Quotes by R.A. Salvatore

Ultimately, the claim goes to the strongest, does it not? In the final sort of things, I mean. He who remains alive, remains alive to write the histories in a light favorable to him and his cause. Surely as worldly as you are, you know well the histories of the world, Master Wingham. Surely you recognize that armies carrying banners are almost always thieves - until they win.

Regweld is really a fine wizard, he continued, patting the shoulder again. And his ideas for crossbreeding a horse and a frog are not without merit; never mind the explosion! Alchemy shops can be replaced!

..There were two undeniable truths in the Realms: It was very easy to overestimate a drow and even easier to underestimate a dwarf.

Joy multiplies when it is shared among friends, but grief diminishes with every division. That is life.

Arrogance convinced me that by sheer determination, I could conquer helplessness itself. Stubborn and foolish youth, I must admit, for when I look back on those years now, I see quite clearly that rarely did I stand alone. Always there were friends, true and dear, lending me support even when I believed I did not want it, and even when I did not realize they were doing it. ...These were the companions who justified my principles, who gave me strength to continue against any foe, real or imagined. These were the companions who fought the helplessness, the rage, and frustration. These were the friends who gave me my life.

I pray that the world never runs out of dragons. I say that in all sincerity, though I have played a part in the death of one great wyrm. For the dragon is the quintessential enemy, the greatest foe, the unconquerable epitome of devastation. The dragon, above all other creatures, even the demons and the devils, evokes images of dark grandeur, of the greatest beast curled asleep on the greatest treasure hoard. They are the ultimate test of the hero and the ultimate fright of the child. They are older than the elves and more akin to the earth than the dwarves. The great dragons are the preternatural beast, the basic element of the beast, that darkest part of our imagination.The wizards cannot tell you of their origin, though they believe that a great wizard, a god of wizards, must have played some role in the first spawning of the beast. The elves, with their long fables explaining the creation of every aspect of the world, have many ancient tales concerning the origin of the dragons, but they admit, privately, that they really have no idea of how the dragons came to be.My own belief is more simple, and yet, more complicated by far. I believe that dragons appeared in the world immediately after the spawning of the first reasoning race. I do not credit any god of wizards with their creation, but rather, the most basic imagination wrought of unseen fears, of those first reasoning mortals.We make the dragons as we make the gods, because we need them, because, somewhere deep in our hearts, we recognize that a world without them is a world not worth living in.There are so many people in the land who want an answer, a definitive answer, for everything in life, and even for everything after life. They study and they test, and because those few find the answers for some simple questions, they assume that there are answers to be had for every question. What was the world like before there were people? Was there nothing but darkness before the sun and the stars? Was there anything at all? What were we, each of us, before we were born? And what, most importantly of all, shall we be after we die?Out of compassion, I hope that those questioners never find that which they seek.One self-proclaimed prophet came through Ten-Towns denying the possibility of an afterlife, claiming that those people who had died and were raised by priests, had, in fact, never died, and that their claims of experiences beyond the grave were an elaborate trick played on them by their own hearts, a ruse to ease the path to nothingness. For that is all there was, he said, an emptiness, a nothingness.Never in my life have I ever heard one begging so desperately for someone to prove him wrong.This is kind of what I believe right now… although, I do not want to be proved wrong…For what are we left with if there remains no mystery? What hope might we find if we know all of the answers?What is it within us, then, that so desperately wants to deny magic and to unravel mystery? Fear, I presume, based on the many uncertainties of life and the greatest uncertainty of death. Put those fears aside, I say, and live free of them, for if we just step back and watch the truth of the world, we will find that there is indeed magic all about us, unexplainable by numbers and formulas. What is the passion evoked by the stirring speech of the commander before the desperate battle, if not magic? What is the peace that an infant might know in its mother’s arms, if not magic? What is love, if not magic?No, I would not want to live in a world without dragons, as I would not want to live in a world without magic, for that is a world without mystery, and that is a world without faith.And that, I fear, for any reasoning, conscious being, would be the cruelest trick of all.-Drizzt Do’Urden

Do you love him? Danica dared to ask, referring ro the dark elf.Catti-brie blushed, and really had no answer. Of course she loved Drizzt, but she didnt know if she loved him in the way that Danica was speaking of. Drizzt and Catti-brie had agreed to put off any such feelings, but now, with Wulfgar gone for so many years and Catti-brie approaching the age of thirty, the question was beginning to resurface.He is a handsome one, Danica remarkedm giggling like a little girl.Indeed, thats what Catti-brie felt like, reclining on the wide davenport in Danicas sitting room: a girl. It was like being a teenager again, thinking of love and of life, allowing herself to believe that her biggest problem was in trying to decide if Drizzt was handsome or not,Of course, the weight of reality for both these women was fast to intrude, fast to steal the giggles. Catti-brie had loved and lost, and Danica, with two young children of her own, had to face the possibility that her husband, unnaturally aged by the creation of the Spirit Soaring, would soon be gone.

It is a defeat of the spirit to learn ones arrogance causes such loss and pain. Pride invites you to soar to heights and the footing, tentative. farther, then, is the fall.

Spirit. In every language in all the Realms, surface and Underdark, in every time and every place, the word has a ring of strength and determination. It is the heros strength, the mothers resilience and the poor mans armor. It cannot be broken and it cannot be taken away.

There are no shadows in the Underdark. There is no room for imagination in the Underdark. It is a place for alertness, but not aliveness, a place with no room for hopes and dreams.

All my life, I have been searching for a home, the drow said quietly. All my life, I have been wanting more than that which was offered to me, more than Menzoberranzan, more than friends who stood beside me out of personal gain. I always thought home would be a place, and indeed it is, but not in any physical sense. It is a place in here, Drizzt said, putting a hand to his heart and turning back to look upon his companions. It is a feeling given by true friends.I know this now, and know that I am home.But yere off to Carradoon, Cattie-brie said softly.And sore we! Bruenor bellowed.Drizzt smiled at them, laughed aloud. If circumstances will not allow me to remain at home, the ranger said firmly, then I will simply take my home with me!

It was a night where the rogue drow felt tiny, and yet grand, a part of something ancient, eternal, and as vast as his imagination and as warm as the love among these five freinds surrounding him ...

, But the streets need cleaning, brother, Gromph said. That is why the gods gave us magic, brother, Jarlaxle replied in the same smug tone. To perform the mundane tasks of life.

Magic is neither good nor evil. It merely is.

There is a wide world out there, full of pain, but filled with joy as well. The former keeps you on the path of growth and the latter makes the journey tolerable.

There is one other error in the Gondsmans line of resoning, I believe, on ap urely emotional level. If machines replace achievement, then to what will people aspire? And who are we, truly, without such goals? Beware the engineers of society, I say, who would make everyone in all the world equal. Opportunity should be equal, must be equal, but achievement must remain individual.

Who knows what adventure we might find here? Drizzt said excitedly. Who knows what secrets might be unveiled to us?Adventure? Dunkin asked incredulously, looking to the carnage along the beach, and to the zombies still frozen in the water. Reward? he added with a chuckle. Punishment, more likely, though I have done nothing to harm you, any of you!We are here to unveil a mystery, Drizzt said, as though that fact should have piqued the mans curiosity, To learn and to grow. To live as we discover the secrets of the world about us.

Damn you to Lolths web! he said. Dont you dare pretend if doesnt matter to you! Why do you care? Drizzt growled back at him. No one who has ever made a difference? Do you believe that? What do you want from me, son of Baenre? Just the truth-your truth. You believe that you have never made a difference? Perhaps there is no difference to be made, Drizzt replied. Do not ever say that, Jarlaxle said to him. Why do you care? Drizzzt asked. Because you were the one who escaped, Jarlaxle replied. Dont you understand? Jarlaxle went on. I watched you-we all watched you. Whenever a matron mother, or almost any female of Menzoberranzan was about, we spoke your name with vitriol, promising to avenge Lolth and kill you. But whenever they were not around, the name of Drizzt DoUrden was spoken with jealousy, often reverence. You do not understand, do you? You dont even recognize the difference youve made to so many of us in Menzoberranzan. How? Why? Because you were the one who escaped! You are here with me! Drizzt argued. Are you bound to the City of Spiders by anything more than your own designs? By Bregan DAerthe? Im not talking about the city, you obstinate fool, Jarlaxle replied, his voice lowering. Again Drizzt looked at him, at a loss. The heritage, Jarlaxle explained. The fate.

Luck? Drizzt replied. Perhaps. But more often, I dare to say, luck is simply the advantage a true warrior gains in excuting the correct course of action.

I will always love you Drizzt DoUrden my life was full and without regret because I knew you and was completed by you. Sleep well, my love.