Quote 1 //

'Lord,' he asked nervously, 'whose side are we on?'
I laughed. I was born a Saxon, but raised by Danes, my daughter had married a Norseman, my dearest friend was Irish, my woman was a Saxon, the mother of my children had been Danish, my gods were pagan, and my oath was sworn to Aethelflaed, a Christian. Whose side was I on?
'All you need to know, boy,' Finan growled, 'is that Lord Uhtred's side is the one that wins.'

Quote 2 //

'Are you cruel, lord?'
'I'm good at war,' I told her, 'and war is cruel.'

Quote 3 //

“There are seasons of our lives when nothing seems to be happening, when no smoke betrays a burned town or homestead and few tears are shed for the newly dead. I have learned not to trust those times, because if the world is at peace then it means someone is planning war.”

Quote 4 //

“Five things make a man happy,” I told him, “a good ship, a good sword, a good hound, a good horse, and a woman.” “Not a good woman?” Finan asked, amused. “They’re all good,” I said, “except when they’re not, and then they’re better than good.”

Quote 5 //

“A leader leads,” Ragnar said, “and you can’t ask men to risk death if you’re not willing to risk it yourself.”.

Quote 6 //

“The preachers tell us that pride is a great sin, but the preachers are wrong. Pride makes a man, it drives him, it is the shield wall around his reputation... Men die, they said, but reputation does not die.”

Quote 7 //

“The truth of a man lies not in the land of his birth, but in his heart. A king must be a king on his own terms. He cannot be his father, he can only be himself”.

Quote 8 //

“What binds a man to his land? What power within allows him to give his life to preserve his land and the lives of the families who work it? It can only be love.”