R. A. Salvatore Quotes

Robert Anthony Salvatore

R. A. Salvatore is an American author best known for The DemonWars Saga; and The Legend of Drizzt, for which he created the popular character Drizzt Do’Urden. (R. A. Salvatore Quotes)

“A drow and a dwarf, a dwarf and a drow, a hunnerd times better’n a fox and a cow! Bwahaha!” Athrogate added with unbridled enthusiasm.”
R. A. Salvatore
Gauntlgrym

“A foundation that had been built of stone shifted like sand on the blowing wind.”
R. A. Salvatore
Starless Night

“A hundred goblins and orcs looked up from their herding and fishing duties to mark the drow soldier’s swift passage. Knowing their restrictions as slaves, they took care not to look Dinin in the eye.”
R. A. Salvatore
Homeland

“A man inferior with the blade or with his thoughts can still so elevate himself,” Entreri explained curtly, “if he can impart the belief that some god or other speaks through him. It is the greatest deception in all the world and one embraced by kings and lords, while the minor lying thieves on the streets or Calimport and other cities lose their tongues for so attempting to coax the purses of others.”
R. A. Salvatore
Servant of the Shard

“A man who lives a lie will soon enough be consumed by it.”
R. A. Salvatore
Sea of Swords

“A person could always pretend that some future event would solve many more problems than the realization of such an event could ever bring. Drizzt”
R. A. Salvatore
The Last Threshold

“A sense of accomplishment. It is the most important ingredient in any rational being’s formula of happiness. It is the element that builds confidence and allows us to go on to other, greater tasks. It is the item that promotes a sense of self-worth, that allows any person to believe there is value in life itself, that gives a sense of purpose to bolster us as we face life’s unanswerable questions.”
R. A. Salvatore
Siege of Darkness

“A span of a few heartbeats can make for a greater memory than the sum of a mundane year.-Catti-brie”
R. A. Salvatore
The Pirate King

“A world without dragons is a world not worth living in.”
R. A. Salvatore
Streams of Silver

“All of his life had been filled with crashing ends to promising beginnings.”
R. A. Salvatore
Exile

“Always I seem doomed to protect those I most despise,” Entreri whispered”
R. A. Salvatore
Servant of the Shard

“And doubts regarding how high the price might prove. But this is our way. This is our creed. This is the mantra of the Companions of the Hall. It can be no other way. And since we knew our course to be true, doubts could not equal regret. No matter the price. —Drizzt Do’Urden”
R. A. Salvatore
Night of the Hunter

“Another week of emptiness, of solitude, though the schooner was fully crewed and there were few places where someone could be out of sight of everyone else. That was the thing about the open ocean, you were never physically alone, yet all the world seemed removed. Catti-brie and Drizzt had spent hours together, just standing and watching, each lost, drifting on the rolls of the azure blanket, together and yet so alone.”
R. A. Salvatore
Passage to Dawn

“Any watching the battle would have found no breath in the next few blurring moments. Never had the Underdark witnessed such a vicious fight as when these two masters of the blade each attacked the demon possessing the other—and himself.”
R. A. Salvatore
Homeland

“Artemis Entreri: Do not underestimate Jarlaxle. Many have; they all are dead.”
R. A. Salvatore
Servant of the Shard

“As I became a creature of the empty tunnels, survival became easier and more difficult all at once. I gained in the physical skills and experience necessary to live on. I could defeat almost anything that wandered into my chosen domain. It did not take me long, however, to discover one nemesis that I could neither defeat nor flee. It followed me wherever I went – indeed, the farther I ran, the more it closed in around me. My enemy was solitude, the interminable, incessant silence of hushed corridors.”
R. A. Salvatore
Exile

“As we uncover the mysteries of the body, so too must we unravel the harmonies of the soul.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Legacy

“Because everything of value that we will know in this life comes from our relationships with those around us. Because there is nothing material that measures against the intangibles of love and friendship.”
R. A. Salvatore
Passage to Dawn

“Because of the friends I have known, the honorable people I have met, I know I am no solitary hero of unique causes. I know that when I die, that which is important will live on.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Legacy

“But in his years among the drow, Drizzt Do’Urden had learned to look beyond physical beauty and physical attraction. Drizzt did not separate the physical from the emotional. He was a superb fighter because he fought with his heart and would no sooner battle merely for the sake of battle than he would mate for the sake of the physical act.” (R. A. Salvatore Quotes)
R. A. Salvatore
Starless Night

“But love, honest love, requires empathy. It is a sharing—of joy, of pain, of laughter, and of tears. Honest love makes one’s soul a reflection of the partner’s moods. And as a room seems larger when it is lined with mirrors, so do the joys become amplified. And as the individual items within the mirrored room seem less acute, so does pain diminish and fade, stretched thin by the sharing. That is the beauty of love, whether in passion or friendship. A sharing that multiplies the joys and thins the pains.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Silent Blade

“But what of faith? What of fidelity and loyalty? Complete trust? Faith is not granted by tangible proof. It comes from the heart and the soul. If a person needs proof of god’s existence, then the very notion of spirituality is diminished into sensuality and we have reduced what is holy into what is logical.-Drizzt Do’urden”
R. A. Salvatore
Siege of Darkness

“Come gather ’round hardy men of the steppes and listen to my tale of heroes bold and friendships fast and the Tyrant of Icenwind Dale of a band of friends by trick or by deed bred legends for the bard the baneful pride of the one poor wretch and the horror of the Crystal Shard.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Crystal Shard

“Conscience does not always adhere to rational judgment. Guilt is always a self-imposed burden, but is not always rightly imposed.”
R. A. Salvatore
Sojourn

“Courage in battle and courage in personal and emotional matters are often two separate attributes, and an abundance of one does not necessarily translate into an ample amount of the other.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Lone Drow

“Death is the ultimate barrier, and when faced with impending death, personally or for someone you love, a mortal being will encounter, most of all, ultimate humility.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Ghost King

“Demanding of another that he earns your respect is, in of itself, an act of arrogance, a way of self-elevation, implying by its very nature that your respect is worth earning.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Halfling’s Gem

“Discipline was necessary, but unquestioning obedience was a limiting thing, not a growing one.”
R. A. Salvatore
Vector Prime

“Do more than survive, my son, as I have survived. Live! Be true to the callings in your heart.”
R. A. Salvatore
Homeland

“Do not worry so much of the future that you let today pass you by.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Lone Drow

“Do we behave out of fear of punishment, or out of the demands of our heart? For me, it is the latter, as I would hope is true for all adults, thought I know from bitter experience that such is not often the case. To act in a manner designed to catapult you into heaven would seem transparent to a god, any god, for if ones heart is not in alignment with the creator of that heaven, then… what is the point?”
R. A. Salvatore
The Ghost King

“Driest displayed the intricate hand and facial combinations of the silent drow code, and he briefly entertained the notion of teaching the language to Belwar. The deep gnome promptly burst into loud and rolling laughter. His dark eyes looked incredulously at Drizzt, and he led the drow’s gaze down to the ends of his arms. With a hammer and a pickaxe for hands, the svirfneblin could hardly muster enough gestures to make the effort worthwhile.”
R. A. Salvatore
Exile

“Drizzt felt the despair most keenly. For all the trials of his hard life, the drow had held faith for ultimate justice. He had believed, though he never dared to admit it, that his unyielding faith in his precious principles would bring him the reward her deserved. Now, there was this, a struggle that could only end in death, where one victory brought only more conflict.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Halfling’s Gem

“Drizzt had always suspected it, but now it was confirmed, that “welcome” was his favortie word in the Common Tongue, and a word, he understood with no equivalent in the language of the drow.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Last Threshold

“Emotion clouds the rational, and many perspectives guide the full reality. To view current events as a historian is to account for all perspectives, even those of your enemy. It is to know the past and to use such relevant history as a template for expectations. It is, most of all, to force reason ahead of instinct, to refuse to demonize that which you hate, and to, most of all, accept your own fallibility.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Orc King

“Escape was impossible. Victory even more so. Wulfgar’s only thought and desire at that moment was to be spared the indignity and anguish of lycanthropy. Then Drizzt entered the room.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Halfling’s Gem

“Even the short-lived humans divide their lives into segments, though they rarely recognize the transient truth as they move through one or another stage of their existence.”
R. A. Salvatore
Gauntlgrym

“Every day is a chance to start over. Any day can be bad, surely, but any day can be good, can be great, and that promise, that potential, is a beautiful thing indeed.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Stowaway

“Every wrinkle is earned, my love. Day by day, we spend our time together, and the changes that come will be well earned. In your heart you know that I love you, and I have no doubt but that my love will grow with the passage of years.” (R. A. Salvatore Quotes)
R. A. Salvatore
The Orc King

“Evil empires often bound themselves in webs of hate toward fabricated enemies, and none in the history of the world were better at it than the drow.”
R. A. Salvatore
Homeland

“Farewell is said by the living, in life, every day. It is said with love and friendship, with the affirmation that the memories are lasting if the flesh is not.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Legacy

“Farewell, my friend,” Drizzt whispered, trying futilely to keep his voice from breaking. :This journey you make alone.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Legacy

“For life is experience, and longevity is, in the end, measured by memory, and those with a thousand tales to tell have indeed lived longer than any who embrace the mundane.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Pirate King

“For there is indeed a harmony in the universe, a concordant singing of common weal. To join that song, one must find inner harmony, must find the notes that ring true. There is one point to be made about that truth: Evil creatures cannot sing.”
R. A. Salvatore
Sojourn

“For what are we left with if there remains no mystery? What hope might we find if we know all of the answers?”
R. A. Salvatore
Streams of Silver

“For what is a rational being if not a choice? And there can be no evil, nor any good, without intent.”
R. A. Salvatore
Passage to Dawn

“For whatever we do in our lives, discipline and control over our own actions ultimately measure the level of our success.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Halfling’s Gem

“Fortunate circumstances do not equate to high principles.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Legacy

“Glory brings fame, and fame brings jealousy, and jealousy brings danger.”
R. A. Salvatore
Charon’s Claw

“He feared no foes, but was no longer certain whether his courage came from confidence or from apathy about living. Perhaps survival was not enough.”
R. A. Salvatore
Exile

“He fought for a better world because he believed that a better world could and would be made. He had never held any illusions that he would change the whole world, of course, or even a substantial portion of it, but he had always held strongly that fighting to better just his own little pocket of the world was a worthwhile course.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Thousand Orcs

“He had never held any illusions that he would change the whole world, of course, or even a substantial portion of it, but he had always held strongly that fighting to better just his own little pocket of the world was a worthwhile course.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Thousand Orcs

“He hates me because my way of life shows his to be an empty lie.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Legacy

“He looked down at the mask hanging around his neck. So simple a lie, and he could walk freely throughout the world. But would he then be trapped within the web of his own deception? What freedom could he find in denying the truth about himself?”
R. A. Salvatore
The Halfling’s Gem

“He was born a slave, but he was not born to be a slave.”
R. A. Salvatore
Attack of the Clones

“He who remains alive, remains alive to write the histories in a light favorable to him and his cause.”
R. A. Salvatore
Road of the Patriarch

“Hindsight is easy, but decisions made in the moment are often much more difficult, the “right” choice often much harder to discern.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Companions

“How else to explain the accomplishments of a warrior such as Artemis Entreri, who could outfight many drow veterans ten times his age?”
R. A. Salvatore
Sea of Swords

“How many people long for that “past, simpler, and better world,” I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them?”
R. A. Salvatore
Streams of Silver

“I am no longer amazed by how quickly a man will justify his change of heart when a spear is leveled his way.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Bear

“I consider every person an enemy until he has proven himself differently, and I find that in knowing my enemies, I can prepare against anything they might send against me.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Silent Blade

“I don’t desire glory. Glory brings fame, and fame brings jealousy, and jealousy brings danger.”
R. A. Salvatore
Charon’s Claw

“I don’t like the sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating. And it gets everywhere.”
R. A. Salvatore
Attack of the Clones

“I don’t have to prove my worth and value to any but those I love, and that I do by being who I am, with confidence that those I love appreciate the good and accept the bad. Does anything else really matter?”
R. A. Salvatore
The Orc King

“I have always found those who take the easier road, when they know they should be walking the more difficult one, to be cowards,” Robillard”
R. A. Salvatore
Sea of Swords

“I know not yet where I hope to go, what challenges are left before me, but I do understand now that the important thing is to enjoy the process of getting there.”
R. A. Salvatore
Servant of the Shard

“I measure my success in life by the added value my presence brought to those whom I loved, and who loved me.”
R. A. Salvatore
Road of the Patriarch

“I need no fantasies to belittle the great treasures that I already possess.”
R. A. Salvatore
Streams of Silver

“I was afraid, because courage in battle and courage in personal and emotional matters are often two separate attributes, and an abundance of one does not necessarily translate into an ample amount of the other.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Lone Drow

“If a God, any God, is deemed to represent the Universal & divine truth, then once one finds & truly embraces that truth, he/she becomes in harmony with God. To hold it any other way is to attribute to supposed Gods petty failings like jealousy & bittermess. If that is the case, then why would I hold forth a name embodying that which is in my heart when doing so would only reduce a truth I call divine to a level of mortal frailty?”
R. A. Salvatore
The Last Threshold

“If we have fallen so far as to need an avatar, an undeniable manifestation of a god, to show us our way, then we are pitiful creatures indeed.”
R. A. Salvatore
Siege of Darkness

“If your companions mantle upon you neither pity nor blame, then do not place either burden upon your own shoulders!”
R. A. Salvatore
Exile

“In any honest analysis, change is the basis of fear, the idea of something new, of some paradigm that is unfamiliar, that is beyond our experiences so completely that we cannot even truly predict where is will lead us.” (R. A. Salvatore Quotes)
R. A. Salvatore
The Orc King

“In my stubborn youth, I believed that I could stand alone, that I was strong enough to conquer my enemies with sword and with principles.”
R. A. Salvatore
Exile

“In the course of events, you do what you think is right and proper, and hold faith that such a course will lead to good ends. To believe less… if this is what I truly hold in my heart and proclaim, then what a coward I would be to deny such a course out of fear, any fear.”
R. A. Salvatore
Night of the Hunter

“In the dim light of Twinkle’s glow, their skin colors lost in a common gray, they seemed alike, brethren come from the same mold. Entreri approved of that perception, but Drizzt surely did not.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Legacy

“In the end, when life’s last flickers fade, all that remains is memory. Richness, in the final measure, is not weighed in gold coins, but in the number of people you have touched, the tears of those who mourn your passing, and the fond remembrances of those who continue to celebrate your life.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Companions

“In the heart, there is no sting greater than watching the struggles of one you love, knowing that only through such strife will that person grow and recognize the potential of his or her existence.”
R. A. Salvatore
Siege of Darkness

“Independence is what matters,” Wulfgar explained. “And it is more difficult by far to be independent of our own inner shackles than it is of the shackles that others might place upon us.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Lone Drow

“Is morality not an internal force, and if it is, are principles then to be dictated or felt?”
R. A. Salvatore
Sojourn

“Is that not the whole point of gaining experience, to use it to make wiser choices, to temper destructive instincts, to find better resolutions?”
R. A. Salvatore
Night of the Hunter

“It is a defeat of the spirit to learn one’s arrogance causes such loss and pain. Pride invites you to soar to heights and the footing, tentative. Farther, then, is the fall.”
R. A. Salvatore
Starless Night

“It is a valuable lesson that should often be reinforced—that many who are faced with impending death, a disease that will likely take them in a year’s time, for example, quite often insist that their affliction is the best thing that ever happened to them. It takes the immediacy of mortality to remind them to watch the sunrise and the sunset, to note the solitary flower among the rocks, to appreciate those loved ones around them, to taste their food, and revel in the feel of a cool breeze.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Companions

“It is better, I think, to grab at the stars than to sit flustered because you know you cannot reach them… At least he who reaches will get a good stretch, a good view, and perhaps even a low-hanging apple for his efforts.”
R. A. Salvatore
Sojourn

“It is easy to miss the possibility that every person who crosses your path can become an event and a memory, good or bad, to fill in the hours with experience instead of tedium, to break the monotony of the passing moments.”
R. A. Salvatore
Sea of Swords

“It is important to recognize that reputation means nothing, and while past deeds might inspire confidence, they are no guarantee of present or future victory.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Ghost King

“It is not just boredom that propels my steps along paths unknown, but a firm belief that the guiding principle of life must be a search not for what is, but for what could be.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Orc King

“It is not the world that has changed, merely my understanding of it.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Last Threshold

“It is right and necessary and important to set goals and chase them. But to do so singularly, particularly regarding those roads which will take many months, even years, to accomplish is to miss the bigger point. It is the journey that is important, for it is the sum of all those journeys, planned or unexpected, that makes us who we are. If you see life as a journey to death, if you truly understand that ultimate goal, then it is the present that becomes most important, and when the present takes precedence above the future, you have truly learned to live.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Companions

“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 friends surrounding him…”
R. A. Salvatore
Night of the Hunter

“Joy multiplies when it is shared among friends, but grief diminishes with every division. That is life.”
R. A. Salvatore
Exile

“Life is not defined by how much time you have. It is about time you have to spare. It is the smallest of choices that shape our destinies. – Perrault”
R. A. Salvatore
The Stowaway

“Loss of empathy might well be the most enduring and deep-cutting scar of all, the silent blade of an unseen enemy, tearing at our hearts and stealing more than our strength. Stealing our will, for what are we without empathy? What manner of joy might we find in our live if we cannot understand the joys and pains of those around us, if we cannot share in a greater community.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Silent Blade

“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.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Halfling’s Gem

“Magic is neither good nor evil. It merely is.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Last Threshold

“Mentors have a way of seeing more of our faults that we would like. It’s the only way we grow.”
R. A. Salvatore
Attack of the Clones

“My very survival has been based upon my belief that there is a higher purpose to this life: that principles are a reward in and of themselves. I cannot, therefore, look forward in despair, but rather with higher hopes for all in mind and with the determination that I might help to reach those heights.”
R. A. Salvatore
Sojourn

“Never confuse honor with stupidity!”
R. A. Salvatore
The Crystal Shard

“Never does a star grace this land with a poet’s light of twinkling mysteries, nor does the sun send to here its rays of warmth and life.”
R. A. Salvatore
Homeland

“Never seem to have a Death Star lying around when you need one.”
R. A. Salvatore
Vector Prime

“No race is more adept than humans at weaving a mask of excuses, at ultimately claiming good intent. And no race is more adept at believing its own claims. How many wars have been fought, man against man, with both armies espousing that god, a goodly god, was on their side and in their hearts?”
R. A. Salvatore
Passage to Dawn

“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.”
R. A. Salvatore
Streams of Silver

“Nostalgia is a necessary thing, I believe, and a way for all of us to find peace in that which we have accomplished, or even failed to accomplish. At the same time, if nostalgia precipitates actions to return to that fabled, rosy-painted time, particularly in one who believes his life to be a failure, then it is an empty thing, doomed to produce nothing but frustration and an even greater sense of failure.”
R. A. Salvatore
Streams of Silver

“Nostalgia is possibly the greatest of the lies that we all tell ourselves. It is the glossing of the past to fit the sensibilities of the present. For some, it brings a measure of comfort, a sense of self and of source, but others, I fear, takes these altered memories too far, and because of that, paralyze themselves to the realities about them.”
R. A. Salvatore
Streams of Silver

“Nothing burns in your heart like the emptiness of losing something, someone, before you truly have learned of its value.”
R. A. Salvatore
Homeland

“Nothing pains a liar more than when an opponent turns one of his lies into truth.”
R. A. Salvatore
Servant of the Shard

“Of all the crowns that Bruenor had worn or would, none was more important than that of Father.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Halfling’s Gem

“One never knows when one might walk into a tale.” – Ardaz”
R. A. Salvatore
The Witch’s Daughter

“One of the most common truths of life is that we all take for granted things that simply are. Whether a spouse, a friend, a family, or a home, after enough time has passed, that person, place, or situation becomes the accepted norm of our lives. It is not until we confront the unexpected, not until the normal is no more, that we truly come to appreciate what once we had.”
R. A. Salvatore
Charon’s Claw

“One step at a time, and the first of those steps was to defeat the stoneskin, the magical defense that could turn any blade—but only for a certain number of attacks.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Silent Blade

“Only when we admit to our failures and recognize our weaknesses can we rise above them.”
R. A. Salvatore
Passage to Dawn

“Only with the honest knowledge that one day I will die can I ever truly begin to live.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Halfling’s Gem

“Perhaps we will meet again and do battle, and if I kill him, I will shed no tears for him. Not for who he is, at least, but quite possibly, I will cry for who this marvelous warrior might have become. If I kill him, I will be crying for myself.” (R. A. Salvatore Quotes)
R. A. Salvatore
The Halfling’s Gem

“Pride invites you to soar to heights of personal triumph, but the wind is stronger at those heights and the footing, tentative. Farther, then, is the fall.”
R. A. Salvatore
Starless Night

“Pwent fell back and began to choke on the command. By his estimation, a dwarf king ordering a subject to go take a bath was roughly the equivalent of a human king telling his knights to go out and kill babies.”
R. A. Salvatore
Starless Night

“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!”
R. A. Salvatore
Streams of Silver

“Respect is one of the most basic needs of reasoning creatures, particularly among men. An insult is just that because it is an assault upon respect, upon esteem, and upon that most dangerous of qualities: pride.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Halfling’s Gem

“Richness, in the final measure, is not weighed in gold coins, but in the number of people you have touched, the tears of those who mourn your passing, and the fond remembrances of those who continue to celebrate your life.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Companions

“Robillard looked out the window to the late afternoon skyline. Smoke rose from several locations, adding to the gloom. “So much gray out there,” the wizard remarked. “So many shades of gray.…”
R. A. Salvatore
The Pirate King

“She would never get over that loss. She understood that, but she knew, too, that her time of grieving neared its end, that she had to get on with the business of living.”
R. A. Salvatore
Starless Night

“So many times have I heard the common lament, “If only I could go back to that age, knowing what I now know!” Those words amuse me profoundly, for in truth, the lament should be, “If only I could reclaim the lust and the joy I knew then!”
R. A. Salvatore
Sea of Swords

“Some people will celebrate anything, Entreri mused. Even mediocrity”
R. A. Salvatore
Road of the Patriarch

“Sometimes the most difficult battles are the ones we are forced not to fight.”
R. A. Salvatore
Siege of Darkness

“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 hero’s strength, the mother’s resilience and the poor man’s armor. It cannot be broken and it cannot be taken away.”
R. A. Salvatore
Exile

“Station is the paradox of the world of my people, the limitation of our power within the hunger for power. It is gained through treachery and invites treachery against those who gain it. Those most powerful in Menzoberranzan spend their days watching over their shoulders, defending against the daggers that would find their backs. Their deaths usually come from the front.” -Drizzt Do’Urden”
R. A. Salvatore
Homeland

“That is the honest nature of friendship. That is when it becomes sincere, and not self-serving.”
R. A. Salvatore
Siege of Darkness

“That was the danger of nostalgia, Drizzt realized. One often remembered the good of the past while forgetting the troubles.”
R. A. Salvatore
Passage to Dawn

“The best tests of character and commitment always came in moments of great stress and the most revealing moments often came in times when a person was pushed to anger.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Last Threshold

“The finest leaders are those who listen more than they talk.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Lone Drow

“The gods of the realms are many and varied or they are the many and varied names and identities tagged onto the same being. I know not and care not which.”
R. A. Salvatore
Sojourn

“The greater good of the region had fallen beneath the lesser personal gains of stubborn pride, with most of the people of Ten-Towns confusing unity with dependence.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Crystal Shard

“The lie about them, and the lie that is them. They steal hope, because without hope there is no strength. Without hope there is no freedom. In slavery of the heart does a demon find its greatest pleasures.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Silent Blade

“The path to joy is not paved in gold, particularly in gold unearned.”
R. A. Salvatore
Sea of Swords

“The person who values community will oft be deceived and destroyed by the knave whose heart lies in selfish ambitions.”
R. A. Salvatore
Road of the Patriarch

“The unusual experiences are those that create the memories, and a tenday of memories is more life than a year of routine.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Pirate King

“The very identity of every reasoning being is defined by the language, the communication, between that being and others around it.”
R. A. Salvatore
Exile

“The wealth always flowed uphill and into the hands of a few. It was the way of the world.”
R. A. Salvatore
Road of the Patriarch

“The wise thief does not steal the egg if his action will awaken the dragon.”

“The world is not static, and if the roots of our perceptions, traditions, hold static, then we are doomed, I say, into destructive dogma.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Crystal Shard

“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.”
R. A. Salvatore
Starless Night

“There are reasons for things that a casual observer might not understand.” – Jarlaxle Baenre”
R. A. Salvatore
Servant of the Shard

“There are those who cannot see the stains on their souls. Some lack the capacity to look in the glass of introspection, perhaps, and others alter reality without and within.”
R. A. Salvatore
Road of the Patriarch

“There is a difference between finding trouble in your path and going out of your way searching for it.”
R. A. Salvatore
Vector Prime

“There is a difference between finding trouble in your path and going out of your way searching for it,” Jacen said. “We are not galactic police.”
R. A. Salvatore
Vector Prime

“There is a fine line between friendship and parenting, and when that line is crossed, the result is often disastrous. A parent who strives to make a true friend of his or her child may well sacrifice authority, and though that parent may be comfortable with surrendering the dominant position, the unintentional result will be to steal from that child the necessary guidance and, more importantly, the sense of security the parent is supposed to impart. On the opposite side, a friend who takes a role as parent forgets the most important ingredient of friendship: respect.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Silent Blade

“There is a moment when a man thinks he’s going to die when he’s terrified,” Drizzt replied. “Then there is a moment when a man is sure he’s going to die when he’s outraged. That moment, upon the Luskar right now, is the time of greatest courage and the time when enemies should quiver in fear.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Pirate King

“There is a place within each of us where we cannot hide from the truth, where virtue sits as judge. To admit the truth of our actions is to go before that court, where process is irrelevant. Good and evil are intents, and intent is without excuse.” (R. A. Salvatore Quotes)
R. A. Salvatore
Passage to Dawn

“There is a wide world out there, my friend, 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.”
R. A. Salvatore
Sojourn

“There is freedom in seeing the world as a painting in progress, instead of a place already painted.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Orc King

“There is no greater shackle than self-deception. A man who denies his heart, either through fear of personal consequence—whether regarding physical jeopardy, or self-doubt, or simply of being ostracized—is not free. To go against your values and tenets, against that which you know is right and true, creates a prison stronger than adamantine bars and thick stone walls. Every instance of putting expediency above the cries of conscience throws another heavy chain out behind, an anchor to drag forevermore.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Last Threshold

“There is no pain greater than this; not the cut of a jagged-edged dagger nor the fire of a dragon’s breath. Nothing burns in your heart like the emptiness of losing something, someone, before you truly have learned of its value. Often now I lift my cup in a futile toast, an apology to ears that cannot hear:”
R. A. Salvatore
Homeland

“There is no way of truly knowing where a road will lead until it is walked.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Orc King

“There is one other error in the Gondsman’s 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.”
R. A. Salvatore
Streams of Silver

“They broke the hug and shared a tremendous kiss, all sloppy and loud, full of fun and full of lust, as only dwarves could do.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Last Threshold

“This is my fear, of a life wasted, of a cause misbegotten, of a belief that is, in the end, an empty and unattainable ideal, the foolish designs of an innocent child who believed there could be more.”
R. A. Salvatore
Charon’s Claw

“This is the way of the world, but it is not the only way.”
R. A. Salvatore
Road of the Patriarch

“This the trap of competitive humanity, you see. Few men are content if others have more to be content about.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Pirate King

“Those who aspire to less accomplish less. There can be no doubt. It is better, I think, to grab at the stars than to sit flustered because you know you cannot reach them.”
R. A. Salvatore
Sojourn

“Those who rely on certainties are certain to be disappointed”
R. A. Salvatore
Road of the Patriarch

“Though many would seek short cuts to the truth, there is no way around the simplest of tenets: hardship begets achievement and achievement begets joy—true joy, and the sense of accomplishment that defines who we are as thinking beings.”
R. A. Salvatore
Sea of Swords

“To any intelligent being, there is no emotion more important than hope. Individually or collectively, we must hope that the future will be better than the past, that our offspring, and theirs after them, will be a bit closer to an ideal society, whatever our perception of that might be.”
R. A. Salvatore
Siege of Darkness

“To bask in the present, care nothing about the future, and forget the past.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Silent Blade

“To grant the power of a weapon master to anyone at all, without effort, without training and proof that the lessons have taken hold, is to deny the responsibility that comes with such power.”
R. A. Salvatore
Streams of Silver

“To learn how to use a sword, one must first master when to use a sword.”
R. A. Salvatore
Streams of Silver

“To lose is to die! You may win a thousand fights, but you can only lose one!”
R. A. Salvatore
Homeland

“To place the measure of a living being’s worth above that of another simply because that being wears the same color skin as I belittles my principles.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Legacy

“To think that all we’ve known to be true is not necessarily an absolute is unsettling and almost incomprehensible, and so to walk the road of acceptance and peace often takes more courage than the way of the warrior.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Pirate King

“Truth, though, is nothing in the face of self-falsehood, and principles are of no value if the idealist cannot live up to his own standards.”
R. A. Salvatore
Homeland

“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.”
R. A. Salvatore
Road of the Patriarch

“Under the dark evening sky, the skyscrapers seemed to become gigantic natural monoliths, and all the super-sized structures that so dominated the city, that so marked Coruscant as a monument to the ingenuity of the reasoning species, seemed somehow the mark of folly, of futile pride striving against the vastness and majesty beyond the grasp of any mortal.”
R. A. Salvatore
Attack of the Clones

“We all are prisoners at one time or another in our lives, prisoners to ourselves or to the expectations of those around us. It is a burden that all people endure, that all people despise, and that few people ever learn to escape.”
R. A. Salvatore
Exile

“We all believe that we can defeat that plague or that disease, should it befall us, through sheer willpower. It is a common mental defense against the inevitability we all know we share. I wonder, then, if the worst reality of a lingering death is the sense that your own body is beyond your ability to control.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Ghost King

“We are all dying, every moment that passes of every day. That is the inescapable truth of this existence. It is a truth that can paralyze us with fear, or one that can energize us with impatience, with the desire to explore and experience, with the hope—nay, the iron will!—to find a memory in every action. To be alive, under sunshine or under starlight, in weather fair or stormy. To dance every step, be they through gardens of bright flowers or through deep snows.”
R. A. Salvatore
Sea of Swords

“We at least we of sincere character always judge ourselves by stricter standards than we expect others to abide by.” The character of the person would outweigh the color of his skin and the reputation of his heritage.” (R. A. Salvatore Quotes)
R. A. Salvatore
Sojourn

“We can empathize with someone else, but we cannot truly see the world as another person sees it, or judge events as they affect the mind and the heart of another, even a friend. But we must try. For the sake of all the world, we must try. This is the test of altruism, the most basic and undeniable ingredient for society.”
R. A. Salvatore
Passage to Dawn

“We like to keep what’s our own to keep, especially from little thieves with little fingers and big mouths.”
R. A. Salvatore
Streams of Silver

“We must allow for every contingency, must prepare for every eventuality and turn in the game.”
R. A. Salvatore
Servant of the Shard

“We need to be reminded sometimes that a sunrise lasts but a few minutes. But its beauty can burn in our hearts eternally. —Drizzt Do’Urden”
R. A. Salvatore
Sea of Swords

“What good is your gold if your friends will not lift you when you have fallen? How long lived our memory of you when you are gone? Because in the end, that is the only measure. In the end, when life’s last flickers fade, all that remains is memory. Richness, in the final measure, is not weighed in gold coins, but in the number of people you have touched, the tears of those who mourn your passing, and the fond remembrances of those who continue to celebrate your life.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Companions

“What is it about your race that none of you can seem to properly weigh your own value? Every human seems to think more of herself than she should, or less of herself than is sensible!”
R. A. Salvatore
Starless Night

“What loss is death if life is not to be lived?”
R. A. Salvatore
The Legacy

“When all is a facade, wound within webs of deception, the truth is what you make of it.”
R. A. Salvatore
Servant of the Shard

“When I die… may there be friends who will grieve for me, who will carry our shared joys and pains, who will carry my memory.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Legacy

“When self-indulgence rules, then all the community loses, and in the end, those striving for personal gains are left with nothing of any real value. Because everything of value that we will know in this life comes from our relationships with those around us. Because there is nothing material that measures against the intangibles of love and friendship. Thus, we must overcome that selfishness and we must try; we must care.”
R. A. Salvatore
Passage to Dawn

“When you live with death so close, you come to appreciate life all the more.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Crystal Shard

“Where in the nine hells did you ever find the notion that I would fight fair?”
R. A. Salvatore
The Icewind Dale Trilogy Collector’s Edition

“While change is not always growth, growth is always rooted in change.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Orc King

“Who among us has not wondered if all the world is no more than a personal dream?”
R. A. Salvatore
Passage to Dawn

“Without empathy he will find no purpose. Without purpose, he will find no satisfaction. Without satisfaction, he will find no contentment, and without contentment, he will find no joy.”
R. A. Salvatore
The Silent Blade

“Words blurted out in fast reaction so oft ring true. They flow from the heart, and give voice to raw emotions before the speaker can thoughtfully intervene, out of tact or fear. Before the natural guards arise to self-censor, to protect the speaker from embarrassment or retribution. Before the polite filters catch the words to protect the sensibilities of others, to veil the sharp truth before it can stab.”
R. A. Salvatore
Night of the Hunter

“You are in my very soul, tormenting me,” Anakin went on, not a bit of falseness in his tone.”
R. A. Salvatore
Attack of the Clones

“You view the gods as entities without,” Montolio tried to explain. “You see them as physical beings trying to control our actions for their own ends, and thus you, in your stubborn independance, reject them. The gods are within, I say, whether one has named his own or not. You have followed Mielikki all your life, Drizzt. You merely never had a name to put on your heart.”
R. A. Salvatore
Sojourn