Quotes from book
The Broken Sword

The Broken Sword
Poul Anderson

The Broken Sword is a fantasy novel by American writer Poul Anderson, originally published in 1954. It was issued in a revised edition by Ballantine Books as the twenty-fourth volume of their Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in January 1971. The original text was returned to print by Gollancz in 2002.

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“Hurry and hurry, autumn leaves hurrying on the rainy wind, snow hurrying out of the sky, life hurrying to death, gods hurrying to oblivion.”

Poul Anderson book The Broken Sword

Source: The Broken Sword (1954), Chapter 3 (p. 9)

Poul Anderson photo

“Men, whose span is cruelly short, rush nonetheless to death in their youth as to a maiden’s arms.”

Poul Anderson book The Broken Sword

Source: The Broken Sword (1954), Chapter 10 (p. 55)

Poul Anderson photo

“You should pay no heed to what some yokel priest has prated of. What does he know?”

Poul Anderson book The Broken Sword

Source: The Broken Sword (1954), Chapter 11 (p. 70)

Poul Anderson photo

“She rarely saw priest—and knowing her heart sinned, was glad of that. Dreary was a church after the woodlands and hills and sounding sea. She still loved God—and was not the earth His work, and a church only man’s?—but she could not bring herself to call on Him very often.”

Poul Anderson book The Broken Sword

Source: The Broken Sword (1954), Chapter 24 (p. 174)

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““I think you look on death as your friend,” she murmured. “That is a strange friend for a young man to have.”
“The only faithful friend in this world,” he said. “Death is always sure to be at your side.””

Poul Anderson book The Broken Sword

Source: The Broken Sword (1954), Chapter 21 (p. 148)

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“There are three Powers in the world which not gods nor demons nor men can stay, against which no magic shall prevail and no might shall stand, and they are the White Christ, Time, and Love.
From the first you may await only thwarting of your desire, and you must be careful that He and His in no way enter the struggle. This you can do by remembering that Heaven leaves lesser beings their free will, and thus does not force them into its own ways; even the miracles have done no more than leave open a possibility to men.
The second, which has more names than I myself—Fate, Destiny, Law, Wyrd, the Norns, Necessity, Brahm, and others beyond counting—is not to be appealed to, for it does not hear. Nor can you hope to understand how it exists together with the freedom whereof I spoke, any more than you can understand how there are both old gods and new. But for the wreaking of the greatest spells, you must ponder on this until you know in your inmost being that truth is a thing which bears as many shapes as there are minds which strive to see it.
And the third of the Powers is a mortal thing, therefore it can harm as well as help, and this is the one you must use.”

Poul Anderson book The Broken Sword

Source: The Broken Sword (1954), Chapter 6 (pp. 26-27)

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“Over unforced love, the gods themselves had no might.”

Poul Anderson book The Broken Sword

Source: The Broken Sword (1954), Chapter 12 (p. 76)

Poul Anderson photo

“I say that a God who would come between two who have been to each other what we have been, is not one I would heed.”

Poul Anderson book The Broken Sword

Source: The Broken Sword (1954), Chapter 20 (p. 141)

Poul Anderson photo

“Tis colder outside than a well-born maiden’s heart.”

Poul Anderson book The Broken Sword

Source: The Broken Sword (1954), Chapter 24 (p. 171)

Poul Anderson photo

“Better a life like a falling star, bright across the dark, than a deathlessness which can see naught above or beyond itself.”

Poul Anderson book The Broken Sword

In the first edition of the book, this quote reads: Better a life like a falling star, brief and bright across the dark, than the long, long waiting of the immortals, loveless and cheerlessly wise.
Source: The Broken Sword (1954), Chapter 28 (p. 206)

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“For a space he faltered, when Goltan fell with a spear through him. “Now I am one friend poorer,” he said, “and that is a wealth not gained back.””

Poul Anderson book The Broken Sword

Source: The Broken Sword (1954), Chapter 10 (p. 65)

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