1
You will not say how you are haunted by the faces of the men you killed, how in their last gasp of life they sought your pity and you had none. You will not speak of the boys who died screaming for their mothers while you twisted a blade in their guts and snarled your scorn into their ears. You will not confess that you wake in the night, covered in sweat, heart hammering, shrinking from the memories. You will not talk of that, because that is the horror, and the horror is held in the heart’s hoard, a secret, and to admit it is to admit fear, and we are warriors. We do not fear. We strut. We go to battle like heroes. We stink of shit.Bernard Cornwell
2
It will never end. Till the world ends in the chaos of Ragnarok, we will fight for our women, for our land, and for our homes. Some Christians speak of peace, of the evil of war, and who does not want peace? But then some crazed warrior comes screaming his god's filthy name into your face and his only ambitions are to kill you, to rape your wife, to enslave your daughters, and take your home, and so you must fight.Bernard Cornwell
3
The shield wall reeks of shit, and all a man wants is to be home, to be anywhere but on this field that prepares for battle, but none of us will turn and run or else we will be despised for ever. We pretend we want to be there, and when the wall at last advances, step by step, and the heart is thumping fast as a bird’s wing beating, the world seems unreal.Bernard Cornwell
4
When a man cannot fight he would curse. The gods like to feel needed.Bernard Cornwell
5
It's better to make the wrong choice, " my father had continued, "than to make no choice at all.Bernard Cornwell
6
I remember laughing at that moment, and I remember my son frowning at me in puzzlement. What I remember best of all, though, was the sudden certainty that the gods were with me, that they would fight for me, that my sword would be their sword. ‘We’re going to win, ’ I told my son. I felt as if Odin or Thor had touched me. I had never felt more alive and never felt more certain. I knew there would be no more mistakes and that this was no dream. I had come to Bebbanburg and Bebbanburg would be mine. .Bernard Cornwell
7
I forget your name, " I said." Most people spew shit from their arse, " he retorted, "you manage it with your mouth."" Your mother gave birth through her arse, " I said, "and you still reek of her shit.Bernard Cornwell
8
Prisoners! " Finan shouted, and I suspected he was shouting at me because I had so blatantly ignored my own insistence that we take men captive.Bernard Cornwell
9
Do you ever read the scriptures?"" Every day, " I said enthusiastically, "not a moment passes that I don't have a quick read of Ieremias or dip into Ezekiel."She smiled, amused. "What a barbarian you are!Bernard Cornwell
10
All you need to know, boy, " Finan growled, "is that Lord Uhtred's side is the one that wins.Bernard Cornwell
11
He has a mouth, lord, " Gerbruht said." I envy him, " I said." Envy him, lord?"" Most of us have to lower our trews to shit.Bernard Cornwell
12
We should know who they are, " I said, "before we kill them. That's just being polite.Bernard Cornwell