[Puck]

"You're set. Tie a rope to your ass and go be a hero."
[Glen Cook - She is the Darkness]

[Nemorensis]

Quote

But the boy clutched his father‟s sword, crying, “So long as men live, there are crimes!”
The man‟s eyes filled with wonder. “No, child,” he said. “Only so long as men are deceived.”

R. Scott Bakker - The Darkness that Comes Before

I'm not sure if it is actually profound or just very ambiguous.

[Defiance]

Evil is deception, and crimes only spawn from evil. That's what I got from that quote, at least.

Quote

Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heav'n!

~Satan in John Milton's Paradise Lost.

Did a fist pump when I read that, so badass and very deep. I love Milton's Satan.

[Dave1]

"Those who are skilled in combat do not become angered, those who are skilled at winning do not become afraid. Thus the wise win before they fight, while the ignorant fight to win."
Zhuge Liang in romance of the three kingdoms

[Salt-Man Z]

From Blade of Tyshalle:

Tan'elKoth said:

"I fear Michaelson not at all. Michaelson is a fiction, you fools. The truth of him is Caine. You do not comprehend the distinction; and so he will destroy you."

[Abyss]

Salt-Man Z, on 09 November 2010 - 04:41 PM, said:

From Blade of Tyshalle:

Tan'elKoth said:

"I fear Michaelson not at all. Michaelson is a fiction, you fools. The truth of him is Caine. You do not comprehend the distinction; and so he will destroy you."

Oh. Yeah.

Stover has a phenomenal hand at dialogue. He almost never wastes a word. It's trite sometimes - that quote is basically a restatement of the 'Bruce Wayne is just Batman in disguise' trope, but in the context the story it's usually awesome. I remember reading that and think of Roscharch's 'You're all stuck in here with me.'.

I always liked this one from Caine, same book:

Quote

The future cannot be predicted. It can only be experienced.

..and one other...

Quote

...[he] waits for me to start the Walk: the long measuring stroll where we both psych ourselves into the killing zone. He knows there has to be a Walk; He knows I have a profound respect for tradition.

- Abyss, about due for a re-read but holding out for a street date on the next book... some day... maybe...

ETA - which led to me taking a look at Stover's blog to discover, to my great joy, that's he's passed the completed ACTS OF CAINE: HIS FATHER'S FIST on to his publishers who have tentatively sched'd it for Mar 2011. And as soon as it's available i will be pre-ordering that motherfucker like a motherfucking motherfucker. Fuck.

- Abyss, fucking psychfucked.

This post has been edited by Abyss: 09 November 2010 - 09:23 PM

[stone monkey]

The Dune quote about violence being the last resort of the incompetent was originally said by Isaac Asimov, apparently.

To which Jerry Pournelle has replied: "Violence is the last resort of the incompetent because only an incompetent would wait until it becomes their last resort."

It's not from a book, but still...

My favourite quote is probably the first line of Robert Fagles translation of The Iliad: "Rage! Sing O Muse of the rage of Achilles..."

You could probably hang a decent story off that

This post has been edited by stone monkey: 09 November 2010 - 09:26 PM

[champ]

he died too soon...

Quote

Acuas walked forward.
"How?" he asked. "How did you win?"
There is no mystery, Acuas," said Decado softly. "He was only a man."
"But so are you!"
"No. I am Decado. The Ice Killer! Follow me at your peril."

David Gemmell, what a legend!

This post has been edited by champooon: 18 November 2010 - 10:30 PM

[Salt-Man Z]

More wisdom from Caine in Blade of Tyshalle:

Quote

[T]here is a time to be smart and careful and look before you leap, and there is a time to just rock and fucking roll.

[Bauchelain the Evil]

The incipit of Lord of Light by Zelazny, great book

Quote

His followers called him Mahasamatman and said he was a god. He preferred to drop the Maha- and the -atman and called himself Sam. He never claimed to be a god. But then, he never claimed not to be a god. Circumstances being what they were, neither admission could be of any benefit.Silence, though, could.

[acesn8s]

stone monkey, on 09 November 2010 - 09:24 PM, said:

My favourite quote is probably the first line of Robert Fagles translation of The Iliad: "Rage! Sing O Muse of the rage of Achilles..."

You could probably hang a decent story off that

It'll never last.

[Dolorous Menhir]

stone monkey, on 09 November 2010 - 09:24 PM, said:

The Dune quote about violence being the last resort of the incompetent was originally said by Isaac Asimov, apparently

That's from the Foundation series.

[Alrin]

The truth of Caine from Caine Black Knife:

Quote

My name's a C-word.

[Rath Orlong]

It's not sci-fi or fantasy, but a quote stuck with me from W.E.B. Griffin, the Badge of Honor series.

Det. Washington (The Black Buddah) says to a suspect during an interrogation:

"Disabuse yourself of the notion that you are intellectually equipped to parry with me."

[Salt-Man Z]

Two from Butcher's Ghost Story:

Quote

"It was like The Lord of the Rings and All My Children made a baby with the Macho Man Randy Savage and a Whac-A-Mole machine."

and

Quote

If the Eagle Scouts had some sort of Sith equivalent, Marcone was it.

[Asheroth]

I'm reading the first Chronicles of Thomas Covenant at the moment (while TCG sits idly on my bookshelf), and there are a couple of doozies:

Quote

Foamfollower's question caught him wandering, 'Are you a story-teller, Thomas Covenant?'
Absently, he replied, 'I was, once.'
'And you gave it up? Ah, that is as sad a tale in three words as any you might have told me. But a life without a tale is like a sea without salt. How do you live?'
Covenant folded his arms across the gunwales and rested his chin on them. As the boat moved, Andelain opened constantly in front of him like a bud; but he ignored it, concentrated instead on the plaint of water past the prow. Unconsciously, he clenched his fist over his ring. 'I live.'
'Another?' Foamfollower returned. 'In two words, a story sadder than the first. Say no more - with one word you will make me weep.'

and

Quote

‘Where I come from, we don’t see – If you don’t know the annual cycles of the plants, you can’t tell the difference between spring and summer. If you don’t have a – have a standard of comparison, you can’t recognize – But the world is beautiful – What’s left of it, what we haven’t damaged.’ Images of Haven Farm sprang irrefusably across his mind. He could not restrain the mordancy of his tone as he concluded, ‘We have beauty, too. We call it scenery.’

‘Scenery‘, Mhoram echoed. ‘The word is strange to me – but I do not like the sound.’

[Dragnipurake]

"he was one hundred and seventy days dying and not yet dead"
The stars my destination, Alfred Bester


"there are many paths to ascendancy"
I keep forgetting this is from a fantasy book and not from history or some classical literature

[WhiskeyJackDaniels]

Troy: Shield of Thunder, by David Gemmel...page 319 paperback

Quote

Hektor: Hail to mighty Achilles. Hail to the champion of the games.

If you don't get why that is epic you desperately need to read Gemmel's Troy trilogy.

The Name of the Wind, page 195 paperback

Quote

Of the battle itself I have only one thing to say. More people died at Drossen Tor than there are living in the world today.

edit: typo

This post has been edited by WhiskeyJackDaniels: 16 October 2011 - 07:07 AM

[Bauchelain the Evil]

WhiskeyJackDaniels, on 15 October 2011 - 08:20 AM, said:

Troy: Shield of Thunder, by David Gemmel...page 319 paperback

Quote

Hektor:Hail to might Achilles. Hail to the champion of the games.

If you don't get why that is epic you desperately need to read Gemmel's Troy trilogy.

I loved that line. That fight was great but Hektor's line made it awesome.

[Gryllen]

“Upon him I will visit famine and a fire.
Till all around him desolation rings
And all the demons in the outer dark
Look on amazed and recognize
That vengeance is the business of a man.” Tarsus,4th act of Daeonica

From The name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss