again soon.”

Robert Jordan

Rhuarc
(15 September 1992)

“A man is a man, on a throne or in a pigsty.”

Robert Jordan

Lini
(15 October 1993)

“I always thought the stole weighed about as much as three good men. The Amyrlin has few easy decisions to make, and fewer where she can be sure. Do what you must, and pay the price if you’re wrong. Sometimes if you are right, too.”

Robert Jordan

Siuan Sanche to Egwene al'Vere
(15 October 1994)

“Death rides on my shoulder, death walks in my footsteps. I am death.”

Robert Jordan

Lews Therin Telamon
(15 October 1994)

“A man must know when to retreat from a woman, but a wise man knows that sometimes he must stand and face her.”

Robert Jordan

Davram Bashere
(15 October 1994)

“Men! Too blind to see what a stone could see, and too stubborn to be trusted to think for themselves.”

Robert Jordan

Min Farshaw
(15 October 1991)