Robin McKinley Quotes

What is war but your usual custom? Or what is sweeter for a brave man than to seek revenge with his own hand? It is right for nature to glut the soul with vengeance. Let us then attack the foe eagerly, for they are ever the bolder who make the attack.

How they fought and laid their lives down, For the freedoms they held dear. Solider, red man, settler, preacher, Renegade and pioneer.

Soldiers will fight for our independence and the honor of the Volk. My cause is the cause of my Volk.

If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.

Creating heroes and history are often at odds.

War is human. People fight for the same reasons that the Greek Historian Thucydides identified nearly 2,500 years ago: fear, honor and interest.

There is a great deal of romance attached to American gun use that should be examined more closely, such as the curious notion that Americans are somehow naturally brilliant shooters. The examination of historical specifics tends to undermine most myths. For example, it is estimated that the 7th Cavalry fired 40,000 rounds at Little Big Horn, killing sixty Indians and wounding one hundred.

The best description of the Old Testament that I heard was that it starts out as mythology, then it becomes legend, then it becomes history. In the mythological period - there is a distinct mythological period in the Old Testament, where the time spans are impossible and really just imagined.

My two grandfathers fought in World War II.

The story of Ilium, the ancient city of Troy, has always gripped me.

Once upon a time the plural of 'wizard' was 'war'.

Tall ships and tall kings Three times three, What brought they from the foundered land Over the flowing sea? Seven stars and seven stones And one white tree. (The Two Towers)

I know better than to get in between three women arguing. If you’ll remember, the whole Trojan War started over that. (Wulf)

Just so you know, when they say "once upon a time"....they're lying. It's not once upon a time. Its not even twice upon a time. It's hundreds of times, over and over, every time someone opens up the pages of this dusty old book.

History has its truth; and so has legend hers.

Wars come and wars go but the world does not change: it will always forget an indebtedness which it thinks it expedient not to remember.

Of course, history is only a muddle of facts and a fuddle of professors, and anyone who thinks it is one clear voice saying "Arise, sir Knight" deserves a life sentence in Camelot.

I think storytelling is storytelling. It doesn't matter what format it's shot on.

I wish that George W. Bush had gone to Vietnam, because he would have seen history in a different light. He would've experienced it in a different light because I don't think he understood the nature of war.

I love telling stories. I think of myself as a storyteller, and I don't feel bound by being just a singer or an actress. First, I'm a storyteller, and history is stories - the most compelling stories. There is a lot you can find out about yourself through knowing about history. I have always been attracted to things that are old. I have just always found such things interesting and compelling.

In one of his last newsletters, Mike Ranney wrote: "In thinking back on the days of Easy Company, I'm treasuring my remark to a grandson who asked, 'Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?' No,'" I answered, 'but I served in a company of heroes.

I've been transformed by stories, and I think that storytelling is definitely sacred. I take it very seriously because my life has been changed, whether it was a movie, a play, a piece of writing, poetry, a painting.

All the ancient histories, as one of our wits say, are just fables that have been agreed upon

The history of Israel is divided into two parts. One, under attack that we have had to defend ourselves. When you defend yourself your thinking is totally different from when you want to make peace. So under attack you behave like if you want a hawk, when peace comes you become a dove.