Sword of Truth

Memorable quotes from the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.

Insightful Quotes

• "The only sovereign I can allow to rule me is reason. The first law of reason is this: what exists exists; what is is. From this irreducible, bedrock principle, all knowledge is built. This is the foundation from which life is embraced. Reason is a choice. Wishes and whims are not facts, nor are they a means to discovering them. Reason is our only way of grasping reality--it is our basic tool of survival. We are free to evade the effort of thinking, to reject reason, but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss we refuse to see." -Richard

• "Oh, but how I do love it when men I respect marry smart women. Nothing marks a man's character better than his attraction to intelligence." -Ann

• ""Profit" is a dirty word only to the leeches of the world. They want it seen as evil, so they can more easily snatch what they did not earn." -Victor

• "We all can be only who we are, no more, no less." -Kahlan

• "Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent." -Richard

• "There is no such thing as pure good or pure evil, least of all in people." -Zedd

• "Nothing is ever easy." -Zedd

• "Think of the solution, not the problem." -Richard

• "When you are out numbered, and the situation is hopeless, you have no option- you must attack!" -Richard

• "Never let a beautiful woman pick your path when there is a man in her line of sight." -Kahlan

• "Fate does not seek our consent." -Zedd

• "Trouble sires three children." -Richard

• "The worse you are at thinking, the better you are at drinking." -Zedd

• "I fear no secret of a person I trust, and he has no need to fear mine. It is part of being friends." -Zedd

• "Don't shed tears for those already in the ground, until after you have brought vengeance to those who put them there. There will be time enough then." -Kahlan

• "Youth. Youth holds much hope, but not much wisdom. I know the ways of people. Of men. He has been gone too long from my skirts. He will have long ago forgotten me, and found another." - Verna Sauventreen

• "Third Time tricked, marks the fool." -Richard

• "History is rarely made by reasonable men." -Zedd

• "Don't worry about what might be...Worry about what is." -Zedd

• "Knowledge is a weapon. I intend to be formidably armed." -Richard

• "Sometimes that's all life is: one desperate act after another." -Zedd

• "You talk like a drunk man walks: in every direction but where he be headed." -Adie

• "Only a fool walks into the future backwards." -Commander General Trimack

• "People are stupid." -Zedd

• "One must observe before one acts, or more harm than help can be the result." - Drefan Rahl

• "Knowledge is a destination. Truth, the journey." -Zedd

• "In a land of blind people, a one-eyed woman could be queen." - Verna Sauventreen

• "There is magic in patience, you know." -Zedd

• "It does the sheep no good to preach the goodness of a diet of grass, if the wolves are of a different mind." - Nathan Rahl

• "Sometimes, in madness resides genius." - Richard

• "Love is a passion for life shared with another person." - Nicci

• "Zedd used to tell me that if the road is easy, you're likely going the wrong way." -Richard

• "Evil is not one large entity, but a collection of countless, small depravities brought up from the muck by petty men." - Richard

• "Everything is valuable under the right conditions. To a man dying of thirst, water be more precious than gold. To a drowning man, water be of little worth and great trouble." - Adie

• "It is the first responsibility of a friend to provide a shoulder to cry on." - Richard

• " Cut. Once committed to fight, Cut. Everything else is secondary. Cut. That is your duty, your purpose, your hunger. There is no rule more important, no commitment that overrides this one. Cut." -Richard

• "Only those you trust can betray you." - Nathan Rahl

• "He said that sometimes prophecy overwhelms our attempts to outwit it, and that sometimes we think we are more clever than we are, believing we can stay the hand of fate, if we wish it hard enough." - Nathan Rahl

• "Teachings that defy reason defy reality; what defies reality defies life. Defying life is embracing death." - Richard

• "Your life is yours alone, rise up and live it." - Richard

• "Faith and feelings are the darkness to reason's light." - Richard

• "there is magic in patience, too, you know." - Zedd

• "Breathe" - Sliph

Humorous Quotes

• Nicci looked up at Kahlan . "Knives are not my talent."

  "It's not hard," Kahlan said as she pressed the handle into Nicci's hand. "When the time is right, just stick the pointed end somewhere important in someone you really don't like."

• "Bags, woman, shall I tell them that it would be rather inconvenient for them to attack right now and to please come back to kill us later?" - Zedd

• "If we all knew each other's secrets, it would prove a very strange world, besides it would take all the fun out of the telling of them." - Zedd

• "Stop looking so young and innocent all the time, Warren. It's just plain irritating." - Cara

• "Lord Rahl has very big hands. They fit perfectly over my breasts." - Berdine

"Well, my breasts aren't as large as yours, Berdine. I think Raina's hands would fit mine better." -Kahlan

• Zedd: "What's wrong with your leg?" Adie: "It not reach the ground. What be wrong with your eyes?"

• "Nathan bought himself a sword today. He is now fighting invisible monsters. He is a one thousand year old child." - Ann

• "The time for desperation is upon us. Let's play." -Zedd

• "If you get yourself killed trying to rule the world, I will personally break every bone in your body." -Cara

• "You want to be healed, now? Or would you prefer to bleed to death so I can try my hand at resurrection?" - Nathan Rahl

• "Lord Rahl told us to protect you as we would protect him. If you are not careful, Mother Confessor, and needlessly endanger Lord Rahl . . . I will withdraw my permission for Richard to keep you." -Cara

• "Why would you say that? I've been told that I'm a most pleasant traveling companion. Do we have any of that sausage left?" -Zedd

• "I have my wizards rock along. Could I interest you? Naked?" -Zedd

• "Well finally! We did everything but to leave a note pinned to the hem of her dress that said, Oh by the way, the Prelate and the prophet are still alive, you dolt." - Nathan Rahl

• "Hurry up and torture me before I fall asleep and miss it." -Cara

• "You look funny without your pants." -Scarlet

• "The elders are becoming concerned. They would like to know when they can have their spirit house back." -Zedd

• "Come to me, brother wind! Gather about! Blow a gale for me! What's the matter with the two of you? Did you eat some bad berries?" -Richard

• "The last time I saw one of the boxes of Orden, it was open, and it was sucking my bastard father into the underworld." -Richard

• "Zedd, I'm tired of being dead." -Kahlan

• "You actually read the reports?!?" - Ann

• "Zedd has succumbed to a bout of loud cursing and arm flailing, he is swearing oaths about what he intends to do to Nathan, I am sure he will find most of his intentions physically impossible." - Ann

• "Lord Rahl, I know you like me the best, but stop thinking about my behind as I walk, and write your letter." - Berdine

• "I think you are bound and determined, one way or another, to have your clothes off in the spirit house." - Richard

• "You talk like a drunk man walks; in every way but where he be headed." - Adie

• "There can be powerful magic in acts of desperation." -Zedd

• "Zedd thought that Mord-Sith must strut, even when they were alone..." -Zedd

• "They didn't like my Agiel. When you fixed the magic, I made them curse their mothers for ever meeting their fathers." -Cara

• "I wonder what's bothering the chickens" -Richard

  "Maybe your grandfather is pestering them now, too.";"Or maybe they're grouchy because we kept them awake most of the night." -Kahlan

• "Your grandfather?" Jennsen asked. "You mean, Wizard Zorander?"

  Richard's whole face softened with a splendid grin. "You've met Zedd, then. He's wonderful, isn't he?"

  "He tried to kill me," Jennsen muttered.

  "Zedd?" Richard scoffed. "Zedd's harmless."

• "You sure know a lot about magic," Jennsen said to Richard.

  Kahlan and Cara laughed so hard that Jennsen thought they might fall off their horses.

  "I don't see why that's so funny," Richard grumbled.

  The two of them laughed all the harder.

• "Prelate, men have uncontrollable urges." - Sister Dulcinia

  "So do I, but with the Creator's help I've so far managed not to strangle anyone." -Verna

Memorable Quotes

• It was an odd-looking vine - First line of the Series

• She returned to Demmin Nass, who stood where he had been told to wait.

There were tears in his eyes. "Please, Mistress, command me." Kahlan pulled a knife from his belt, ignoring his request. With her other hand, she unfastened the flanged battle mace from its hook. "Take off your pants." She waited until he had pulled them off and stood once more before her. "Kneel." The coldness of her voice sent a shiver through Zedd as he watched the big man kneel before her. Kahlan turned the mace around, holding the handle down to Nass.

"Hold this for me." He took it and held it at his side. Kahlan kneeled down in front of him, close. "Spread your legs," she ordered in an icy voice. She reached down between his legs, gripping him in one hand. He flinched, grimaced. "Don't move," she warned. He became still. "How many of the little boys you've molested have you killed?" "I don't know, Mistress. I don't keep count. I've done it for many years, since I was young. I don't always kill them. Most live."

"Make a good guess." He thought a moment. "More than eighty. Less than one hundred twenty."

Zedd could see the glint off the knife as she put it under him. Chase unfolded his arms, stood up straighter, his jaw muscles tightening at hearing what Demmin Nass had done. "I'm going to cut these off. When I do, I don't want you to make a sound," she whispered. "Not one sound. Don't even flinch."

"Yes, Mistress."

"Look into my eyes. I wish to see it in your eyes."

Her arm with the knife strained, and jerked up. The blade came up red. Demmin's knuckles around the mace were white. The Mother Confessor rose to her feet in front of him. "Hold out your hand." Demmin held a shaking hand before her. She put the bloody sack in his palm.

"Eat them." - Kahlan:Wizard's First Rule

• "Reality is irrelevant; Perception is everything." -Zedd

• "Master Rahl guide us. Master Rahl teach us. Master Rahl protect us. In your light we thrive. In your mercy we are sheltered. In your wisdom we are humbled. We live only to serve. Our lives are yours." -Words to the D'Haran devotion

• "That be a lie." -Adie

• "Fair warning to those living and those dead! The Seeker is named!" -Zedd

• "I'll never look at an apple the same way again." -Richard

• "True as a boiling bog full of toasted toads." -Zedd

• "Grrrraaaaattttcch lllluuuugggg RRRaaaacccchhhhaaarrrgg." - Gratch

• "Dance with me death, for I am ready." -Richard

• "Gives a lot of orders for a woods guide." -Chase

• "I am the bringer of death, I have named myself so." -Richard

• "Zedd, what in the name of everything good is a seeker?" -Richard

• "You may find, Sister Verna, that holding the leash to this collar is worse than wearing it. Much worse." -Richard

• "Blade, be true this day." -Richard

• "Bags!" -Zedd

• "You are welcome to my sword when I am no longer breathing." -Richard

• "I am dead. Only vengence can restore me! Only victory can return my life to me!" -Kahlan

• "The problem with my eyes is that they have been famished, but now they are feasting." -Zedd

• "I am the Seeker. I can do anything." -Richard

• "Promise made . . . . Promise kept!" -Richard

• "And the truth is that you are a bastard son, of a bastard son, of a bastard son! And all of those bastard sons, all the way back, had the gift. Worse, Zedd has the gift. You have the gift, but it is from two blood lines of wizards. You are a very dangerous person, Richard Rahl. You have the gift. In this case, I would be more inclined to call it a curse." - Shota

• "To know Richard, is to know Kahlan." - Denna

• "And so they sent me, because I do." -Kahlan

• "What kind of plans would the Master Rahl have? I plan to conquer the world." -Richard

• "The beam in the central hall. I am sure of it." -Verna

• "As we Wizards go, I'm pretty harmless." -Zedd

• "Good-bye, Father Rahl. I trust you will die without my watching it" -Richard

• "I will give you war; a real war, not a slaughter of women and children but a war lead by me, the Mother Confessor, a woman! War without quarter!" - Kahlan

• "We will fight with our last breath if need be, and in our death, let us inflict a wound on him that will fester until it claims him." - Richard

• "Friends don't bargain away another friend's rights. Or their hearts." - Richard

• "We present Lord Rahl, the Seeker of Truth and wielder of the Sword of Truth, the bringer of death, the Master of D'Hara, the ruler of the Midlands, the commander of the gar nation, the champion of free people and bane of the wicked, and the betrothed of the Mother Confessor." - Berdine

• "Lunetta, I believe there is trouble. I believe the Creator is going insane." - Brogan

• Richard: "If you don't tell me where the Mother Confessor is, you are going to die."

  Kahlan: "You are about to slit her throat, Richard."

• "I will bathe in that young man's blood." - Merissa

• "I'm Lord Rahl's favorite" - Berdine

• "What about my wrinkles?" - Verna

  "Someday, when you get wrinkles, I'll love them, too." - Warren

• "I will remember only that I loved him, and could never tell him." - Kahlan

• "It's my life. If this is the end, all there is to be, then I will do with the rest of my life as I wish. It's my life to live, not yours to live for me. I'm going with you, and that is final." -Cara

• "With hate in my heart... vengeance without mercy"- Anson

• The bird let out a slow chicken cackle. It sounded like a chicken, but in her heart she knew it wasn't. In that instant, she completely understood the concept of a chicken that was not a chicken. This looked like a chicken, like most of the Mud People's chickens. But this was no chicken. This was evil manifest.

• (The hero deals with an eight-year-old child's fit of temper:) Princess Violet glared at him. "My mother says that Confessor Kahlan will come back and that we'll have a surprise for her the next time she comes here. I just want you to know because my mother said you'll be dead by then. My mother says I get to decide what to do to her. First, I'm going to cut off her hair." Her hands were in fists, her face red. "Then I'm going to let all the guards rape her, every one! Then I'm going to put her in the dungeon for a few years so they'll have someone to play with! Then when I get tired of hurting her, I'll have her head chopped off and put it on a pole where I can watch it rot!"

  Richard actually felt sorry for the little Princess. The sadness for her came over him in a wave. At that feeling, he was surprised to feel the thing in him that had come awake rise up.

  Princess Violet squeezed her eyes shut, stuck her tongue out far as she could.

  It was like a red flag.

  The strength of the awakened power exploded through him.

  He could feel her jaw shatter like a crystal goblet on a stone floor when his boot came up under it. The impact of the blow lifted the Princess into the air. Her own teeth severed her tongue before they, too, shattered. She landed on her back, a good distance away, trying to scream through the gushing blood.

• (Nicci is going to see the statue)

  Once in place, her pulse pounding, she turned.

  Nicci´s gaze rose up the legs, the robes, the arms, the bodies of the two peoples, up to their faces. She felt as if a giant fist squeezed her heart to a stop.

  This was what was in Richard´s eyes brought into existence in glowing white marble. To see it fully realized was like being struck by lightning.

  In that instant, her entire life, everything that had ever happenéd to her, everything she had ever seen, heard, or done, seemed to come together in one flash of emotional violence. Nicci cried out in pain at the beauty of it, and more so at the beauty of what it represented.

  Her eyes fell on the name carved in the stone base.

  LIFE

  Nicci collapsed to the floor in tears, in abject shame, in horror, in revulsion, in sudden blinding comprehension...In pure joy.

  -Faith of the fallen chapter 64

• (Nicci reveals the statue to Victor, Ishaq and the rest of the town Richards statue on the plaza)

  It was something the like of which most of these people had never in their lives seen.

  • It was vision to the blind.
  • It was water to the thirsty.
  • It was life to the dying

  -Faith of the Fallen chapter 65

• "Richard loves Kahlan. That says it all - it says everything." - Nicci, Confessor

• "Kahlan guide me. Kahlan teach me. Kahlan protect me. In your light I thrive. In your mercy I am sheltered. In your wisdom I am humbled. I live only to love you. My life is yours." - Richard, Wizard's First Rule

• "We'll fix it. Together. Always together." - Kahlan, to Richard, Stone of Tears

• "I think Richard could find a way to make the sun rise at midnight." - Denna, Stone of Tears

• "One way or another, you'll always be in my heart." - Richard, to Denna, Confessor

• "You are a rare person, Richard Rahl." - Kahlan/Shar/Shota/Sliph/Adie

• "Once lucky, twice confident, and thrice dead." - Zedd, to the Prelate, Blood of the Fold

• "Who could forget Richard? Trouble and wonder in one package." - Sister Simona, Blood of the Fold

• He (Zedd) always said that if you accept the possibility, then you make it real. I've decided that until someone proves it otherwise to me, I'm not going to accept his death. I believe in him. I believe he's alive and out there, somewhere, causing someone trouble." - Richard, Blood of the Fold

Wizards Rules

1. People are stupid... They will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true.
2. The greatest harm can result from the best intentions.
3. Passion rules reason.
4. There is magic in sincere forgiveness, the magic to heal. In forgiveness you grant, but more so, in forgiveness you receive.
5. Mind what people do, not only what they say, for deeds will betray a lie.
6. The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason.
7. Life is the future, not the past.
8. Deserve Victory.
9. A contradiction cannot exist in reality. Not in part, nor in whole.
10. Willfully turning aside from the truth is treason to one's self.
11. The Unwritten rule which must be experienced before true understanding. Everything exists within us; your life is your own.
12. You can destroy those who speak the truth, but you cannot destroy the truth itself.