1
It would be, for me, mere pointless pleasure, an illusion of order for this one frail, foolish, flicker-flash in the long dull fall of eternity.John Gardner
2
I know everything, you see, ' the old voice wheedled. 'The beginning, the present, the end. Everything. You now, you see the past and the present, like other low creatures: no higher faculties than memory and perception. But dragons, my boy, have a whole different kind of mind.' He stretched his mouth in a kind of smile, no trace of pleasure in it. 'We are from the mountaintop: all time, all space. We see in one instant the passionate vision and the blowout. .John Gardner
3
They watch on, evil, incredibly stupid, enjoying my destruction.' Poor Grendel's had an accident, ' I whisper. 'So may you all.John Gardner
4
Talking, talking. Spinning a web of words, pale walls of dreams, between myself and all I see.John Gardner
5
My advice to you, my violent friend, is to seek out gold and sit on it.John Gardner
6
When I was a child I truly loved: Unthinking love as calm and deep As the North Sea. But I have lived, And now I do not sleep.John Gardner
7
What do you call the Hrothgar-wrecker when Hrothgar has been wrecked?John Gardner
8
I had a chance. I knew I had no more than that. it's all a hero asks for.John Gardner
9
All order, I've come to understand, is theoretical, unreal – a harmless, sensible, smiling mask men slide between the two great, dark realities, the self and the world – two snake pits.John Gardner
10
So childhood too feels good at first, before one happens to notice the terrible sameness, age after age.John Gardner
11
It's not easy to kill a mountain goat. He thinks with his spine.John Gardner
12
Go ahead, scoff, he said, petulant. Except in the life of a hero, the whole world's meaningless. The hero sees values beyond what's possible. That's the nature of a hero. It kills him, of course, ultimately. But it makes the whole struggle of humanity worthwhile.John Gardner