Dragonlance

Dragonlance is a large series of over 190 fantasy novels.

Flint Fireforge

• (to Tanis) "Why the beard? You were ugly enough."

• "Of all the hatreds, the ones between families are the cruelest."

Laurana Kanan

• "Do not be ashamed, Tas. Be thankful you can feel pity and horror at the death of an enemy. The day we cease to care—even for our enemies—is the day we have lost this battle."

• "Until we conquer the evils within ourselves we can never conquer the great evil that threatens to engulf us!"

• "Touch this body and you will die. Your dragon will not be able to save you." (defending Sturm's body from Kitiara)

Raistlin Majere

• "Magic will be my sword."

• "If I am to be judged by those who come after me, let me be judged by the truth."

• "Bupu, you have been a good and true friend to me. You saved my life and the lives of those I care about. Now you will do one last thing for me, little one. Go back. I must travel roads that will be dark and dangerous before the end of my long journey. I can not ask you to go with me."

• "Hope is the denial of reality. It is the carrot dangled before the draft horse to keep him plodding along in a vain attempt to reach it."

• "I'm saying we should remove the carrot and walk forward with our eyes open." (Response when he was asked if he had any hope.)

• "If we stop living because we fear death, then we have already died."

• "Some of us are not destined to meet again in this world!"

• "I will let nothing stop me. Look at Caramon's face, Tanis. He knows! I killed him once. I can do it again."

• "I will do this. Nothing in my life matters except this. No moment in my life exists except this moment. I am born in this moment, and if I fail, I will die in this moment."

• "I wanted to tell her that sometimes, in my long sleep, I dreamt of her." (referring to Crysania, his would-be love)

• "I have sinned enough against the world. Teaching magic to a kender would ensure my damnation."

• "Learn to control the power. Never let it control you!"

• "Death is life's one great certainty."

• "Bow only in reverence, never in subservience."

• "So dark. Endless darkness, eternal. It was not the absence of light that was so frightening as the absence of thought, of knowledge, of comprehension. Our lives, the lives of the living will go on. The sun shines, the moons rise, we will laugh and talk, and he will know nothing, feel nothing. Nothing. So final. It will come to us all. It will come to me."

• Raistlin: This alters time.
  Astinus: This alters nothing...Time flows on, undisturbed.
  Raistlin: And carries me with it?
  Astinus: Unless you have the power to change the course of rivers by tossing in a pebble.
  Raistlin: Watch, Astinus. Watch for the pebble!

• "Just because a mage wears the Black Robes does not make him evil."

• "Weep as I wept once, long, long ago. Then you will realize, as I did, that it does no good. No one hears you, sobbing in the night alone."

• "I sacrificed myself for myself!"

• "Someday, fat innkeepers will bow to me."

• "In a world of the faithless, you are the only one who is faithful. And, because of that, you will be reviled, ridiculed, persecuted. But I see one who loves you, who will risk all to defend you."

• "In my sight, it is always winter, always night."

• "Hope lives. No matter the mistakes we make, no matter our blunders and misunderstandings, no matter the grief and sorrow and loss, no matter how deep the darkness, hope lives." (From Dragons of the Hourglass Mage)

Sturm Brightblade

• "Est Sularus oth Mithas."
  • Translation: "My honor is my life."

• "To the Abyss with the Measure! Where has the Measure gotten us? Divided, jealous, crazed! Even our own people prefer to treat with the armies of our enemies! The Measure has failed!"

• "The Forestmaster said to us, in Darken wood, that we should not mourn those who have fulfilled their destiny. Mine is fulfilled."

Tanis Half-Elven

• "If we deny love that is given to us, if we refuse to give love because we fear the pain of loss, then our lives will be empty, our loss greater."

• "We will close our eyes and begin to dream our eternal dream."

• "It’s the sensible, logical thing to do, of course, which is why we don’t do it."

• "The darkness might conquer, but it could never extinguish hope, and though one candle, or many, may flicker and die, new candles would be lit from the old. Thus hopes flame always burns, lighting the darkness until the coming of day."

• "People want to believe in something-even if they know it is false."

• "Don't judge Raistlin, Laurana. Things aren't always black and white, as you elves are inclined to believe. The mage has saved our lives more than once. I have come to rely upon his thinking- which, I admit, I find easier to rely on than blind faith!"

• "Only the dead are without fear."

• "We'll have to go out through the kitchen."

Tasslehoff Burrfoot

• "Sometimes it hurts to care, doesn't it, Caramon? But it's better than being empty inside."

• "Is this something you two do regularly? I've heard married couples do some strange things but this seems kind of weird—"

• "We kender may not be the smartest folk. But we know that we should be fighting dragons, not each other."

• "It's the small things that make the difference."

• "Raistlin! You have on black robes! How wonderful! Can I touch them? Oh, all right. You needn't glare at me like that. It's just that they look so soft. Say, does this mean you're truly bad now? Can you do something evil for me, so I can watch? I know! I saw a wizard summon a demon once. Could you do that? Just a small demon? You could send him right back. No?"

• "Well...it's a problem that will be solved by wiser heads than mine. I'm along for the fun."

Caramon Majere

• "But you have to live with yourself, Raistlin. And there are times in the night when that must be damn near unbearable." (speaking to Raistlin)

• "We raise our children to leave us."

• "Raistlin made a mistake- a terrible, tragic mistake. And he did what few of us can do- he had courage enough to admit it and try to do what he could to rectify it, even though it meant sacrificing himself."

Huma Dragonbane

• "I am a knight of Solamnia. I am the hand of Paladine, of Kiri-Jolith and of Habbakuk on this world. You are on Krynn. You are mine, Queen of Darkness."

Palin Majere

• "If I have done nothing else of value in this life, I have loved and been loved. And that is all that truly matters."

• "Did you give Tanis a sword, then bid him break it? Did you give Sturm a shield and tell him to hide behind it? Oh, I know! That is different. That is something you understand. You've never understood me, have you, Father?"

• "Yet without the darkness, we would never be aware that the stars exist."

• Steel: "How many spells do you have?" Palin: "One, but it's a good one."

Fizban

• "No discipline in the younger generation. His father- now there was a puffball...."

• "Arrest the tree! Obstructing sunlight! Thats the charge!"

• "Good? Triumph? Not so, Half-Elven. The balance is restored. The evil dragons will not be banished. They remain here, as do the good dragons. Once again the pendulum swings freely."

• "No, really? I was feeling a bit under the weather this morning, but I had no idea it was as bad as all that. So I'm dead. Done for. Bought the farm. Kicked the bucket. Was it a nice funeral? Did lots of people come? Was there a twenty-one gun salute? I've always wanted a twenty-one gun salute."

• "Have you seen my hat?"

• "Now what was that spell again?"

• "That got 'em! Wonderful spell, Fireball—"
  —Fizban the Fabulous, Dragons of Spring Dawning

Par-Salian

• "Kender are the true innocents of this world. They remind us that we spend a great deal of time and energy worrying about things that are not very important."

• "The gods asked for a sword, and now I can give them one; you." (speaking to Raistlin)

• "Time is a great flowing river, vaster and wider than any river we know. Throw a pebble into the rushing water – does the water suddenly stop? Does it begin to flow backward? Does it turn in its course and flow another direction? Of course not! The pebble creates a few ripples on the surface, perhaps, but then it sinks. The river flows onward, as it has ever done."

Other

• "We do not mourn the loss of those who die fulfilling their destinies."
  • The Forestmaster

• "Say our lives are measured not by gain, but by giving."
  • The Forestmaster

• "Ingenious—because you see if the sponges come down a little late, an alarm goes off, releasing a huge barrel of water and, since the sponges are already there, it's easy to clean up the mess."
  • Gnosh

• "The mage's soul is forged in the crucible of the magic. You choose to go voluntarily into the fire. The fire might very well destroy you. But if you survive, every blow of the hammer will serve to shape your being. Every drop of water wrung from you will temper and strengthen your soul."
  • Antimodes

• "The magic will not solve your problems. It will only add to them. The magic will not make people like you. It will increase their distrust. The magic will not ease your pain. It will twist and burn inside you until sometimes you think that even death would be preferable."
  • Antimodes

• "You will be beset with failure, but never give up hope. If that happens, you will know defeat."
  • Valthonis

• "Most of us walk in the light and the shadow, Tasslehoff, but there are the chosen few who walk this world, carrying their own light to brighten both day and night."
  • Crysania

• "Is it eradicating evil? Or are we like children, left alone in the house at night, who light candle after candle to keep away the darkness. We don’t see that the darkness has a purpose – though we may not understand it – and so, in our terror, we end up burning down the house!"
  • Crysania

• "A man with nothing to die for has even less for which to live."
  • Guerrand DiThon

• "I think you would have liked Antonias, Father. He was the man I was supposed to be."
  • Vinas Solamnus

• "Rules! Does the magic control you, Red? Or do you control the magic?"
  • Master Horkin

• "Nothing happens by chance. Everything happens for a reason. Your brain may not know what it is. Your brain may never figure out what it is. However, your heart knows, your heart always knows."
  • Master Horkin

• "The magic is in the blood, it flows from the heart. Every time you use it, part of yourself goes with it. Only when you are prepared to give of yourself, and receive nothing back will the magic work for you."
  • Theobold Beckman, quoting Par-Salian

• "We pity him. We hate him. We fear him – all because there is a little of him in each of us, though we admit it to ourselves only in the darkest part of the night." (referring to Raistlin Majere)
  • Justarius

Kitiara Uth Matar

• "I am what I have made myself. In a world where most are ignorant peasants, I have made myself a warrior. I take what I can and give when I like. I don't need you, dragon. I don't need anyone!"

• "Come on, you insignificant firefly! I have seen bigger sparks from steel and stone!"

• "If you think I would demean myself by sleeping with a man to get information, you're wrong, my friend."

• "Fear can turn you inside out or you can make fear work for you. Use it like another weapon. Fear is a funny thing. It can make you weak-kneed, make you pee your pants, make you whimper like a baby. Or fear can make you run faster, hit harder."

Steel Brightblade

• "We will sing the hero songs ourselves."

• Steel:"*To Chaos* You are wrong! We are everything. We are hope!"
• Chaos:"Hope? I see no hope! I see only despair! *To the Solamnic Knights* Paladine is dead. You fight alone. *To the Knights of Takhisis* Takhisis has fled. You fight alone. There is no hope. You have no gods. What have you left?"
• Steel:"Each other."

Dalamar

[Conversation at the beginning of the Book Three within Dragons of Summer Flame set during the Chaos War.]

Tanis: "What the-" Tanis gripped the top of the wall to steady himself. "Dalamar! Where did-?"

Dalamar: "Palanthas. I traveled the roads of magic and do not have time to listen to you spluttering. Are you in charge here?"

Tanis: "Me? Good heavens, no! I'm only-"

Dalamar: "Then take me to someone who is," Dalamar said impatiently. "And tell these fools to sheathe their swords before I turn them into pools of molten metal."

• "Don’t look downcast. You will have a chance to die. You are being sent on another task."

Soth

• "I have no desire for a device that would carry me backward in time. Unless...unless it would take me back to undo what I did. Perhaps then I might make use of it. But what would be the use? If I had it to do over again, the outcome would be the same. I would make the same decisions, commit the same heinous acts. For that was the man I was."

Kender

• "No road is ever old"
  • Kender saying

• "Every path is the right path, unless it's the left fork"
  • Kender saying

• "Don’t change color to match the walls. Look like you belong and the walls will change color to match you."
  • Kender proverb

• Anything easy is more trouble than it's worth.
  • Old kender saying, Dragons of Winter Night

Dwarven

• "Durth Zamish octh Durth Tabor"
  • Translation: "Strange times makes strange brothers."
  • Dwarf saying

Poetry

• "As the old gods lost their power, we called to the blank sky into the cold, dividing gray to the ears of the new gods. The sky is calm, silent, unmoving. We have yet to hear their answer."
  • Excerpt from the "Canticle of the Dragon"

Return this man to Huma's breast.

Beyond the wild, impartial skies.

Grant to him a warrior's rest.

And set the last spark of his eyes.

Free from the smothering clouds of wars.

Upon the torches of the stars.

Let the last surge of his breath.

Take refuge in the cradling air.

Above the dreams of ravens where.

Only the hawk remembers death.

Then let his shade to Huma rise.

Beyond the wild, impartial skies.

• Funeral song for a Solamnic Knight

The day has passed beyond our power.
The petals close upon the flower.
The light is failing in this hour
Of day's last waning breath.

The blackness of the night surrounds
The distant souls of stars now found,
Far from the world to which we're bound,
Of sorrow, fear and death.

(Chorus)
Sleep, love; forever sleep.
Your soul the night will keep.
Embrace the darkness deep.
Sleep, love; forever sleep.
(Chorus)
The gathering darkness takes our souls,
Embracing us in chilling folds,
Deep in a Mistress's void that holds
Our fate within her hands.

Dream, warriors, of the dark above
And feel the sweet redemption of
The Night's Consort, and of her love
For those within her bands.

(Chorus)

We close our eyes, our minds at rest,
Submit our wills to her behest,
Our weaknesses to her confessed,
And to her will we bend.

The strength of silence fills the sky,
Its depth beyond both you and I.
Into its arms our souls will fly,
Where fear and sorrows end.

(Chorus)

• The Song of Death
  • Mina, The War of Souls