Quotes about combat
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“If you're fighting moodiness and depression you don't want to hang around a bunch of other moody and depressed people.”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

People

“It was so risky and so scary, and yet at the same time, so beautiful. Maybe the truth was, it shouldn't be easy to be amazing. Then everything would be. It's the things you fight for and struggle with before earning that have the greatest worth.”

Sarah Dessen book Along for the Ride

Source: Along for the Ride

Truth, Beauty, Time

“The beauty of our system is that it isolates everybody. Each person is sitting alone in front of the tube, you know. It's very hard to have ideas or thoughts under those circumstances. You can't fight the world alone.”

Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist

World, Beauty, Idea, Personality

“I want to punish them. I want that punishment to be so hard, so vicious that the next who takes their place wets himself at the mere thought of trying to fight me.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Burns

“If you are chronically down, it is a lifelong fight to keep from sinking”

Elizabeth Wurtzel book Prozac Nation

Source: Prozac Nation

Depressing

“These kinds of fights can never be won - even if you're the victor, you've hurt the other person, and there has to be some loss associated with that.”

David Levithan The Lover's Dictionary

Source: The Lover's Dictionary

Loss, Hurt, Personality

“Suddenly summoned to witness something great and horrendous, we keep fighting not to reduce it to our own smallness.”

John Updike (1932–2009) American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic

“I'll fight dragons, just like any knight for his lady. I'll prove myself. You'll be proud of me.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Variant: And in the mean time I'll fight dragons, just like any knight for his lady.
Source: Night World, No. 1

“Nike could start you two fighting easily.” Percy gave her a sideways smile. “Yeah, we can’t have another incident like in Kansas. I might kill my bro Jason.” “Or I might kill my bro Percy,” Jason said amiably. “Which proves my point,” Annabeth said.”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

Smile

“The English play hockey in any weather. Thunder, lightening, plague of locusts… nothing can stop the hockey. Do not fight the hockey, for the hockey will win.”

Maureen Johnson (1973) writer from the USA

Weather, Hockey

“My wife would fight the world for me. It was miraculous to know that. When no one else had fought for me, I’d somehow found the one soul who would.”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Captivated by You

World, Soul

“I can't fight.
I was once run over by a car with a flat tire, being pushed by two guys.”

Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician

Cars, Guy

“Sometimes it's braver not to fight. Protect them, and save your vengeance for another day.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

“So. You get handed a holy sword by an archangel, told to go fight the forces of evil, and you somehow remain an atheist. Is that what you're saying?”

Jim Butcher book Death Masks

Source: Death Masks

Evil

“I was exhausted. Fighting to save the universe will do that.”

D.J. MacHale (1955) American television director and producer

Universe

“I have to win this now, and for all time, or I’ll fight it every day and it will get worse and worse.”

Orson Scott Card book Ender's Game

Source: Ender's Game

Time

“How come you don't work fourteen hours a day? Your great-great-grandparents did. How come you only work the eight-hour day? Four guys got hanged fighting for the eight-hour day for you.”

Studs Terkel (1912–2008) American author, historian and broadcaster

Source: Touch and Go: A Memoir

Guy

“The society whose citizens are willing to stand and fight is the one with the best chance of surviving long enough for history to even notice.”

Orson Scott Card book Empire

Source: Empire

History, Chance

“Fighting giants was one thing. Bacchus making into a game was something else.”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

Game

“Before I die, I want to fight for life.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Life

“In his wolf-skin he was as strong as any of them, but he was a gentle person in many ways. He'd feel so bad about failing he'd probably step aside for someone else without a fight.”

Annette Curtis Klause Blood and Chocolate

Source: Blood and Chocolate

Way, Feeling, Strong, Wolf

“This is good, life must continue, we are fighting barbarians, but we must remain human.”

David Benioff book City of Thieves

Source: City of Thieves

Life

“It actually dawned on me that I don’t fight. I just kill whatever annoys me, and it’s over. (Savitar)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Dark Side of the Moon

“If you live today, you breath in nihilism… it's the gas you breathe. If I hadn't had the Church to fight it with or to tell me the necessity of fighting it, I would be the stinkingest logical positivist you ever saw right now.”

Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964) American novelist, short story writer

“Surround yourself with human beings, my dear James. They are easier to fight for than principles.”

Ian Fleming book Casino Royale

Source: Casino Royale (1953), Ch. 20 : The Nature Of Evil
Context: "Surround yourself with human beings, my dear James. They are easier to fight for than principles."
He laughed. "But don't let me down and become human yourself. We would lose a wonderful machine."

“How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight?”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

“But my whole life has been a matter of fighting for one simple hour to do what I want to do. There was always something getting in the way of my getting to myself.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Source: The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship

Life, Way

“We fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice.”

Suzanne Collins (1962) American television writer and novelist

Hunger, Justice

“The tragedy of modern war is that the young men die fighting each other - instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals.”

Edward Abbey (1927–1989) American author and essayist

Men, War, Home

“It's just me and the Bane. And I'm fighting him because he killed all of those innocent mice and people, and I have to stop him. Not because Sandwich says so but because I say so.”

Suzanne Collins book Gregor and the Code of Claw

Source: Gregor and the Code of Claw

People

“She shrieks above the din. "If you wish a battle, I shall give it. I am the last of my kind. I shall not lie down without a fight.”

Libba Bray book The Sweet Far Thing

Source: The Sweet Far Thing

Lie

“Evil is easy to fight. Lack of wisdom… that is very hard indeed.”

Rick Riordan book The Titan's Curse

Source: The Titan's Curse

Wisdom, Evil

“How do you fight someone smarter than yourself?' Rand Whispered. 'The answer is simple. You make her think that you are sitting down across the table from her, ready to play her game. Then you punch her in the face as hard as you can.”

Brandon Sanderson The Wheel of Time

Source: The Gathering Storm

Game, Thinking

“Real life's nasty. It's cruel. It doesn't care about heroes and happy endings and the way things should be. In real life, bad things happen. People die. Fights are lost. Evil often wins.”

Darren Shan (1972) Irish writer of English-language fiction under pen name, real name Darren O'Shaughnessy

Life, Happiness, People, Way

“Stop!" he yelled at the others. "Multigrain fighting is not allowed!”

Rick Riordan book The Son of Neptune

Source: The Son of Neptune

“I never seek to defeat the man I am fighting, " he explained. "I seek to defeat his confidence. A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory. Two men are equals - true equals - only when they both have equal confidence.”

Arthur Golden book Memoirs of a Geisha

Source: Memoirs of a Geisha

Men, Confidence, Victory

“I had traded the fight against love for the fight against loneliness, the fight against life for the fight against death.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book The Beautiful and Damned

Source: The Beautiful and Damned

Love, Life, Death, Loneliness

“He died fighting for what he believed in.”

Anthony Horowitz book Crocodile Tears

Source: Crocodile Tears

“Ah, those two. In a fight, they’re lethal. Around each other, they melt.”

Richelle Mead book The Golden Lily

Source: The Golden Lily

“If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.”

John Steinbeck (1902–1968) American writer

“Nothing like watching your relatives fight, I always say.”

Rick Riordan book The Lightning Thief

Source: The Lightning Thief

Family

“Leap out the window, my inner Tigress cried. You aren't ready to face such a powerful Tiger. I frowned. I thought a true Tigress never backed down from a fight. Don't you know anything? When she's in heat, she avoids everything male. Now run!”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: Animal Instincts

“The moment we decide to throw more energy into fighting for our mate than with him, the crack of a fist on the enemy's jaw splits the ears of angels.”

Beth Moore (1957) American evangelist

Angels

“Word spread because word will spread. Stories and secrets fight, stories win, shed new secrets, which new stories fight, and on.”

China Miéville Embassytown

Source: Embassytown

Secret

“you might want to decide fast. We live in a dangerous world. If you see a chance to be happy, you have to fight for it, so later you have no regrets.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Bleeds

Happiness, World, Chance

“My choices were to either give in and let them kill all of us or fight back with everything I had. I chose the second one, ’cause I’m just funny that way.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: The Angel Experiment

Way

“When we fight upstream against a rocky undercurrent, every foothold takes on a kind of urgency.”

Arthur Golden book Memoirs of a Geisha

Source: Memoirs of a Geisha

“Pea was aware suddenly of how fragile her heart was, how much darkness was inside it, fighting, always, with the light. She did not like the rat. She would neverlike the rat, but she knew what she must do to save her own heart.”

Kate DiCamillo book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux

Light, Heart

“Dragons and legends… It would have been difficult for any man not to want to fight beside a dragon.”

Patricia Briggs (1965) American writer

Source: Dragon Blood

“You feel fine, and then, when your body can't keep fighting, you don't.”

Nicholas Sparks book A Walk to Remember

Source: A Walk to Remember

Feeling

“One fine day, in the middle of the night, two dead boys got up to fight. Back to back they faced each other. They pulled out their swords and shot one another. One deaf cop, on the beat heard the noise, and came and shot the two dead boys.”

Holly Black (1971) American children's fiction writer

Source: Valiant

Boy, Night, Dead

“You can't always pickyou fight, oryou fight… or even… you fight. But do the picking… whenever you can.”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist

Source: The Warrior Heir

“Hush little baby, Dont you cry, Dont cut your arms, Dont say goodbye. Put down that razor, Put down that light, It maybe hard but, You'll win this fight.”

Emily Giffin (1972) American writer

Light, Baby, Cry

“Victor smiled through the pain and the blood. "Of course you have. I used to think Belikov was the savage one, but it's really you, isn't it? You're the animal with no control, no higher reasoning except to fight and kill.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

Pain, Smile, Thinking, Animals

“Angus looked at Hamish. "I hate it when Mom and Dad fight."
Hamish smoothed his brother's messy hair. "Me too.”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Source: Uncommon Criminals

Hate, Moms

“The dark does not weep for itself because there is no light. Rather, it accepts that it is the dark. It is said that even the gods must die." He winks. "But not without one hell of a fight.””

Libba Bray Going Bovine

Source: Going Bovine (2009), p. 365

God, Hell, Light

“Percy: I thought I’d lost my mom forever, and I was stuck on a hill in a thunderstorm fighting this huge bull dude while Grover was passed out wailing. “Food!” It was terrifying, man.”

Rick Riordan book The Demigod Files

Source: The Demigod Files

Food, Moms

“The queen's guards might have been the best of the best, but Dimitri… well, my former lover and instructor was in a category all his own. His fighting skills were beyond anyone else's, and he was using them all in defense of me.”

Richelle Mead book Spirit Bound

Variant: ... but Dimitri... well, my former lover and instructor was in a category all his own. His fighting skills were beyond anyone else's, and he was using them all in defense of me.
"Stay back," he ordered me. "They aren't laying a hand on you.
Source: Spirit Bound

Lovers

“What you see at fight club is a generation of men raised by women.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

Women, Men

“It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui.”

Helen Keller book The Story of My Life

Source: The Story of My Life, Part III, Ch. 5: Literary Style

Love, Men, People, Time

“In a fair fight, the don's man would almost certainly paint the walls with Locke and Calo's blood, so it stood to reason that this fight would have to be as unfair as possible.”

Scott Lynch The Lies of Locke Lamora

Source: The Lies of Locke Lamora

Painting

“And we must still try or we would be leaving our friends to fight without us. I think this is what you have meant by duty, all along; I do understand, at least this much of it.”

Naomi Novik book His Majesty's Dragon

Source: His Majesty's Dragon

Understanding, Thinking

“It may sound corny, but what's wrong with wanting to fight for your country. Why are people reluctant to use the word patriotism?”

Jimmy Stewart (1908–1997) American film and stage actor

People, Country

“My Akri says that tragedy and adversity are the stones we sharpen our swords against ao that we can fight new battles.- Simi”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Variant: Tragedy and adversary are the stones we sharpen our swords against so we can fight new battles.
Source: Infinity

“There's no such thing as winning or losing. There isand there is; there isand. There are absolutes. Everything in between is still leftt to fight for.”

Derek Landy Skulduggery Pleasant

Source: Skulduggery Pleasant

“Relax? he repeated incredulously. You're going to fight an armored knight with nothing more than a bow and you tell me to relax?
I'll have one or two arrows as well, you know, Halt told him mildly, and Horace shook his head in disbelief.”

John Flanagan (1873–1938) Irish-American hammer thrower

Source: The Icebound Land

“I shan't ever understand your willingness to lie down and die," Felicity bars. "If you won't at least try to fight, I have no sympathy for you.”

Libba Bray book The Sweet Far Thing

Source: The Sweet Far Thing

Lie, Understanding

“Holly's theory about the army," Sharon explained.
And what is it?" Denise asked, intrigued.
Oh, that fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.”

Cecelia Ahern book PS, I Love You

Source: PS, I Love You

Peace

“Keep fighting until the last buzzer sounds.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Source: The World As I See It

“I don't believe I ever saw an Oklahoman who wouldn't fight at the drop of a hat — and frequently drop the hat himself.”

Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) American author

From a letter to H. P. Lovecraft (July 13, 1932)
Letters

“I am aware that the battle I am fighting is a petty one, but I am also aware that in order to win that which is great, you must first win that which is small.”

James Frey book A Million Little Pieces

Source: A Million Little Pieces

“Then again, it was Jace. He'd pick a fight with a Mack truck if the urge took him.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Clary, pg. 40
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Ashes (2008)

“The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.”

Ernest Hemingway book A Farewell to Arms

Source: A Farewell to Arms

World, Strong

“Don’t keep fighting battles that are already lost.”

David Nicholls book One Day

Source: One Day

“I am sore wounded but not slain
I will lay me down and bleed a while
And then rise up to fight again”

John Dryden (1631–1700) English poet and playwright of the XVIIth century

“Is that your reason for fighting?! We're different!!! We fight for the sake of our injured friends!!! No matter if our opponents are humans, demons, or even gods!!!”

Hiro Mashima (1977) Japanese manga artist

God

“He stepped back and threw his arms out.
"I'm always crazy around you Rose. Here, I'm going to write an impromptu poem for you."
He tipped his head back and shouted to the sky:
"Rose is in red
But never in blue
Sharp as a thorn
Fights like one too.”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

“… show the other side, the one that gets people out of bed the next morning, makes them scratch and scrape and fight for their lives because someone is telling them that they're going to be okay.”

Max Brooks book World War Z

Source: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

People

“Why, oh why, had Jace picked a fight with a pack of wolves? What had possessed him? Then again, it was Jace. He'd pick a fight with a Mack truck if the urge took him.
-Clary, pg.40”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

“The true warrior isn't immune to fear. She fights in spite of it.”

Francesca Lia Block (1962) American children's writer

Source: Love in the Time of Global Warming

Fear

“Yeah, and Mr. Cuddles is a jealous sort. He doesn’t share us well. (Geary)
Does this mean I’ll have to fight him? (Arik)
You’d never win. Mr. Cuddles cheats. You think he’s just a pushover teddy bear, but he’s vicious, I tell you. Vicious. (Geary)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: The Dream Hunter

Thinking, Cheating

“to fight for each minute is to
fight for what is possible within
yourself,
so that your life and your death
will not be like
theirs.”

Charles Bukowski book The People Look Like Flowers at Last

Source: The People Look Like Flowers at Last

Life, Death

“But neither of us knows, because a fight's worth nothing if you know from the start that you're going to win it.”

Markus Zusak book Fighting Ruben Wolfe

Source: Fighting Ruben Wolfe

“Let nature do the freezing and frightening and isolating in this world. let men work and love and fight it off.”

Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American writer

Source: Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac 1947-1954

Love, Men, World, Nature

“Tatiana: "Why did we spend two days fighting when we could have been doing this?"
Alexander: "That wasn't fighting, Tatiana. That was foreplay.”

Paullina Simons book The Bronze Horseman

Source: The Bronze Horseman

“They fight a war and they don't know what for. Isn't that crazy? How can one man kill another and not really know the reason why he does it, except that the other man wears a different color uniform and speaks a different language?”

Michael Morpurgo book War Horse

Source: War Horse

War, Color

“Honey, the only experts in PMS are men. That's why men are so good at fighting wars; they learned Escape and Evade at home.”

Linda Howard (1950) American writer

Source: Mr. Perfect

Men, War, Home, Learning

“Well. Like I said, I dont want to fight anymore. I dont want us to hate each other. And… well… I squeezed my eyes shut and then opened them. No matter how I fee about us… I want you to be happy”

Richelle Mead book Frostbite

Source: Frostbite

Hate, Happiness

“Yes, I'm a small, emaciated teenage girl who struts around fighting vampires in earrings they would rip out of my ears and shove up my”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Girl

“Being brave doesn't meanhaving to fight alone.”

Esther M. Friesner (1951) American writer

Source: Sphinx's Princess

“I think to myself that when you're in love, sometimes you have to swallow your pride, and sometimes you have to fight to keep your pride. It's a balance. But when the relationship is right, you find that balance.”

Emily Giffin Something Borrowed

Variant: When you’re in love, sometimes you have to swallow your pride, and sometimes you have to keep your pride. It’s a balance. But when the relationship is right, you find the balance.
Source: Something Borrowed

Love, Thinking

“Try fighting with your head for a change…
it's a good one, even if it does resist learning.”

Harper Lee book To Kill a Mockingbird

Source: To Kill a Mockingbird

Learning, Change

“only the defeated know LOVE.
because it is in the realm of love that we
fight our first battles - and generally lose……..”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

Source: Manuscript Found in Accra

Love

“Nothing in life is more liberating than to fight for a cause larger than yourself, something that encompasses you but is not defined by your existence alone.”

John McCain (1936–2018) politician from the United States

Source: Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir

Life

“Good fighting with you, Seaweed Brain."
Ditto.”

Rick Riordan book The Battle of the Labyrinth

Source: The Battle of the Labyrinth

“The strength of a civilization is not measured by its ability to fight wars, but rather by its ability to prevent them.”

Gene Roddenberry (1921–1991) American television screenwriter and producer

Shown at the end of the episode "Scorched Earth", no. 14 in the 3rd season of Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict, first aired on February 7, 2000.

War