Quotes by Andrzej Sapkowski

People, Geralt turned his head, like to invent monsters and monstrosities. Then they seem less monstrous themselves. When they get blind-drunk, cheat, steal, beat their wives, starve an old woman, when they kill a trapped fox with an axe or riddle the last existing unicorn with arrows, they like to think that the Bane entering cottages at daybreak is more monstrous than they are. They feel better then. They find it easier to live.

Prawda jest córą czasu poczętą w przypadkowym i krótkotrwałym romansie ze zbiegiem okoliczności.

Youve a right to believe that were governed by Nature and the hidden Force within her. You can think that the gods, including my Melitele, are merely a personification of this power invented for simpletons so they can understand it better, accept its existence. According to you, that power is blind. But for me, Geralt, faith allows you to expect what my goddess personifies from nature: order, law, goodness. And hope.

If Elirena was a hero, if what she did is heroism, then thats just too bad. Let them call me a traitor and a coward. Because I, Yarpen Zigrin, coward, traitor and renegade, state that we should not kill each other. I state that we ought to live. Live in such a way that we dont, later, have to ask anyone for forgiveness. The Heroic Elirena... She had to ask. Forgive me, she begged, forgive me. To hell with that! Its better to die than to live in the knowledge that youve done something that needs forgiveness.

They are not demons, not devils...Worse than that.They are people.

For the moment, I am relying on the authority of Cahir aep Ceallach, the only soldier in our company-and Cahir confirmed that winning battles by means of a rapid escape from the battlefield is permissible from the point of view of most military doctrines.

Treaties are like marriage: they arent entered in to with the thought of betrayal, and once theyre concluded one shouldnt be suspicious. And if that doesnt suit somebody, they shouldnt get married. Because you cant become a cuckold without being a husband, but youll admit that fear of wearing the horns is a pitiful and quite ridiculous justification for enforced celibacy.

Only death can finish the fight, everything else only interrupts the fighting.

The Witcher had a knife to his throat. He was wallowing in a wooden tub, brimfull with soapsuds, his head thrown agains the slippery rim. The bitter taste of soap lingered in his mouth as the knife, blunt as a doorknob, scraped his Adams apple painfully and moved towards his chin with a grating sound.

You mistake the stars reflected in the surface of the lake at night for the heavens

He knew that the disdain for death and crazy courage of youngsters stemmed from a lack of imagination.

Night and day the streets resounded with music, song, and the clinking of chalices and tankards, for it is well known that nothing is such thirsty work as the acquisition of knowledge.

I predict a bad end for your race, humans, Zoltan Chivay said grimly. Every sentient creature on this earth, when it falls into want , poverty and misfortune, usually cleaves to his own. Because its easier to survive the bad times in a group, helping one another. But you humans, you just wait for a chance to make money from other peoples mishaps. When theres hunger you dont want want to share out your food, you just devour the weakest ones. The practice works among wolves, since it lets the healthiest and strongest individuals survive. But among sentient races selection of that kind usually allows the biggest bastards to survive and dominate the rest.

You cant stop a soldier from being frightened but you can give him motivation to help him overcome that fear. I have no such motivation. I cant have. Im a witcher: an artificially created mutant. I kill monsters for money. I defend children when their parents pay me to. If Nilfgaardian parents pay me, Ill defend Nilfgaardian children. And even if the world lies in ruin - which does not seem likely to me - Ill carry on killing monsters in the ruins of this world until some monster kills me. That is my fate, my reason, my life and my attitude to the world. And it is not what I chose. It was chosen for me.

Ive never understood why the majority of human curses and insults refer to the erotic sphere. Sex is wonderful and associated with beauty, joy and pleasure. How can the names of the sexual organs be used as a vulgar synonym for ̶

Then the prophetess said to the witcher: I shall give you this advice: wear boots made of iron, takein hand a staff of steel. Then walk until the end of the world. Help yourself with your staff to break the land before you and wet it with your tears. Go through fire and water, do not stop along the way,do not look behind you. And when the boots are worn, when your staff is blunt, once the wind and the heat has dried your eyes so that your tears no longer flow, then at the end of the world you mayfind what you are looking for and what you love...The witcher went through fire and water, he did not look back. He did not take iron boots or a staffof steel. He took only his sword. He did not listen to the words of prophets. And he did well because she was a bad prophet.

The sword of destiny has two edges. You are one of them.

They werent lying. They firmly believed it all. Which doesnt change the facts.

A most deplorable sight, she said, folding her arms across her chest. Someone who has lost everything. You know, minstrel, it is interesting. Once, I thought it was impossible to lose everything, that something always remains. Always. Even in times of contempt, when naivety is capable of backfiring in the cruellest way, one cannot lose everything. But he... he lost several pints of blood, the ability to walk properly, partial use of his left hand, his witchers sword, the woman he loves, the daughter he had gained by a miracle, his faith... Well, I thought, he must have been left with something. But I was wrong. He has nothing now. Not even a razor.Dandelion remained silent. The dryad did not move.I asked if you had a hand in this, she began a moment later. But I think there was no need. Its obvious you had a hand in it. Its obvious you are his friend. And if someone has friends, and he loses everything in spite of that, its obvious the friends are to blame. For what they did, or for what they didnt do.

And if someone has friends, and he loses everything in spite of that, its obvious the friends are to blame. For what they did, or for what they didnt do.