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f7fda20
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Wyrd bid ful araed.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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e2ac622
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But Ubba? Only the gods tell him what to do, and you should beware of men who take their orders from the gods.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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ff81631
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If prayers could make a man into a Christian then I would be a saint ten times over by now. Destiny is all. And now, looking back, I see the pattern of my life's journey. It began in Bebbanburg and took me south, ever southward, until I reached the farthest coast of England and could go no farther and still hear my own language. That was my childhood's journey. As a man I have gone the other way, ever northward, carrying sword and spear and..
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Bernard Cornwell |
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20e8eb4
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Violence may not be good, my friend, but it has a certain efficiency in the resolution of otherwise insoluble problems.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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3c80463
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Mas o que e que voce faria com o Graal? -- Eu iria usa-lo. -- Para que? -- Para livrar o mundo do pecado. -- Seria um trabalho notavel, mas nem Cristo conseguiu realiza-lo. -- Voce para de eliminar ervas daninhas entre os vinhedos so porque elas sempre voltam a nascer?
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sin
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Bernard Cornwell |
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7c690c5
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A vida e uma brincadeira dos deuses e nao existe justica. Voce precisa aprender a rir ou entao vai simplesmente chorar ate morrer.
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ptbr
the-winter-king
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Bernard Cornwell |
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7621bf8
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Seven kings will die, she had said, seven kings and the women you love. And Alfred's son will not rule and Wessex will die and the Saxon will kill what he loves and the Danes will gain everything, and all will change and all will be the same.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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bbd8c84
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A battle in the shield wall. It's smelling your enemy's breath while he tries to disembowel you with an axe, it's blood and shit and screams and pain and terror. It's trampling in your friends' guts as enemies butcher them. It's men clenching their teeth so hard they shatter them. Have you ever been in a battle?
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Bernard Cornwell |
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000c609
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Except we were there, and I was in a vengeful mood. My cousin was still in Bebbanburg. AEthelhelm was trying to destroy my daughter and her husband. Constantin had humiliated me by driving me from my ancestral land. I had not seen Eadith, my wife, in a month. So someone had to suffer.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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118c44a
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But we do not choose our deaths. The Norns do that at the foot of Yggdrasil and I imagined one of those three Fates holding the shears above my thread. She was ready to cut, and all that mattered now was to keep tight hold of my sword so that the winged women would take me to Valhalla's feasting-hall.
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fate
sword
valhalla
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Bernard Cornwell |
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0b71221
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You know what circumcision is, Private?
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Bernard Cornwell |
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1058899
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The sword was called Kaledvoulc'h, which means hard lightning, though Igraine prefers to call it Excaliber, and I shall call it so as well because Arthur never cared what name his longsword carried. Nor, did he care about his childhood, for certainly I never heard him speak of it. I once questioned him about his early days and he would not answer. "What is the egg to the eagle?" he asked me, then said that he had been born, he had lived, an..
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manliness
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Bernard Cornwell |
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4cf925d
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When a man cannot fight he would curse. The gods like to feel needed.
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feel
fight
gods
man
needed
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Bernard Cornwell |
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75758f3
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Together we would make reputation, we would have men in halls across Britain telling the story of our exploit. Or of our deaths. They were friends, they were oath-men, they were young, they were warriors, and with such men it might be possible to storm the gates of Asgard itself.
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death
friends
oath-men
reputation
warriors
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Bernard Cornwell |
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d460757
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Nor did he care about his childhood, for certainly I never heard him speak of it. I once questioned him about his early days and he would not answer. 'What is the egg to the eagle?' he asked me...
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human-nature
living
perspective
quote
quotes
quotes-on-life
the-winter-king
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Bernard Cornwell |
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b73b90b
|
I have lived my life, Derfel,' he said at last, 'according to oaths. I know no other way. I resent oaths, and so should all men, for oaths bind us, they hobble our freedom, and who among us doesn't want to be free? But if we abandon oaths then we abandon guidance. We fall into chaos. We just fall. We become no better than beasts.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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f85349e
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May the gods always send me stupid enemies.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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b4a89f3
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Some had hurled spears first. Those spears thumped into our shields, making them unwieldy, but it hardly mattered. The leading Danes tripped on the hidden timbers and the men behind pushed the falling men forward. I kicked one in the face, feeling my iron-reinforced boot crush bone. Danes were sprawling at our feet while others tried to get past their fallen comrades to reach our line, and we were killing. Two men succeeded in reaching us, ..
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Bernard Cornwell |
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171a5dd
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And then I had ridden from the east in the glory of a warrior, which is what I am and always have been. All my life I have followed the path of the sword. Given a choice, and I have been given many choices, I would rather draw a blade than settle an argument with words, for that is what a warrior does, but most men and women are not fighters.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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ffe0192
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I was just twenty-one and my name was known wherever men sharpened swords. I was a warrior. A sword warrior, and I was proud of it.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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9ebbbd5
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Merlino mi fisso. - Credi che tu, Derfel, o Artu possiate essere tanto forti da resistere a Nimue? Lei e una donna. Le donne ottengono sempre cio che vogliono, e se per ottenerlo devono rovinare il mondo e tutto cio che il mondo contiene, cosi sia.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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90028c7
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A bastard son must fight his own way in the world. Osferth knew that.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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7398fff
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I was angry. I wanted blood in the dawn.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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070dfcc
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Ragnall Ivarson. I had never met him, but I knew him. I knew his reputation. No man sailed a ship better, no man fought more fiercely, no man was held in more fear. He was a savage, a pirate, a wild king of nowhere.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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11ed1bc
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Well damn him. I was not dead yet, and so long as I lived I would fight for AEthelflaed.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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d75d987
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Bernard Cornwell |
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666363f
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There is a greater war, Uhtred. Not the fight between Saxon and Dane, but between God and the devil, between good and evil! We are part of it!
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Bernard Cornwell |
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64fb944
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That is why battles of the shield wall are slow to start. Men have to nerve themselves for the horror.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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4471c00
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You bastard!' he shouted. He was quick. No warrior stays alive by being slow.
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cornwell
saxon-stories
the-empty-throne
uhtred
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Bernard Cornwell |
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e338648
|
Yes, sir," Hicks said. He was a small young man, very officious, who would never contradict a superior. If Morris claimed the clouds were made of cheese Hicks would just stand to attention, twitch his nose, and swear blind he could smell Cheddar."
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Bernard Cornwell |
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8922159
|
Thirty paces, twenty, and you can see the eyes of the men who will try to kill you, and see the spear-blades, and the instinct is to stop, to straighten the shields. We cringe from battle, fear claws at us, time seems to stop, there is silence though a thousand men shout, and at that moment, when terror savages the heart like a trapped beast, you must hurl yourself into the horror. Because the enemy feels the same. And you have come to kill..
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killing
shield-wall
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Bernard Cornwell |
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3a2885f
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It is a terrible thing," Beocca said to me. "War, it is an awful thing." I said nothing. I thought it was glorious and wonderful. "The shield wall is where men die," Beocca said, and he kissed the wooden cross that hung about his neck. "The gates of heaven and hell will be jostling with souls before this day is done," he went on gloomily."
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Bernard Cornwell |
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b72926e
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Yule is supposed to be a celebration and a consolation, a moment of warm brightness in the heart of winter, a time to eat because you know that the lean times are coming when food will be scarce and ice locks the land, and a time to be happy and get drunk and behave irresponsibly and wake up the next morning wondering if you will ever feel well again, but the West Saxons handed the feast to the priests who made it as joyous as a funeral.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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3afac1c
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My son smiled. "You taught me well, Father." "What did I teach you?" "That a spear-point in a prisoner's liver is a very persuasive thing."
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Bernard Cornwell |
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6faaeb4
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Non volevo parlare con Artu e non volevo vederlo. Salii sul promontorio e pregai gli dei, implorandoli di tornare in Britannia. Mentre pregavo, gli uomini del Kernow condussero la regina Isotta fino alla baia dove erano in attesa le due scure navi. I guerrieri, pero, non la riportarono nel Kenow. Invece di ritornare a casa, la principessa degli Ui Liathain, quella bambina di quindici anni che correva a piedi nudi nelle onde e che aveva la v..
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Bernard Cornwell |
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98175cc
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If the Danes are outnumbered," my father told me that night, "they won't fight. They're like dogs, the Danes. Cowards at heart, but they're given courage by being in a pack."
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Bernard Cornwell |
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9a83217
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A trial relied heavily on oaths, but both sides would bring as many liars as they could muster, and judgment usually went to the better liars or, if both sides were equally convincing, to the side who had the sympathy of the onlookers.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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5bd8bec
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The wheel of fortune that had once raised her so high had taken her into the utter depths.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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ddbbf64
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Why do they put cows over the gates, sir?" "For the same reason we put images of a tortured man in our churches. Religion. You ask too many questions, Sharpe."
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Bernard Cornwell |
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7be8eb6
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Because there could not be peace, not while two tribes shared one land. One tribe must win. Even the nailed god cannot change that truth. And I was a warrior, and in a world at war the warrior must be cruel.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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1449611
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Be mad enough, his father once said, and they will either lock you away or make you a saint.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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155547e
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When a man cannot fight he should curse. The gods like to feel needed.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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e724cc7
|
How does a lawyer lie?" "With passion, Mr. Starbuck, and with a self-inflicted belief, albeit temporary, that the facts he is reciting are the very stuff of God's own truth."
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Bernard Cornwell |
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9520824
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When a man must choose between nothing and everything he has small choice.
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Bernard Cornwell |