Tad Williams quotes - page 2

Empires were like seawalls, he thought sadly, even those which embodied the best of hopes. The tide of chaos beat at them, and as soon as no one was shoring up the stones any more... (Tad Williams)
There was nothing he could do unless he accepted what was real. View quote
Tad Williams
Perhaps he was a bumpkin; at least he was an honest bumpkin. View quote
Tad Williams
Simple answers to life's questioning. That would be a magic beyond any I have ever been seeing. View quote
Tad Williams
Simon, there are more things you don't know than there are things that I do know. I despair of the imbalance. View quote
Tad Williams
Miriamele was dismayed by her own willful ignorance. How could she, with all her native good fortune, be so consumed with the few inconveniences that God or fate had put in her way? It was shameful. She tried to tell Duke Isgrimnur something of her thoughts, but he would not let her slide too far into self-loathing. "Each one of us has our own sorrows, Princess,” he said. "It's no shame to take them to heart. The only sin is to forget that other folk have theirs, too-or to let pity for yourself slow your hand when someone needs help.”. View quote
Tad Williams
Things are not always as old songs tell them to be-especially when it is concerning dragons. View quote
Tad Williams
As for monkeys, I would have five, and they would be named: See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, Do Pretty Much Whatever The Hell You Want, and Expensive Attorney. View quote
Tad Williams
Sometimes doing the gods' bidding required a hardened heart. View quote
Tad Williams
Sharp it away, lad, sharp it away,” the burly guardsman said, making the blade skitter across the whetstone, "lest otherways ye'll be a girl afore ye're a man. View quote
Tad Williams
She realized now that she knew little about people outside the courts of Nabban and Erkynland, although she had always thought herself a shrewd judge of humanity. However, it was a larger and much more complicated world on the other side of the castle walls than she had ever suspected. (Tad Williams)
When you stopped to think about it, he reflected, there weren't many things in life one truly needed. To want too much was worse than greed: it was stupidity-a waste of precious time and effort. View quote
Tad Williams
Thank you for your news, Princess. It is none of it happy, but only a fool desires cheerful ignorance and I try not to be a fool. That is my heaviest burden. View quote
Tad Williams
The last thing a drunkard loses, you see, is his cunning: it outlasts his soul by a long season. View quote
Tad Williams
Binabik had taught him to do only what he could at any given time. "You cannot catch three fish with two hands,” the little man often said. View quote
Tad Williams
If the strong can bully the weak without shame, then how are we different from the beasts of forest and field? View quote
Tad Williams
Ambitious men never believe others aren't the same. View quote
Tad Williams
This fellow,” he indicated the woodsman with a sweep of his stick, "will reliably not become more alive, but he may have friends or family who will be unsettled to find him so extremely dead. View quote
Tad Williams
In times of badness, gold is being worth more than beauty. View quote
Tad Williams
No charm is proof against a dagger in the back. View quote
Tad Williams
As with all dwellings,” she said, "of mortals and immortals both, it is the living that makes a house-not the doors, not the walls. (Tad Williams)
"There is nothing like the ocean to remind you of what is important,” she said quietly, and smiled. Cadrach's returned smile was weak. "Ah, by the Good Lord, that's true,” he groaned. "I am reminded that life is sweet, that the sea is treacherous, and that I am a fool.” Miriamele nodded solemnly, staring up at the bellying sails. "Those are good things to remember,” she said. View quote
Tad Williams
Now, boy, now...” he said bewilderedly, "what is all this talk of glory? Have you caught the sickness, too? Curse me for a blind beggar, I should have seen. This fever has cankered even your simple heart, hasn't it, Simon? I'm sorry. It takes a strong will or practiced eye to see through the glitter to the rotten core. View quote
Tad Williams
She had little doubt that whatever happened to her on this drifting ship was of scant interest to a God who could allow her to reach this sorry state in the first place. View quote
Tad Williams
You have something that might be more use to me than either gold or power-something that in fact brings both in its train.” "And what is that? View quote
Tad Williams