Inheritance Quotes

“Who is it who decides that one man should live and another should die? My life wasn’t worth any more than his, but he’s the one who’s buried, while I get to enjoy at least a few more hours above the ground. Is it chance, random and cruel, or is there some purpose or pattern to all this, even if it lies beyond our ken?”

″[A]llow my experience to guide you in this. Let go of your worries and focus only on the task at hand.”

“You must learn . . . to see what you are looking at.”

″[B]y seeing all and discounting nothing, you may adapt without hesitation to any change. The warrior who can adapt the easiest to the unexpected is the warrior who will live the longest.”

“Why does everything have to be so hard?” . . . “Because,” said Saphira, “everyone wants to eat, but no one wants to be eaten.”

“Better to see widely than to see too closely and allow some feature of place or situation to catch you unawares.”

″[Y]ou must strive to be calm, even if a hundred ravening enemies are snapping at your heels. Empty your mind and allow it to become like a tranquil pool that reflects everything around it and yet remains untouched by its surroundings. Understanding will come to you in that emptiness, when you are free of irrational fears about victory and defeat, life and death.”

“It’s impossible to go through life unscathed. Nor should you want to. By the hurts we accumulate, we measure both our follies and our accomplishments.”

“I have had many years to learn that losing my temper rarely helps.”

“The future will be what it will, and fretting about it will only make your fears more likely to come true.”

“On the beach, Roran stood alone, watching them go. Then he threw back his head and uttered a long, aching cry, and the night echoed with the sound of his loss.”

“All great fighting is the same, Eragon, even as all great warriors are the same. Past a certain point, it does not matter whether you wield a sword, a claw, a tooth, or a tail. It is true, you must be capable with your weapon, but anyone with the time and the inclination can acquire technical proficiency. To achieve greatness, though, that requires artistry. That requires imagination and thoughtfulness, and it is those qualities that the best warriors share, even if, on the surface, they appear completely different.”

“And the ship sailed onward, gliding serenely down the moonlit river toward the dark lands beyond.”

“I am not who I was, but I know who I am.”

″[I]t is an overactive imagination that turns men into cowards, not a surfeit of fear, as most believe.”

“All great fighting is the same, Eragon, even as all great warriors are the same. Past a certain point, it does not matter whether you wield a sword, a claw, a tooth, or a tail.”

“The way of the warrior is the way of knowing.”

“If you don’t make a few enemies every now and then, you’re a coward . . . ”

“He’s acting as foolish as a kitten . . . but then, everyone’s entitled to a little foolishness once in a while.”

“It is easy to be calm when there is nothing to worry about . . . The true test of your self-control . . . is whether you can remain calm in a trying situation.”

“To achieve greatness, though, that requires artistry. That requires imagination and thoughtfulness, and it is those qualities that the best warriors share, even if, on the surface, they appear completely different.”

“You have allowed yourself to become angrier than you should . . . Anger has its place, but it will not help you here. The way of the warrior is the way of knowing. If that knowledge requires you to use anger, then you use anger, but you cannot wrest forth knowledge by losing your temper. Pain and frustration will be your only reward if you try.”

“You cannot predict every eventuality, and you cannot guarantee success every time you face an enemy . . . ”

“Change itself is neither good nor bad, but knowledge is always useful.”

“[Y]ou cannot wrest forth knowledge by losing your temper. Pain and frustration will be your only reward if you try.”

“And once you are in motion, do not allow your thoughts to distract you. Think without thinking, so that you act as if out of instinct and not reason.”

“I decree and declare that my nation is the inheritance of the Lord, and the kingdom is the Lord’s. He is the governor of my nation.”

“He’s let things beat him, Roy Luther has. The land, Kiser Pease, the poverty. Now he’s old and sick and ready to die and when he does, this is what we’ll inherit - his defeat and all that goes with it.”

“My inheritance was the knowledge that love is always in the air, always a possibility, and always worth it.”