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Proverbs is a page for proverbs and other sayings - listed alphabetically - which can be found in the 'Malazan' books of Steven Erikson and Ian C. Esslemont.

One brief definition of proverb is —
"A short, often traditional, saying that expresses some obvious truth or familiar experience".[1]

Some common synonyms of proverb are —
Adage; catchphrase; epigram/epigraph; maxim; motto; precept; saw; or saying.
Sayings can be: common; oracular; pithy; and/or wise in nature.[2]

For those interested, an in-depth discussion of proverb can be found in the Wikipedia article at: Proverb

Contents: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Notes and references

A

  • Abject misery lies not in what the blanket reveals, but in what it hides.[3]
  • A Book of Prophecy opens the door. You need a second book to close it.[4]
  • A flower cut from its root quickly dies.[5]
  • Age was a demon...It seemed a miserable reward for surviving...which was proof enough that life was a fool's bargain.[6]
  • A god walking mortal earth trails blood.[7]
  • A half-blood walked the gutter between two worlds, despised by both.[8]
  • A life lived is a life of regrets...[9]
  • All that breaks
    must be discarded
    even as the thunder
    of faith returns
    ever fading
    echoes.[10]
  • Always an even trade.[11]
  • An army that waits is soon at war with itself.[12]
  • A noble man...[nobility] that's earned, the only kind that means anything.[13]
  • An old sword, pitted and blunt and nicked, that cuts clean to the heart.[14]
  • Anticipation is the sweetest nectar...[15]
  • As vows are sworn, so are they reaped.[16]
  • At night ghosts come
    In rivers of grief,
    To claw away the sand
    Beneath a man's feet[17]
  • A wounded animal is the most dangerous.[18]

B

  • Battle is for an army to win or lose; war is for civilization to win of lose.[19]
  • Be careful who you invite into your camp.[20]
  • Be not too rigid
    For you will shatter;
    Be not too yielding,
    For you will be bowed.[21]
  • Better to walk into a trap you can see than one you can't.[22]
  • Beware the leader who has nothing to lose.[23]
  • Blood runs/flows down.[24][25]
  • Blood and tribe first. All others are enemy.[26]
  • Businesses are the vultures of war...[27]

C

  • Call yourself an artist and you can get away with anything.[28]
  • Children are dying![29]
  • Children from a dark house choose shadowed paths.[30]
  • Competence was no gift when it arrived too late.[31]
  • Convergence. Power ever draws other power.[32]

D

  • Dance by limb, dance by word. Witness![33]
  • Death shall be my bridge.[34]
  • Does not a teller of tales serve oneself first and last?[35]

E

  • East to the sun's rise
    North to winter's face
    South to where stars are born
    West to the road of death.[36]
  • Even a man who has lived a life of sorrows will ask for one more day.[37]
  • Even a mediocre man could climb into greatness by the simple act of dying.[38]
  • Even the best laid plans.[39]
  • Even the fiercest mask can crack in the heat.[40]
  • Every hero needs a poet [to] make them famous...[41]
  • Everyone has a price.[42]
  • Every throne is an arrow-butt.[43]
  • Evil: smelling of sweet lies and bitter truths.[44]

F

  • Falsehoods cease being false when enough people believe them.[45]
  • Fame is fleeting...[46]
  • ...familiarity was the seed of contempt...[47]
  • Fear is fear. It has no logic.[48]
  • Fear is a potent weapon...but fear can fuel hate...which is far stronger.[49]
  • First in, last out.[50][51]
  • Five wings will buy you a grovel...[52][53]
  • For all the rivers this world over do flow in but one
    Direction.[54]
  • For all the terror waiting in the gloved hands of an assassin, it was as nothing against a professional soldier.[55]
  • For there to be rich, there must be poor, and more of the latter than the former.[56]

G

  • Generally speaking, people useless at everything else become academics.[57]
  • Give an imbecile a torch and you will get a fire.[58]
  • ...gods fear mortals more than they do each other.[59]
  • Greed is the knife in the sheath of ambition.[60]

H

  • HAIL THE MARINES![61]
  • He set out, boots crunching on the [frozen] dead.
    Returned to the world.
    Draconus.[62]
  • History comforts the dull-witted.[63]
  • History consists of nothing more than the lies we tell ourselves to justify the present.[64]
  • How many times...will you walk the same path?[65]

I

  • I am not yet done.[66]
  • If righteousness was easy...it would not shine like gold.[67]
  • "I have had...enough...of...your...justice!"[68]
  • I have reached an age when youth itself is beauty.[69]
  • In a land where
    Seven cities rose in gold,
    Even the dust has eyes.[70]
  • In for a penny, in for a crown [a coin].[71]
  • In for a pinch in for a pound [a unit of weight].[72]
  • In life's last days, the white and the cold will lie in the bed of the old.[73]
  • In war we punish our children with a broken legacy of blood.[74]
  • I ride the Whirlwind![75]
  • Is it not so that better...ancients had been men and women of worth than to possess things of worth?[76]
  • Is there anything more worthless than excuses?[77]
  • It don't fair the wind to spit in the sea.[78]
  • It is the horror of war that, with each newly arrived generation, the nightmare is reprised by innocents.[79]
  • It is the wise wolf that follows every spoor, no matter how slight.[80]

K

  • Know your enemy better than they know themselves.[81]

L

  • Last in, looking around...[82]
  • Lead us, Warleader.[83]
  • Leave murder to those whose souls are already stained.[84]
  • Let sleeping dogs lie.[85]
  • Light strikes
    Dark smothers
    Shadow goes round.[86]
  • Like attracts like.[87]
  • Looking back
    is a flame in the eyes.
    Best not to linger like flies
    in the refuse we have made.[88]

M

  • Madness is simply a state of mind.[89]
  • Memories are not the truth of the past.[90]
  • Memories are woven tapestries hiding hard walls.[91]
  • Mockery is just hate's patina, and every laugh is vicious.[92]

N

  • Never bargain with a man who has nothing to lose.[93]
  • Not even the dead know the end to war.[94]
  • "...not yet done..."[95]
  • No tyrant could thrive where every subject said no.[96]

O

  • Of all the weapons we turn upon ourselves, guilt is the sharpest...[97]
  • ...one can never carry too much rope.[98]
  • One good betrayal deserves another.[99]
  • Only an Ascendant could slay another Ascendant.[100]
  • Only the dead should be certain of anything.[101]
  • Open to them your hand to the shore, watch them walk into the sea.[102][103]
  • Out of death comes life.[104]

P

  • Paranoia's the assassin's bedmate.[105]
  • People in charge always survive, when everyone else gets slaughtered.[106]
  • Poetry and sorcery were the twin edges to the knife in every man's heart.[107]
  • Positing a question does not magically create an answer.[108]
  • Power ever draws other power.[109]
  • Prod and pull.[110][111]
  • Push and pull.[112]

Q

R

  • ...regrets are as nothing. The value lies in how they are answered.[114]
  • Revelry is a flight, a frenzied fleeing from the misery of daily existence.[115]

S

  • Sail today to fight tomorrow.[116]
  • Salt of the earth.[117]
  • Scholars make a career of not agreeing on anything.[118]
  • Shadow is ever besieged...whilst darkness devours and light steals.[119]
  • Sha'ik Reborn![120]
  • ...shaved knuckle in the hole.[121][122]
  • Show me a man who can't smoke and you're looking at the end of civilization.[123]
  • Sieges are like being thrust into the fire . . . they have a way of changing people.[124]
  • Some things never do change.[125]
  • Speak truth, grow still, until the water is clear between us.[126]
  • Strong as the walls of Heng.[127]

T

  • That is one curse we all share - the will to live.[128]
  • The beetle that walks slowly has nothing to fear.[129]
  • The dead do not sleep. While the living do not live.[130]
  • The dead never interrupt, they but arrive.[131]
  • The end of the world is announced with a kind word.[132]
  • The frog atop the stack of coins dare not jump.[133]
  • The harder the world, the fiercer the honour.[134]
  • The miracle of hindsight is how it transforms great military geniuses of the past into incompetent idiots, and incompetent idiots of the present into great military geniuses.[135]
  • The more laws a land has, the more corrupt it is.[136]
  • The object of justice is to drain the world of colour.[137]
  • The only real curse is when you find yourself the last of your kind.[138]
  • The people in charge never listen to the people in the know.[139]
  • The problem with paths is that once you have chosen one,
    You cannot choose the others.[140]
  • The purest book
    is the one never opened.[141]
  • There are folds in this shadow...hiding entire worlds.[142]
  • There are tides beneath every tide
    And the surface of water
    Holds no weight.[143]
  • There is no death in light.[144]
  • There is no struggle too vast, no odds too overwhelming, for even should we fail — should we fall — we will know that we have lived.[145]
  • There will always be innocent victims in the pursuit of evil.[146]
  • The role of victim in nature is ephemeral, and that which is fed upon in time feed upon the feeders...[147]
  • ...the sea...does not dream of you.[148]
  • The sea was like a drunk's mouth: there was no telling what might come out of it. Or go back in.[149]
  • ...the scent is ever sweeter over the garden wall.[150]
  • The shore is blind to the sea.[151]
  • The slower the river, the redder it runs.[152]
  • The stars wheel. Let us ride.
    Lead us, Warleader.
    The stars wheel. Lead us Warleader, into glory.[153]
  • The truth of then is not the truth of now.[154]
  • The wise learn more from their enemies than fools learn from their friends.[155]
  • Time makes of us believers. Timelessness makes of us unbelievers.[156]
  • Time promised everything and delivered nothing.[157]
  • To be Shake was to know grief.[158]
  • Truth hides in colourless clothes.[132]
  • Twice as far as you think
    Half the distance you fear[159]
  • Tyranny has no sense of humor.[160]
  • Tyranny remains because the weak and fearful seek it.[161]

U

  • Unwitnessed : (we shall be our own witness).[162]

W

  • War forged bonds closer knit than those of bloodkin.[163]
  • Warrior, fix your gaze outward![164]
  • War with Nom Purge is just the Talians keeping in practice.[165]
  • Wealth yields little succour when the soul spends too freely...[166]
  • We cannot learn without pain.[167]
  • We cling to the foolish belief that simple solutions exist.[168]
  • We lie about our past to make peace with the present.[169]
  • We walk the same path, some farther along, some further back, but still and for ever more the same path.[170]
  • We were never what people could be.
    We were only what we were.[171]
  • What is an old man but a pile of fading leaves?[172]
  • What is the Deck of Dragons
    But where one bends to look
    For reflections
    Of all things unseen?[173]
  • What the soul can house, flesh cannot fathom.[174]
  • When a ruler is murdered, a thousand blades are drawn, and the weak become savage.[175]
  • When the gods of dust were young
    They swam in blood.[176]
  • When the host weakens, the parasites fatten.[177]
  • When you do not recognize the wrongs of the past, the future takes its revenge.[178]
  • Where hides the gravest threat? Why, the one you invite into your camp.[179]
  • Where pleasure is not possible...neither is pain.[180]
  • Who needs swords when we have our tongues?[181]
  • Wide-eyed stupid.[182]
  • Wisdom comes from the country [i.e., from a rural area].[183]
  • Wisdom lives only in hindsight.[184]
  • Wisdom unfurls like a flower in a pile of dung.[185]
  • Witness![186][187]
  • Words of wisdom [come] from a child.[188]

Y

  • You can heal wounds of the flesh well enough, but it's the other ones that can bleed out a soul.[189]
  • You cannot be remade unless you are first broken...[190]

Notes and references

  1. Adapted from Webster's New World Dictionary (5th edition)
  2. Selected from Roget's International Thesaurus (7th edition)
  3. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 1, US HC p.39
  4. The Bonehunters, Chapter 21, US HC p.647
  5. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 17, US HC p.544
  6. The Wurms of Blearmouth, Section 19
  7. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 15, US TPB p.389
  8. The Bonehunters, Chapter 7, US HC p.288
  9. Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 4, US HC p.118
  10. House of Chains, Chapter 10, US TPB p.300
  11. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 2, US TPB p.63-64/69
  12. House of Chains, Chapter 7, US TPB p.221
  13. Memories of Ice, Chapter 25, US TPB p.769
  14. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 12, US TPB p.311
  15. The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 10
  16. Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 1 Chapter 1, US TPB p.7
  17. House of Chains, Chapter 9, US TPB p.270
  18. Dancer's Lament, Chapter 15, US HC p.270
  19. Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 2 Chapter 4, US TPB p.364
  20. Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 6, US HC p.196
  21. Stonewielder, Chapter 7, US TPB p.346
  22. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 15, US TPB p.395
  23. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 4, US HC p.131
  24. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 15, US HC p.483
  25. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 17, US HC p.541
  26. Deadhouse Landing, Chapter 3, US TPB p.47
  27. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 5, US HC p.159
  28. Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 3, US HC p.34
  29. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 12, US TPB p.311
  30. House of Chains, Chapter 1, US TPB p.27
  31. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 14, US TPB p.465
  32. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 10, US TPB p.248
  33. Toll the Hounds, Epilogue, US TPB p.829
  34. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 7, US TPB p.173
  35. Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 4, US HC p.78
  36. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 12, US TPB p.376
  37. The Crippled God, Chapter 22, US HC p.646
  38. The Wurms of Blearmouth, Section 9
  39. Deadhouse Landing, Prologue, US TPB p.1
  40. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 14, US HC p.435
  41. The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 14
  42. Kellanved's Reach, Chapter 8, US TPB p.132
  43. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 21, US TPB p.541
  44. The Wurms of Blearmouth, Section 17
  45. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 15, US HC p.465
  46. The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 14
  47. The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 7
  48. Deadhouse Landing, Chapter 15, US TPB p.284
  49. Kellanved's Reach, Chapter 7, US TPB p.120
  50. Memories of Ice, Book 4 Epigraph, US TPB p.576
  51. Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US TPB p.756
  52. Midnight Tides, Chapter 12, US TPB p.293
  53. Midnight Tides, Chapter 24, US TPB p.550
  54. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 7, US TPB p.194
  55. The Bonehunters, Chapter 23, US SFBC p.916
  56. Reaper's Gale, Chapter 2, US TPB p.61
  57. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 1, US HC p.47
  58. Dancer's Lament, Chapter 16, US HC p.295
  59. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 12, US TPB p.330
  60. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 17, US HC p.555
  61. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 23, US HC p.779
  62. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 18, US HC p.590
  63. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 3, US TPB p.82
  64. Stonewielder, Chapter 6, US TPB p.273
  65. House of Chains, Chapter 15, US TPB p.411
  66. Memories of Ice, Chapter 16, US TPB p.428
  67. Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 6, US HC p.161
  68. The Crippled God, Chapter 23, US HC p.779
  69. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 17, US HC p.522
  70. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 4, US TPB p.102
  71. Deadhouse Landing, Chapter 15, US TPB p.298
  72. Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 3, US HC p.40
  73. Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 3, US HC p.54
  74. Dust of Dreams, Prologue, US HC p.34
  75. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 9, US TPB p.228
  76. Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 9, US TPB p.265
  77. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 10, US HC p.305
  78. Blood Follows, Section 4
  79. House of Chains, Chapter 8, US TPB p.245
  80. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 6, UK MMPB p.202
  81. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 18, US TPB p.478
  82. Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US TPB p.756
  83. House of Chains, Chapter 2, US TPB p.63
  84. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 17, US TPB p.462
  85. The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 8
  86. Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 3 Epigraph, US TPB p.539
  87. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 17, US TPB p.460
  88. Stonewielder, Chapter 9, US TPB p.449
  89. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 14, US TPB p.384
  90. Blood and Bone, Chapter 7, US HC p.280
  91. Memories of Ice, Chapter 1, US TPB p.33
  92. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 7, US TPB p.200
  93. The Bonehunters, Chapter 7, US HC p.221
  94. The Crippled God, Chapter 19, US HC p.541
  95. Memories of Ice, Chapter 16, US TPB p.428
  96. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 10, US TPB p.330
  97. Memories of Ice, Chapter 21, US TPB p.578
  98. Dancer's Lament, Prelude, US HC p.2
  99. Dancer's Lament, Chapter 15, US HC p.272
  100. Dancer's Lament, Chapter 15, US HC p.270
  101. Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 2 Chapter 5, US TPB p.420
  102. Reaper's Gale, Chapter 20, US TPB p.627
  103. Reaper's Gale, Chapter 21, US TPB p.628
  104. Deadhouse Landing, Chapter 2, US TPB p.30
  105. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 17, US TPB p.454
  106. The Lees of Laughter's End, Section 30
  107. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 11, US TPB p.280
  108. Blood and Bone, Chapter 2, US HC p.99
  109. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 10, US TPB p.248
  110. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 1, US TPB p.32
  111. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 18, US TPB p.183
  112. Memories of Ice, Chapter 25, US TPB p.712
  113. Kellanved's Reach, Chapter 8, US TPB p.129
  114. House of Chains, Chapter 6, US TPB p.211
  115. The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 5
  116. Deadhouse Landing, Prologue, US TPB p.3
  117. Kellanved's Reach, Chapter 3, US TPB p.43
  118. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 6, US HC p.205
  119. House of Chains, Chapter 20, US TPB p.504
  120. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 18, US TPB p.478
  121. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 1, US TPB p.46
  122. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 11, US TPB p.301
  123. The Wurms of Blearmouth, Section 3
  124. Dancer's Lament, Chapter 10, US HC p.203
  125. Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 1 Chapter 5, US TPB p.196
  126. Toll the Hounds, Prologue, US TPB p.17
  127. Dancer's Lament, Chapter 1, US HC p.15
  128. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 15, US TPB p.401
  129. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 6, US HC p.185
  130. Memories of Ice, Chapter 21, US TPB p.589
  131. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 11, US TPB p.251
  132. 132.0 132.1 Midnight Tides, Chapter 6, US SFBC p.218
  133. Midnight Tides, Chapter 12, US TPB p.293
  134. Memories of Ice, Chapter 8, US TPB p.228
  135. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 6, US TPB p.161
  136. Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 17, US TPB p.468
  137. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 5, US HC p.166
  138. Dust of Dreams, Prologue, US HC p.29
  139. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 7, US HC p.233
  140. Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 1, US TPB p.33
  141. The Crippled God, Book 1 Epigraph, US HC p.2
  142. House of Chains, Chapter 5, US TPB p.176
  143. Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US TPB p.99
  144. House of Chains, Chapter 21, US TPB p.526
  145. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 24, US TPB p.781
  146. Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 1, US HC p.7
  147. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 1, US HC p.39
  148. Reaper's Gale, Chapter 21, US TPB p.628
  149. The Wurms of Blearmouth, Section 11
  150. Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 5, US HC p.155
  151. Reaper's Gale, Chapter 12, US TPB p.324/337/339
  152. House of Chains, Chapter 1, US TPB p.26
  153. House of Chains, Chapter 1, US TPB p.35
  154. Blood and Bone, Chapter 7, US HC p.280
  155. Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 2 Chapter 2, US TPB p.283
  156. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 12, US TPB p.332
  157. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 8, US TPB p.270
  158. Reaper's Gale, Chapter 12, US TPB p.324
  159. Reaper's Gale, Chapter 7, US TPB p.159
  160. Reaper's Gale, Chapter 3, US TPB p.84
  161. Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 15, US TPB p.421
  162. Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, US TPB p.357-358
  163. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 17, US HC p.549
  164. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 10, US HC p.314
  165. Kellanved's Reach, Chapter 1, US TPB p.9
  166. Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 2, US HC p.11
  167. Stonewielder, Chapter 12, US TPB p.575
  168. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 23, US TPB p.580
  169. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 17, US HC p.535
  170. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 11, US TPB p.375
  171. The Crippled God, Epilogue Two, US HC p.909
  172. Stonewielder, Chapter 1, US TPB p.43
  173. Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 5, US TPB p.136
  174. Memories of Ice, Chapter 17, US TPB p.429
  175. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 15, US HC p.482
  176. Midnight Tides, Chapter 25, US TPB p.570
  177. Dancer's Lament, Chapter 10, US HC p.194
  178. Stonewielder, Chapter 11, US TPB p.533
  179. Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 6, US HC p.191
  180. The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 10
  181. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 15, US TPB p.410
  182. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 19, US TPB p.497
  183. Kellanved's Reach, Chapter 3, US TPB p.44
  184. Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 2 Chapter 5, US TPB p.465
  185. Midnight Tides, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.227
  186. Reaper's Gale, Chapter 1
  187. Toll the Hounds, Epilogue, US TPB p.829
  188. Dancer's Lament, Chapter 5, US HC p.106
  189. Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, US TPB p.355
  190. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 15, US TPB p.408
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