“ Men do not relish the shield wall. They do not rush to death's embrace. You look ahead and see the overlapping shields, the helmets, the glint of axes and spears and swords, and you know you must go i… Bernard Cornwell
“ He sounded pathetic and he knew it, but he had been driven to this humiliation by love. A woman can do that. They have power. We might all say that the oath to our lord is the strong oath that guides… Bernard Cornwell
“ Where’s your bowstrings?’ Thomas asked, for the priest had neither helmet nor cap.‘I looped them round my…well, never mind. It has to be good for something other than pissing, eh? And it’s dry down th… Bernard Cornwell
“ What happens to you, Uhtred, is what you make happen. You will grow, you will learn the sword, you will learn the way of the shield wall, you will learn the oar, you will give honor to the gods, and t… Bernard Cornwell
“ It's better to make the wrong choice, my father had continued, than to make no choice at all. Bernard Cornwell
“ That joy. That madness. The gods must feel this way every moment of every day. It is as if the world slows. You see the attacker, you see him shouting, though you hear nothing, and you know what he wi… Bernard Cornwell
“ Together we would make reputation, we would have men in halls across Britain telling the story of our exploit. Or of our deaths. They were friends, they were oath-men, they were young, they were warri… Bernard Cornwell
“ If they saw men swarming up the wall, if they saw the axes chopping at our shields on the wall’s top, then they would join the battle. Men want to be on the winning side. Bernard Cornwell
“ An English man-at-arms had his helmet split open and his skull with it, so that he rode wavering from the fight, blood pouring down his mail coat. His horse stopped a few paces from the turmoil and th… Bernard Cornwell
“ A three-day-old baby is a saint?'Willibald flapped his hands. 'Miracles happen, lord,' he said, 'they really do. They say little Rumwold sang God's praises whenever he suckled.''I feel much the same w… Bernard Cornwell
“ Is all ordained? Foreknowledge is not fate, and we may choose our paths, yet fate says we may not choose them. So if fate is real, do we have a choice? Bernard Cornwell
“ Father Hobbe, his cassock skirts hitched up to his waist, was fighting with a quarterstaff, ramming the pole into French faces. ‘In the name of the Father,’ he shouted, and a Frenchman reeled back wit… Bernard Cornwell
“ If you roll the dice often enough you always get the numbers you want. If I tell you the sun will shine tomorrow and that it will rain and there will be snow and that clouds will cover the sky and tha… Bernard Cornwell
