Quotes from work
Dreams of Steel

Glen Cook

Dreams of Steel is the fifth novel in Glen Cook's ongoing series, The Black Company. The series combines elements of epic fantasy and dark fantasy as it follows an elite mercenary unit, The Black Company, through roughly forty years of its approximately four hundred-year history.

“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.”

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

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

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

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

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.

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

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

Source: Dreams of Steel

“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.”

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

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

“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.”

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

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

“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.”

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

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

“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?”

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

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

““That your solution to everything? Cut somebody’s throat?”
“Always slows them down.””

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter 10 (p. 258)

““I’ve been on my own before, Mather.” And I hadn’t been happy a moment. But happiness is a fleeting creature. It’s no birthright. Not anything I expect but something I accept when I tumble into it. Meantime, power will do nicely.”

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter 14 (p. 276)

“I don’t think she told any lies. She just forgot to tell the whole truth.”

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter 10 (p. 263)

“His problem is, he gets an idea in his head and he can’t get it out if it’s wrong, no matter what evidence you hit him with.”

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter 55 (p. 405)

“Blade muttered, “Makes as much sense as the story of any other god. Meaning it don’t.””

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

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

“Half of confidence is the appearance of confidence.”

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter 17 (p. 287)

“I won’t bore you with their dogma. It’s repulsive and I’m not sure it was related to me truthfully.”

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter 23 (p. 310)

““They worship the goddess, Mistress. They think. But their heresies are revolting. They are worse than disbelief.”
Why was he incensed? A prolonged exchange failed to illuminate me. No godless person can comprehend those minute distinctions in doctrine that provide true believers excuse for mayhem. It is hard enough to accept the fact that they really believe the nonsense of their faiths. I always wonder if they are pulling my leg with a straight face.”

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter 58 (pp. 414-415)

“Time is the enemy whose patience can’t be exhausted.”

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter 12 (p. 270)

“He winced. “You’ll start a civil war.”
“Not if everybody behaves and minds his own business.”
“You don’t understand. Priests consider everything their business.””

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter 29 (p. 331)

“He hadn’t been religious. He’d believed that death was it. When you died you were dead, like a squished bug or drowned rat, and your immortality was in the minds of those you left behind.”

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter 11 (p. 264)

“They worship the goddess, Mistress. They think. But their heresies are revolting. They are worse than disbelief.”

Glen Cook Dreams of Steel

Why was he incensed? A prolonged exchange failed to illuminate me. No godless person can comprehend those minute distinctions in doctrine that provide true believers excuse for mayhem. It is hard enough to accept the fact that they really believe the nonsense of their faiths. I always wonder if they are pulling my leg with a straight face.
Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter 58 (pp. 414-415)