Robert Jordan (1948 – 2007)
Under which he is best known as the author of the bestselling The Wheel of Time fantasy series.
"Humankind is being swept away everywhere. Nations fail and vanish. Darkfriends are everywhere, and none of these southlanders seem to notice or care. We fight to hold the Borderlands, to keep them safe in their houses, and every year, despite all we can do, the Blight advances. And these southlanders think Trollocs are myths, and Myrddraal a gleeman's tale." He frowned and shook his head. "It seemed the only way. We would be destroyed for nothing, defending people who do not even know, or care. It seemed logical. Why should we be destroyed for them, when we could make our own peace? Better the Shadow, I thought, than useless oblivion, like Caralain, or Hardan, or ... It seemed so logical, then."
What you want is what you cannot have. What you cannot have is what you want.
How people see you first is what they hold hardest in their minds. It is the way of the world. You can step down from a throne, and even if you behave like a farmer in a pigsty, some part in each of them will remember that you did descend from a throne. But if they see only a young man first, a country man, they will resent him stepping up to his throne later, whatever his right, whatever his power
If the world is ending, a woman will want time to fix her hair. If the world's ending, a woman will take time to to tell a man something he's done wrong.
I’m a gambler, a farmboy, and I’m here to take command of your bloody army!
There’s no point letting honey age too long before you eat it.
Men fight when they should run, and fools fight when they should run. But I had no need to say it twice.
If you fell head first into a pigsty, you'd try to convince everybody you did it on purpose.
A man's dreams are a maze even he cannot know.
Better to face the bear than run from it.
Jump in a hole without looking, and there’ll be a snake in it every time.
It’s too late to change your mind after you’ve jumped off the cliff.
Not thinking about a thorn doesn’t make it hurt your foot less.
One pretty woman means fun at the dance. Two pretty women mean trouble in the house. Three pretty women mean run for the hills.
Cheer the bull, or cheer the bear; cheer both, and you will be trampled and eaten.
Prophecy is most dangerous when you try to make it happen... The Pattern weaves itself around you, but when you try to weave it, even you cannot hold it.
The leaf lives its appointed time, and does not struggle against the wind that carries it away. The leaf does no harm, and finally falls to nourish new leaves. So it should be with all men. And women.
I forget nothing, Aes Sedai. I said six could come, but I count nine. I said you would be on an equal footing with the Tower emissaries, and for bringing nine, you will be. They are on their knees, Aes Sedai. Kneel!
A cat for a hat, or a hat for a cat. But nothing for nothing.
A man is a man, on a throne or in a pigsty.