Battle Quotes

“One of the greatest challenges of a parent is to save their teenagers from themselves, while the culture is declaring that it is trying to save them from their parents.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“You killed him, remember?"
"That was a fair fight."
"It was only to first blood."
"I only hit him once."
"You decapitated him."
"There was a lot of first blood.”
― Anthony Reynolds, Khârn: Eater of Worlds

“This isn't about strength," said Pat. "And you may not be able to see this yet, but perhaps there will come a time—it could be years from now—when you'll need to get on your horse and ride into battle and you're going to hesitate. You're going to falter. To heal the wound your father made, you're going to have to get on that horse and ride into battle like a warrior.”
― Cheryl Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

“She owes me nothing, and her truth is her own. To bury or not.”
― Lauren Loscig, War Hour

“First, it would sound ridiculous. No one would take us seriously as this was probably an old fairytale. And second, word would surely get back to the Mouse King. The last thing we needed was for him to know we were trying to take the thrown back.”
― Tayler Marie Brooks, Sugar Plum Princess

“She moves, and people die.
And gods, they die fast.
It's over so quickly she doesn't realize at first, as if time had slowed down only for her and the entity that watches from within the vessel that her body had become.”
― Jo Grospierre, Hymn of The Night

“All of us must stand guard at the door of our souls and spirits with the correct armor donned in preparation for battle.
Soldiers do not wait until threats are detected in the distance, shots are fired, or enemies are breaking down their doors to prepare for battle. No, soldiers are ready in advance! They are suited up for war- prepared from first light with others standing watch throughout the night! It is to be the same for those of us fighting in this battle for our eternal lives! Why do we so often insist on going out to face the enemy unprepared and ill equipped? Surely, we do not enjoy defeat- we do not wish to be knocked in the ditch of life, to backslide and fall away from our first love- our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ?”
― Stacy Angelique McDonald, As You Rise: Scriptural Insights to Help You Get and Stay on The Narrow Way

“Extreme age is a spiritual pitched battle fought in the dark. A battle that inevitably ends in defeat. The darkness and degradation of old age is something for which religions have never been able to offer us consolation or satisfactory explanation.”
― Henning Mankell, Depths

“Not every battle is a call to arms.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“There was no unity to their attack. These were not wolves, pack animals that coordinated to dominate a larger prey. They were mercenaries, single fighters who relied on their skills with a blade and nothing - and no one - else.

Had they struck him in concert, the Incubi might have pushed Lucius to the brink of defeat, or at least driven him away from their charge. They were exemplary, their craft honed to a brilliant edge, and fast as quicksilver. United, they would have been a terrible foe. As individuals, they were an amusing challenge, but nothing more.

It last seven clashes before the first Eldar fell. The alien crashed to the deck, trying in vain to stymie the slopping discharge of his guts with arms that no longer had hands. Decreased by a third, the potency of the other two visibly diminished. Lucius could focus a greater share of his murderous attention on each of them, reducing their chances of survival from slim to non-existent.

The second would die screaming, eventually, as Lucius crushed him in the grip of his lash and pitched him into the abyss. The third paused, shoulders heaving with exertion, before leaping at Lucius, its silver glaive flashing high. The Eldar came crashing down before the Eternal, blood spurting from the stump where its head had been moments before.”
― Ian St. Martin, Lucius: The Faultless Blade

“And even when all appears lost,’ said Simber, ‘you must fight with everything you have inside you, all the way until the bitter end.”
― Lisa McMann, Island of Dragons

“Therefore, all your care and attention must be concentrated on keeping watch, and it is particularly necessary for you to guard against sin in the place where it usually begins, to resist temptation at once the very first time it appears and thus to eliminate the evil before it can grow and spread. When something has to be feared from its smallest beginnings and is the more easily overcome the more speedily it is resisted, one must not wait for it to grow; that is why divine scripture exclaims: Keep your heart with all vigilance; for from it flow the springs of life (Pr.4.23). 27, 1. One has to make a distinction, however, between those of one’s thoughts which the will favors and embraces affectionately, and those which are wont to flit past the mind like an insubstantial shadow and merely show a glimpse of themselves in passing - the Greeks call them typoi, ‘impressions’ - and also those, to be sure, which offer promptings to a mind which is resistant and unwilling and as glad when they are expelled as it was sad when they were admitted in the first place. In those which show themselves only fleetingly to the mind and reveal themselves as if in flight, there is no underlying sin at all and no sign of fight; but with those which the soul struggles against for some time and which the will resists, we can expect an even contest. Either we consent to them and are conquered or we reject them and conquer them and win a victory in battle. Thus sin exists only in the thought which has given the mind’s consent to a suggestion, which flatters and fosters its own evil tendency and longs for it to erupt into action. This kind of thought, even if it is prevented from reaching any outcome and so fails to fulfill the wish that lies behind it, is nevertheless condemned as a criminal act by the Lord.”
― Pelagius, The Letters of Pelagius

“Well, let’s see…my life. Put simply, I could not get into battle fast enough, and my father couldn’t die soon enough. The two greatest moments of my life so far are when I received my first Iron Cross and the death of my father.”
― Josh Becker, Hitler in the Madhouse

“I have intel on where to find that wretched Peter. I want him staked out and eliminated as soon as possible. It is only a matter of time before he comes for my crown but I won't give up as easily as he did...”
― Tayler Marie Brooks, Sugar Plum Princess

“I see myself a rock star. I play hard to win. I see myself a warrior. I battle the challenges ahead. I am the renegade. I walk through the sleepless nights. I am a legend. A legend you want to be. A legend you want to follow. I am an athlete.”
― Dina Husseini

“Okay, fine but when we sneak out, I'm going too. You don't get to have all the fun."

"Fun? I'm scared to death...”
― Tayler Marie Brooks, Sugar Plum Princess

“If you’re still standing on two feet, you might ask if you were really invested in the battle.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“It is the hopelessness of the battle that awakens the passion of the warrior.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“I’m not going out without a fight, young Jedi! Not without panache, without drama, without a grand finale!”
― Elsa Charretier, Star Wars Adventures (2017-2020) #13

“We must define what winning is before we declare that we have done so.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Sometimes the greatest victories are neither great nor victories.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“I have defined victory not by the outcome of any battle, but by the integrity with which I fought the battle.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Grown men send children into battle throughout the world, all the time. Old men create conditions for conflicts, fuel hostilities, and pretend to defend core values—good against evil—whereas all they are doing is ferociously protecting their privileges while coveting the riches of others. They hatch toxic strategies, then send their children charging at the enemy.
To hide their deadly avarice, they speak with conviction about courage and patriotism while bunkered in their headquarters, in offices or on television sets while the blood of youths is spilled in combat, their spirits mangled by the ferocity of battles that will pollute their souls forever.
This vicious cycle starts all over again with every generation, because no war is ever won for good. Hatred feeds the desire for vengeance, which is transmitted alongside genes. The first drop of blood spilled at the dawn of the world triggered the bloodshed that we stubbornly perpetuate all over the earth.”
― Hemley Boum, Days Come and Go

“I am and will forever remain a simple soldier. In the heat of battle or in the midst of Hida's dance, the cadence of conflict replaces one's heartbeat, and we are lost to its music. You have found your rhythm with the fishline, and you must find your own with a sword and dance your way around the battle.”
― Aly M. A. Said, The Sapphire Shore

“A dying language is that of the blade, and one that spells destruction for any claiming fluency.”
― Aly M. A. Said, The Sapphire Shore

“[The blade] is an honest language, a loud one!”
― Mostafa A. M. Elbehery, The Sapphire Shore

“The reality of combat always exceeds the boundaries of imagination. Every battle is an amalgamation of a thousand personal battles, and each man's fight a kaleidoscope of sights, sounds, and smells that burn into his consciousness and echo for as long as his life lasts.
A man excited to rage runs across a smoky stubble field. One moment he is bounding ahead on eager legs. A second later he is shocked to find the ground leaping up to dash him rudely in the mouth. His teeth clack, he tastes the gritty soil. He gasps for air. Hot liquid seeps ominously from his belly. Sounds echo and recede. An idea quivers on the edge of his mind. A word forms on his dry tongue. No breath to voice it. The sun shines on him from a night sky.”
― Jack Kelly

“The door opened. I stopped. Beyond it, orks lined both sides of the corridor. They had been watching for me. The moment I appeared, they roared their approval. They did not attack. They simply stood, clashed guns against blades, and hooted brute enthusiasm. I had been subjected to too many celebratory parades on Armageddon not to recognise one when it confronted me. I went numb from the unreality before me. I stepped forward, though. I had no choice.

I walked. It was the most obscene victory march of my life. I moved through corridor, hold and bay, and the massed ranks of the greenskins hailed my passage. I saw the evidence of the destruction I had caused around every bend. Scorch marks, patched ruptures, buckled flooring, collapsed ceilings. But it hadn’t been enough. Not nearly enough. Only enough for this… this…

At length, I arrived at a launch bay. There was a ship on the pad before the door. It was human, a small in-system shuttle. It was not built for long voyages. No matter, as long as its vox-system was still operative.

I knew that it would be.

Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka awaited me beside the ship’s access ramp. I did not let my confusion or the sense that I had slipped into an endless waking nightmare slow my stride. I did not hesitate as I strode towards the monster. I stopped before him. I met his gaze with all the cold hatred of my soul. He radiated delight. Then he leaned forward, a colossus of armour and bestial strength. Our faces were mere centimetres apart.

My soul bears many scars from the days and months of my defeat and captivity. But there is one memory that, above all others, haunts me. By day, it is a goad to action. By night, it murders sleep. It lives with me always, the proof that there could hardly be a more terrible threat to the Imperium than this ork.

Thraka spoke to me.

Not in orkish. Not even in Low Gothic.

In High Gothic.

‘A great fight,’ he said. He extended a huge, clawed finger and tapped me once on the chest. ‘My best enemy.’ He stepped aside and gestured to the ramp. ‘Go to Armageddon,’ he said. ‘Make ready for the greatest fight.’

I entered the ship, my being marked by words whose full measure of horror lay not in their content, but in the fact of their existence. I stumbled to the cockpit, and discovered that I had a pilot.

It was Commander Rogge. His mouth was parted in a scream, but there was no sound. He had no vocal cords any longer. There was very little of his body recognisable. He had been opened up, reorganised, fused with the ship’s control and guidance systems. He had been transformed into a fully aware servitor.

‘Take us out of here,’ I ordered.

The rumble of the ship’s engines powering up was drowned by the even greater roar of the orks. I knew that roar for what it was: the promise of war beyond description.”
― David Annandale, Yarrick: The Omnibus

“...the power of battle is in generalship more than in the number of soldiers. -- JAMES LONGSTREET, From Manassas to Appomattox: Memoirs of the Civil War in America (1876)”
― Elizabeth Varon, Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South

“Fear your enemy and will have filled his arsenal with the most potent weapon of all.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough