Merlin Quotes
"But life was bright once, bright as sunrise on the sea and moonglow on water, bright as the fire on the hearth, bright as the red-gold torc around my grandfather Elphin’s throat."
"Merlin – Myrddin among my father’s people – suits me. Yet, every man has two names: the one he is given, and the one he wins for himself."
"I take up my staff and stir the embers and I see again the images of my earliest memory: Ynys Avallach, the Isle of Avallach."
"If there was want in the world, I knew nothing of it. Neither did I know fear or danger."
"Trouble there was, make no mistake. But in those sun-sweet days of my earliest remembrance we lived as the gods of an older time: aloof and unconcerned with the squabbles of the lesser beings around us."
"If that sounds to you, in the age of reason and power, a weak, ineffectual thing, I tell you it was not."
"I did not know the reason for it then; I know it now."
"But life to a child of three is a heady daze of pleasures spinning through a universe too impossibly rich to comprehend or experience except in frenzied snatches."
"Thus, I came to know early the substance and use of power."
"Justice was that which issued from the steel in a king’s hand."
"I see a sword, the Sword of Britain. And the sword is Britain."
"I could only hope the fact that my clothes were neatly folded and deposited in their camp would somehow indicate that I was alive and knew my searchers’ whereabouts but could not come to them myself."
"Something changed inside me that day. For in giving up my clothes, it was as if I also gave up the idea of rescue."
"It took everything in me to keep from looking back."
"I did not see the searchers again, and soon after the fire of Samhain the fhain left for their winter pastures in the north."
"At the time, I did not know that certain regions of the north country can be as mild as any place in the south."
"The crannog was dark and warm and though the winter wind whined at night as it searched the rocks and crannies for places its cold fingers could reach, we lay wrapped in our furs and fleeces around the fire."
"Listen, I will tell you of the time before time when the world was new-made and the Prytani ran free and food was plentiful to find and our parents smiled on all their child-wealth."
"One moon waxed and waned, and one day just before dusk it began to snow."
"The tallfolk started as if I had sprung full-grown from the turf at their feet."
"As I watched, I felt the same quickening in the air around me as I had felt the day the stones danced."
"It is always a humbling thing to discover your own insignificance in the grand design."
"Great Light, I could not have loved you better than I did then."
"For I saw, and I understood. I saw the order of creation; I understood the rhythm of life."
"We celebrated Samhain. Night of the Peace Fire, thanking our Parents for the blessing of a good year."
"We are alive, Myrddin-brother. We are not sky-folk or Ancient Ones that have no life. Be we blood and bone and spirit – firstborn of Mother’s child-wealth."
"Anything that brings such happiness cannot be a bad thing."
"Love is patient and long enduring; it is kind, never envying, never ambitious for itself, never putting on airs, or displaying itself haughtily; it boasts not."
"Love does not persevere to its own benefit; it is not fretful, or resentful."
"It is a land shining with goodness where each man protects his brother’s dignity as his own, where war and want have ceased and all races live under the same law of love and honour."
"It is a land where peace reigns in the hearts of men, where faith blazes like a beacon from every hill, and love like a fire from every hearth."
"There is a golden realm of light, my son. And it is called the Kingdom of Summer."
"Let me tell you of love: love bears all things, hopes all things, believes the best in all things. Love never fails, and its strength never fades."
"Rejoice! Again I say rejoice! For the King of Heaven is king over us, and his name is Love."
"So three things abide forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love."
"There are stronger forces on earth, perhaps, but few as tenacious and enduring as the bond between true friends."
"True wisdom begins with knowing how little we truly know."
"Men resent unfairness, but they despise injustice."
"There is much more to be learned, but I am not the one to teach you."
"The kingdom is inhabited as once before. Indeed, it was as if nothing had changed at all."
"I wandered without sense or purpose, as if the aimless movement of my limbs is atonement for sins too loathsome to utter."
"The bard’s awen will not be chained; it moves as it will and no mortal hand may make bold to bid or restrain."
"I scarcely recall what I wore – no one took notice of me beside her; I know I took no notice of myself."
"The harp was deeply appreciated by all gathered in the chapel – there is something about a harp, and a true bard’s voice lifted in song, that bestows great blessing on all who hear it."
"But then Ganieda could have conquered any army with charm alone; the young men of my warband were firmly under her spell, and they loved her."
"Ah, we feasted well. It brings the water to my mouth to recall it."
"You have my blessing, Merlin – a thousand times if once."
"Men speak foolishly of the beauty that slays, though I believe such a thing may exist. But there is also a beauty that heals, that restores and revives all who behold it."
"The day after Taliesin’s visit – a day, a year, does it matter?"
"Death wears many faces, but its stench is always the same."
"There is no matching the swiftness of their blades."
"You have carried your burden long enough. It is time to lay it down."
"You think you are better than I am? I will destroy you, Myrddin."
"The moon shone fair among a scattering of silver-gilt clouds."
"Do not think to frighten me away. Nothing on earth can harm me."
"I give you one last chance – in fact, I give you Morgian, my finest creation."
"See how he sits his saddle – as if he was part of the beast he rides."
"We have time yet to find a chieftain for them, Wolf. And we will… we must."
"I could do great things for you, Myrddin Emrys."
"Myrddin, my Hawk, you have made me very happy."
"There is a stream in the glen below – we must go there."
"I will cover you in glory! I will give you the delight of your hearts!"
"You have taken all the others, why have you not taken me?"
"I have killed the traitors, but once again we are without a king."
"We are fully able to hold our own and keep all others out."
"Both master and servants flourished far beyond their worth, much to the dismay of their fellow creatures of the forest."
"We do all the work and it is Fox who grows fat."
"The Soul of Britain is stirring again. Merlin is coming home."
"We are the children of the Living Light! We do not cower in our dens like frightened livestock."
"My road lies another way. Farewell, Lord Vortigern. We will not meet again."
"I have seen Aurelius from afar – in the firemists, in the black oak water of the seeing bowl – and I knew him, after a fashion."
"What I have to do will earn no man's thanks."
"The Kingdom of Summer... was it only a dream of Paradise? Or could it be made real, here and now?"
"I have fought too many battles to make him High King for him to get himself killed now."
"A terror, for it fell to me to protect him, and this was no easy task."
"Great Light, I prayed with every breath, if you mean to save us today, let it be now!"
"There is no honour in slaughtering a fleeing foe – only grim expedience."
"Every life I spare today will be a life spent later – the life of a countryman."
"Killing the captives would have changed nothing – save burdening your soul with everlasting shame."
"You will rule with the sword as long as you live, my king, for the man has not been born who will hold this land in peace."
"Showing mercy to an enemy is battle’s most difficult charge."
"I will hold vigil in prayer and holy instruction until I be made High King."
"It is by choosing not to act that I show my strength."
"We uphold him today, through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Three in One."
"I do so promise to serve him through all things, as I am served, even to the last of my strength."
"Jesu in the heart of everyone who thinks of him, Jesu in the mouth of everyone who speaks of him."
"The world has tilted from its course, Pelleas."
"Once spoken, a word cannot be called back; once loosed, an arrow cannot return to the bow."
"Behold, Uther! Look you to the west and see a marvel."
"You are right to be concerned, Pelleas. Pray, my friend."
"Great is the grief in this land tonight and for many nights to come."
"The star that shines with the fire of a dragon is you, Uther."
"I am not a druid, nor have ever claimed to be."
"Uther, prepare yourself, Woe and grief to us all: your brother is dead."
"Grow strong in faith, and mighty in love, my friends."
"By the god you pray to, Merlin, if you can secure their loyalty without undue bloodshed, and save Ygerna, I will give you anything you ask."
"Let us discover what might be done to save whatever might be saved."
"We are friends, you and I, and I know you, Uther."
"For I had no hope that Uther would succeed in keeping the birth secret. Sooner or later, word, like water in an oaken bucket, would leak out."
"I will tell you the truth: I did not in those days regard the child in any special way. Despite the hints I had received – the warnings, one might say – he was merely an infant that required protection."