“ Gods fight, Ragnar went on earnestly, and some win, some lose. The Christian god is losing. Otherwise why would we be here? Why would we be winning? The gods reward us if we give them respect, but the… Bernard Cornwell
“ Folk tell their children that success lies in working hard and being thrifty, but that is as much nonsense as supposing that a badger, a fox and a wolf could build a church. The way to wealth is to be… Bernard Cornwell
“ You’re a Northumbrian, he said, and I don’t know how they did things up there, but this is Alfred’s Wessex. You can do anything in Wessex except piss all over his church, and that’s what you just did.… Bernard Cornwell
“ So, in the morning light, where they flapped in the drying wind, the bear and the star defied the Saxons. Bernard Cornwell
“ Forward now. Forward to battle slaughter. Beware the man who loves battle. Ravn had told me that only one man in three or perhaps one man in four is a real warrior and the rest are reluctant fighters,… Bernard Cornwell
“ But we do not choose our deaths. The Norns do that at the foot of Yggdrasil and I imagined one of those three Fates holding the shears above my thread. She was ready to cut, and all that mattered now… Bernard Cornwell
“ Be mad enough, his father once said, and they will either lock you away or make you a saint. Bernard Cornwell
“ You do like them thin, don't you? Pyrlig said, amused. Now I like them meaty as well-fed heifers! Give me a nice dark Briton with hips like a pair of ale barrels and I'm a happy priest. Poor Hild. Thi… Bernard Cornwell
“ Just remember, Braithwaite. While you were learning to be a fool at Oxford I was learning to kill men. And I learned well. Bernard Cornwell
