Five things make a man happy, a good ship, a good sword, a good hound, a good horse, and a woman. Not a good woman? They’re all good, except when they’re not, and then they’re better than good.
Fate is difficult. 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 choice?
Every day is ordinary, until it isn’t.
Enemies come soon enough in a man’s life. You don’t need to seek them out.
Destiny is everything.
Confusion is inevitable in battle, but indecision is unforgivable.
Children are easily swayed by religion, which is why it is a good thing that most eventually grow into sense.
Because the gods are capricious, and I am about to amuse them.
Anything that comes from the north is bad news.
And men would have called me a coward. And that too was the truth, that a man cannot step back from a fight and stay a man. We make much in this life if we are able. We make children and wealth and amass land and build halls and assemble armies and give great feasts, but only one thing survives us. Reputation. I could not walk away.
Always fight the horse, not the rider.
A sword is a great tool for discovering the truth.