David Gemmell Quotes

154 Sourced Quotes

Kings are chosen by the Source, so it is said... Therefore those who fight for the king can be said to be godly. Is that not cause enough?

David Gemmell
"I underestimated you, woman."... "The cry of men down the ages."

David Gemmell
Winning is not everything, Stavut. Men like to think it is. Sometimes it is more important to stand against evil than to worry about beating it... Evil will always have the worst weapons. Evil will gather the greatest armies. They will burn, and plunder, and kill. But that's not the worst of it. They will try to make us believe that the only way to destroy them is to become like them. That is the true vileness of evil. It is contagious.

David Gemmell
'A man should not risk his life for beauty alone, Kiall, for that fades. You might as well risk it for a rose. Think on it.'

David Gemmell
But from now on act the part. You will be amazed at the number of people you fool. Don't share your doubts! Life is a game, Scaler. Play it like that.

David Gemmell
Man is capable of greatness, love, nobility, compassion. Yet never forget that his capacity for evil is infinite. It is a sad truth, boy, that if you sit now and think of the worst tortures that could ever be inflicted on another human being, they will already have been practiced somewhere. If there is one sound that follows the march of humanity, it is the scream.

David Gemmell
I think maybe it is better to believe than not to believe. But I couldn't tell you why.

David Gemmell
We like to think of life as a constant... Yet it can be ended in a heartbeat.

David Gemmell
When responsibility is thrust upon you, can you run from it? No—you have never and you never will. That is what makes you as you are. That is why men follow you, though they hate your blood. They trust you.

David Gemmell
There is only one way to survive in war, and that is by being willing to die. You will find soon that swordsmen can be downed by untutored savages who would slice their fingers if asked to carve meat. And why? because the savage is willing. Worse, he may be a baresark.

David Gemmell
It is easier with strangers, for they touch your life but for an instant. You will not disappoint them, for you owe them nothing; neither do they expect anything. Friends you can hurt, for they expect everything.

David Gemmell
A man's strength is ultimately born of his knowledge of his own weakness...

David Gemmell
Foolish: It's all foolish. Life is a farce— a stupid, sickening farce played out by fools.

David Gemmell
Our souls are but leaves in a storm, and only the gods know where we will come to rest.

David Gemmell
Life is sad enough, Magir. Laughter is a thing to be treasured.

David Gemmell
There is a darkness in you. In all of us, probably. Beasts we keep chained. Ordinary men have to keep the chains strong, for if we let the beast loose then society will turn upon us with fiery vengeance. Kings though...well, who is there to turn upon them? So the chains are made of straw. It is the curse of kings, Helikaon, that they can become monsters. And they invariably do.

David Gemmell
All things in the world are created for man, yet all have two purposes. The waters run that we might drink of them, but they are also symbols of the futility of man. They reflect our lives in rushing beauty, birthed in the purity of the mountains. As babes they babble and run, gushing and growing as they mature into strong young rivers. Then they widen and slow until at least they meander, like old men, to join with the sea.

David Gemmell
... love is in the eyes, and one woman knows when another woman is in love.

David Gemmell
Self-preservation is a paramount desire in all of us. Good and evil are interchangeable. When the wolves pull down a fawn I don't doubt the doe would consider it an evil act. For the wolves it is a necessity, and they would see the arrival of fresh meat as good.

David Gemmell
'Love is for fools. It is a surging of blood in the loins... there is no mystery, and no magic. Find someone else, my boy.'

David Gemmell
"I am not going to kill a man because he won't let us rob him." "Then go back to your mother and send for a man who wants to win."

David Gemmell
It would be a fine thing if war could be conducted as a game where no lives were lost. At the end of a battle combatants could meet [...] and drink and talk.

David Gemmell
A man makes mistakes, but he lives by them. Foolish it may be on occassion. But in the main it is the only way to live. We are what we say only so long as our words are iron.

David Gemmell
Some of you are probably thinking that you may panic and run. You will not! Others are worried about dying. Some of you will. But all men die. No one ever gets out of this life alive.

David Gemmell
I was on top of the mountain. But there was nothing there. Just clouds. And I found that you can't live on that mountain. But when it throws you off — oh, how you long for it! I would kill to climb it again. I would sell my soul. It is so stupid. [...] I took the standard. And now I can't even become a farmer again. The mountain won't let me.

David Gemmell
Only a fool loves war. Or a man who has never seen it. The trouble is that the survivors forget about the horrors and remember only the battle lust. They pass on that memory, and other men hunger for it.

David Gemmell
The nature of a coward is to avoid death. If such a man courts peril there can be only two reasons. Either he is not a coward at all — or there is no danger.

David Gemmell
A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.

David Gemmell
Nothing in life is easy, Arvan. But it's what I'm trained for. To lead an army. To bring death and destruction on my enemies [...] A man must stand against evil wherever he finds it and he must use all his talents.

David Gemmell
A man cannot spend his life worrying about the unexpected.

David Gemmell