Grendel Quotes

“I got a dog-training book. It says Grendel needs mental stimulation, so I tried to train him, but I think he must be retarded.”
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Slays

“Who is that?”
“Your replacement.”
“You replaced me with a shaved poodle?”
“He's got mad skills.”
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Bleeds

“We can get you a throne with snakes. I’ll stand next to you and roar at anybody who fails to grovel. Fear Kate Daniels. She is a mighty and terrible ruler. Grendel can anoint the petitioners with his vomit. It’ll be great . . .”
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Breaks

“Find a pile of gold and sit on it.”
― John Gardner, Grendel

“Monsters are getting more uppity, too (...) I heard where this guy, he killed this monster in this lake, no problem, stuck its arm up over the door (...) and you know what? Its mum come and complained. Its actual mum come right down to the hall next day and complained. Actually complained. That's the respect you get.”
― Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!

“Stars, spattered out through lifeless night from end to end, like jewels scattered in a dead king's grave, tease, torment my wits toward meaningful patterns that do not exist.”
― John Gardner, Grendel

“Death is not easily escaped, try it who will; but every living soul among the children of men dwelling upon the earth goeth of necessity unto his destined place, where the body, fast in its narrow bed, sleepeth after feast.”
― Unknown Christian, Beowulf

“My advice to you, my violent friend, is to seek out gold and sit on it.”
― John Gardner, Grendel

“It's not easy to kill a mountain goat. He thinks with his spine.”
― John Gardner, Grendel

“Except in the life of a hero, the whole world's meaningless. The hero sees the value beyond what's possible. That's the nature of a hero. It kills him of course, ultimately. But it makes the whole struggle of humanity worthwhile. (p.77)”
― John Gardner, Grendel

“I am mad with joy.--At least I think it's joy. Strangers have come, and it's a whole new game. I kiss the ice on the frozen creeks, I press my ear to it, honoring the water that rattles below, for by water they came: the icebergs parted as if gently pushed back by enormous hands, and the ship sailed through, sea-eager, foamy-necked, white sails, riding the swan-road, flying like a bird! O happy Grendel! Fifteen glorious heroes, proud in their battle dress, fat as cows!”
― John Gardner

“So it goes with me day by day and age by age, I tell myself. Locked in the deadly progression of moon and stars. I shake my head, muttering darkly on shaded paths, holding conversation with the only friend and comfort this world allows, my shadow.”
― John Gardner, Grendel

“I have come up this clean-mown central hill, dark shadow out of the woods below, and have knocked politely on the high oak door, bursting its hinges and sending the shock of my greeting inward like a cold blast out of a cave: "Grendel!" they squeak, and I smile like exploding spring. (P 12)”
― John Gardner, Grendel

“I had a chance. I knew I had no more than that. it's all a hero asks for.”
― John Gardner, Grendel

“My enemies define themselves (as the dragon told me) on me. As for myself, I could finish them off in a single night […] yet I hold back. I am hardly blind to the absurdity. Form is function. What will we call the Hrothgar-Wrecker when Hrothgar has been wrecked? (p.79)”
― John Gardner, Grendel

“I have heard the people dwelling in my land, hall-rulers, say that they had often seen two such mighty stalkers of the marches, spirits of otherwhere, haunting the moors. One of them, as they could know full well, was like unto a woman; the other miscreated being, in the image of man wandered in exile (save that he was larger than any man), whom in the olden time the people named Grendel. They knew not if he ever had a father among the spirits of darkness. They dwell in a hidden land amid wolf-haunted slopes and savage fen-paths, teh wind-swept cliffs where the mountain-stream falleth, shrouded in the mists of the headlands, its flood flowing underground.”
― Chauncey Brewster Tinker

“Death is not easily escaped, try it who will; but every living soul among the children of men dwelling upon the earth goeth of necessity unto his destined place, where the body, fast in its narrow bed, sleepeth after feast.”
― Chauncey Brewster Tinker, Beowulf

“Grendel left the Boneyard for the first time in a thousand years, and the world trembled at his coming. The ground rumbled and shook as he shouted ancient spells of steel and stone to strengthen him for battle as he raced ever faster toward the arena where his king had gone to battle all alone.
His massive legs pumped like pistons as they drove his feet against the street, and the people living along the road felt the cold fingers of fear tickle their spines and turn their bowels to water when they looked out to see what was making the noise.”
― Cedric Nye, Welcome to Grim Dudgeon

“The wildness in them had to brim over.”
― Unknown, Beowulf

“Berceuse voor volwassenen

Wanneer de zandman nog eens komt
- maar hij komt niet meer -
zullen wij slapen gaan en dromen
van een droom
die niet gedroomd werd

Ach alle mensen slapen goed
die de deur op de grendel weten”
― Paul van Ostaijen