Bernard Cornwell Quotes

Quotes about:

• ‎Our ancestors took this land. They took it and made it and held it. We do not give up what our ancestors gave us. They came across the sea and they fought here, and they built here and they're buried here. This is our land, mixed with our blood, strengthened with our bone. Ours!

  Bernard Cornwell

  Giving Up, Blood, Sea

  Bernard Cornwell (2009). “The Last Kingdom (The Last Kingdom Series, Book 1)”, p.16, HarperCollins UK

  52 Copy quote

• Pride makes a man, it drives him, it is the shield wall around his reputation... Men die, they said, but reputation does not die.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Wall, Pride, Men

  28 Copy quote

• Only a fool wants war, but once a war starts then it cannot be fought half-heartedly. It cannot even be fought with regret, but must be waged with a savage joy in defeating the enemy, and it is that savage joy that inspires our bards to write their greatest songs about love and war.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Love, Song, Regret

  Bernard Cornwell (1999). “Excalibur: A Novel of Arthur”, p.199, Macmillan

  35 Copy quote

• Wyrd bith ful araed (Fate is inexorable).

  Bernard Cornwell

  Fate, Inexorable

  23 Copy quote

• Love is a dangerous thing. It comes in disguise to change our life... Lust is the deceiver. Lust wrenches our lives until nothing matters except the one we think we love, and under that deceptive spell we kill for them, give all for them, and then, when we have what we have wanted, we discover that it is all an illusion and nothing is there. Lust is a voyage to nowhere, to an empty land, but some men just love such voyages and never care about the destination. Love is a voyage too, a voyage with no destination except death, but a voyage of bliss.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Love Is, Men, Thinking

  21 Copy quote

• The existence of tricks does not imply the absence of magic.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Magic, Doe, Absence

  Bernard Cornwell (1999). “Excalibur: A Novel of Arthur”, p.84, Macmillan

  13 Copy quote

• I do understand that you can look into someone’s eyes,” I heard myself saying, “and suddenly know that life will be impossible without them. Know that their voice can make your heart miss a beat and that their company is all your happiness can ever desire and that their absence will leave your soul alone, bereft and lost.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Heart, Eye, Voice

  Bernard Cornwell (1997). “The Winter King: A Novel of Arthur”, p.360, Macmillan

  10 Copy quote

• Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Ordinary

  17 Copy quote

• We all suffer from dreams

  Bernard Cornwell

  Dream, Suffering

  16 Copy quote

• Life is a jest of the Gods and there is no justice. You must learn to laugh… or else you'll weep yourself to death.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Laughing, Justice, Life Is

  11 Copy quote

• You won't regret the men you never killed, but you will regret the women you passed up.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Regret, Women, He Man

  Bernard Cornwell (1997). “The Winter King: A Novel of Arthur”, p.120, Macmillan

  20 Copy quote

• Writing is a solitary occupation.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Writing, Occupation, Solitary

  "An Interview with Cape Cod Author Bernard Cornwell". Interview with Christopher Seufert, ezinearticles.com. February 27, 2006.

  15 Copy quote

• We make children and wealth and amass land and build halls and assemble armies and give great feasts, but only one thing survives us. Reputation.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Children, Army, Land

  14 Copy quote

• You'll call me damned Jew, a Christ murderer, a secret worshipper of pigs and a kidnapper of Christian children. How absurd! Who would want to kidnap children, Christian or otherwise? Vile things. The only mercy of children is that they grow up, as my son has but then, tragically, they beget more children. We do not learn life's lessons.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Christian, Children, Growing Up

  "Harlequin". Book by Bernard Cornwell, 2000.

  15 Copy quote

• And yes, there's a simplicity to writing books because you're not a member of a team, so you make all the decisions yourself instead of deferring to a committee.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Team, Book, Writing

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

  11 Copy quote

• But when you have order, you don't need Gods. When everything is well ordered and disciplined then nothing is unexpected. If you understand everything,' I said carefully, 'then there's no room left for magic. It's only when you're lost and frightened and in the dark that you call on the Gods, and they like us to call on them. It makes them feel powerful, and that's why they like us to live in chaos.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Powerful, Dark, Order

  Bernard Cornwell (1998). “Enemy of God: A Novel of Arthur”, p.48, Macmillan

  8 Copy quote

• Of course some days are easier than others, but my worst day is better than being in most humdrum occupations.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Occupation, Easier, Humdrum

  14 Copy quote

• Book tours and research provide a lot of travel - too much, I sometimes think, but we do take vacations.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Travel, Book, Thinking

  14 Copy quote

• Looking back, of course, it was irresponsible, mad, forlorn, idiotic, but if you don't take chances then you'll never have a winning hand, and I've no regrets.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Regret, Winning, Hands

  12 Copy quote

• The bards sing of love, they celebrate slaughter, they extol kings and flatter queens, but were I a poet I would write in praise of friendship.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Kings, Queens, Writing

  Bernard Cornwell (1997). “The Winter King: A Novel of Arthur”, p.242, Macmillan

  4 Copy quote

• There are seasons of our lives when nothing seems to be happening, when no smoke betrays a burned town or homestead and few tears are shed for the newly dead. I have learned not to trust those times, because if the world is at peace then it means someone is planning war.

  Bernard Cornwell

  War, Mean, Tears

  10 Copy quote

• I'm fortunate that the books sell, but even more fortunate to live in Chatham, to be very happily married and to have, on the whole, a fairly clear conscience.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Book, Married, Clear

  7 Copy quote

• 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.

  Bernard Cornwell

  War, Winning, Land

  8 Copy quote

• What I mean by that is that the point of life, as I see it, is not to write books or scale mountains or sail oceans, but to achieve happiness, and preferably an unselfish happiness.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Inspirational, Funny, Ocean

  9 Copy quote

• Then you start another book and suddenly the galley proofs of the last one come in and you have to wrench your attention away from what you're writing and try to remember what you were thinking when you wrote the previous one.

  Bernard Cornwell

  Book, Writing, Thinking

  4 Copy quote

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