David Eddings

Author

1931-07-07

Quotes by David Eddings

• It's common knowledge that the church is nothing more than an invention of the priesthood designed to swindle the ordinary people of the empire out of just about everything they own.

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• Any time there's something so ridiculously dangerous that no rational human being would try it, they send for me.' --Garion

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• We're living in momentous times, Garion. The events of a thousand years and more have all focused on these very days. The world, I'm told, is like that. Centuries pass when nothing happens, and then in a few short years events of such tremendous importance take place that the world is never the same again. I think that if I had my choice, I'd prefer one of those quiet centuries, Garion said glumly. Oh, no, Silk said, his lips drawing back in a ferretlike grin. Now's the time to be alive - to see it all happen, to be a part of it. That makes the blood race, and each breath is an adventure.

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• Nobles and peasants marry early. Businessmen tend to wait.

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• It's different, Sorgan's younger cousin Torl declared, gesturing at the glorious sunset late that afternoon. It's pretty enough, I suppose, but it's not too much like the sunsets out at sea. Mountains seem to do peculiar things to the sky.It's the clouds, Captain Torl, Keselo explained. Most of the time, I'd imagine, the clouds out over the sea sort of plod along from here to there. When they come to mountains, though, they have to climb up one side and then slide down the other. That sort of scrambles them, so they're thicker in some places and thinner in others. That's why we see so many different shades of red in a mountain sunset.

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• The stars were better company anyway. They were very beautiful, and they almost never snored.

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• Why do some trees stay green while others change their color?——Certain trees need to show off, dear. I'm sure that my big brother could explain why it happens. Dahlaine loves to explain things, and he can be very tedious about it. I prefer simpler answers. The trees are sad because summer's almost over.

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• When father uses the word 'politics' he's talkingabout relations between nations. When I use the word, though, I'mtalking about the various subtle ways a woman can get men to dowhat she wants them to do.

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• It's all very well to put the government in the hands of the perfect man, but what do you do when the perfect man gets a bellyache?

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• I thought the trees down in Lady Zelana's country were about as big as a tree could get,— he said, —but the ones around here are so tall that they probably tickle the moon's tummy when she goes by.

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• I wouldn't do that, Silk advised. Thinking about it isn't going to help, and it's only going to make you nervous.Nervouser, Garion corrected. I'm already nervous.Is there such a word as 'nervouser'? Silk asked Belgarath curiously. There is now, Belgarath replied. Garion just invented it.I wish I could invent a word, Silk said admiringly to Garion.

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• This is Trenicia, the queen of the warrior women of the Isle of Akalla. Different places have different traditions and different customs. On the Isle of Akalla, the women rule, and the women do the fighting.What do the men do? the horseman Ekial asked curiously.As little as they possibly can, the warrior woman said in a sardonic tone. Over the years, they've foisted just about everything off on us. We have to grow the food, hunt the meat, and fight the wars. The men sit around getting fat and arguing with each other about something they call 'philosophy' - most of which is pure nonsense.

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• The men sit around getting fat and arguing with each other about something they call —philosophy— - most of which is pure nonsense.

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• A man should never miss an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.

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• It keeps him happy, Dahlaine, and happy people are nicer than gloomy ones. Haven't you noticed that before?

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• The place had enormous possibilities. He realized that at once. The stream, of course, was perfect for sailing toy boats, for skipping stones, and, in the event of failing inspiration, for falling into. Several of the trees appeared to have been specifically designed for climbing, and one huge, white old birch overhanging the stream promised the exhilarating combination of climbing a tree and falling into the water, all at one time.

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• We call this a —bow", Cap'n, and the thing that's sticking out of that fellow's head over on the other side of the trench is called an —arrow—. If you put them together just right, they'll do all sorts of nice things to people who aren't nice.

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• Garion,' she said very calmly, 'the universe knew your name before that moon up there was spun out of the emptiness. Whole constellations have been waiting for you since the beginning of time.'I didn't want them to, Aunt Pol.'There are those of us who aren't given that option, Garion. There are things that gave to be done and certain people who have to do them. It's as simple as that.'He smiled rather sadly at her flawless face and gently touched the snowy white lock at her brow. Then, for the last time in his life, he asked the question that had been on his lips since he was a tiny boy. 'Why me, Aunt Pol? Why me?'Can you possibly think of anyone else you'd trust to deal with these matters, Garion?'He had not really been prepared for that question. It came at him in stark simplicity. Now at last he fully understood. 'No,' he sighed, 'I suppose not. Somehow it seems a little unfair, though. I wasn't even consulted.'Neither was I, Garion,' she answered. 'But we didn't have to be consulted, did we? The knowledge of what we have to do is born into us.

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• The old man was peering intently at the shelves. 'I'll have to admit that he's a very competent scholar.'Isn't he just a librarian?' Garion asked, 'somebody who looks after books?'That's where all the rest of scholarship starts, Garion. All the books in the world won't help you if they're just piled up in a heap.

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• When you get down to the bottom of it, only about half of what we remember really happened. We tend to modify things to make ourselves look better in our own eyes and in the eyes of others. Then, if what we did wasn't really very admirable, we tend to forget that it ever happened. A normal human being's grasp on reality is very tenuous at best. Our imaginary lives are usually much nicer.

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