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“In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. ‘How are we to live in an atomic age?â€� I am tempted to reply: Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.â€�

In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways.

We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances� and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.

This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.”
― C.S. Lewis

“My heart aches for youâ€� for them in you
For angels shaking in fright� on a dreadful night
For them on site� for flames leaping on every height
For blood rolling like thunder� o'er a fragile kite
For souls so bright� like remnants of light
For a desperate plight� for hands held tight
My love, in my world� where no hope is in sight
And no right is right� what words can I write?
Our song went lost� with main and might
I'll tell you tonight� in the hush of midnight
Stay here and fightâ€� for a mournful rite”
― Widad Akreyi, Zoroastrians' Fight for Survival

“In addition to legal assemblies such as the one at Thingvellir, major public rituals were part of the celebration of the three big festivals around which the Viking calendar turned. One of these was Winter Nights, which was held over several days during our month of October, which the Vikings considered to be the beginning of winter and of the new year generally. The boundary between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead was thin, and all sorts of uncanny things were bound to happen. At this festival, the divine powers were petitioned for the general prosperity of the people. The second critical festival was Yule at midwinter - late December and early January - Which, with the arrival of Christianity, was converted into Christmas. Offerings were made to the gods in hopes of being granted bountiful harvests in the coming growing season in return. The third major festival was called "Summer Time" (Sumarmál), and was held in April, which the Vikings considered to be the beginning of summer. When the deities were contacted during this festival, they were asked for success in the coming season's battles, raids, and trading expeditions. The exact time of these festivals differed between communities.”
― Daniel McCoy, The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion

“It was highly fatalistic, but its fatalism was not one of complacency. It saw life as being ultimately doomed to tragedy, but with the opportunity for grand and noble heroism along the way. The Vikings sought to seize that opportunity, to accomplish as much as they could - and be remembered for it - despite the certainty of the grave and "the wolf." How one met one's fate, whatever that fate happened to be, was what separated honorable and worthy people from the dishonorable and the unworthy. Norse religion and mythology were thoroughly infused with this view. The gods, the "pillars" who held the cosmos together, fought for themselves and their world tirelessly and unflinchingly, even though they knew that in the end the struggle was hopeless, and that the forces Of chaos and entropy would prevail. They went out not with a whimper, but with a bang. This attitude is what made the Vikings the Vikings.”
― Daniel McCoy, The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion

“Only death is certain, and even then draugrs walk.”
― Linnea Hartsuyker, The Golden Wolf

“There is a sense in which this viewpoint is looking through the wrong end of the historical telescope, defining (and often judging) a people solely by the consequences of their actions rather than the motivations behind them.”
― Neil Price, Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings

“Kill him with claws like the beast that you are, or not at all.”
― H.M. Long, Hall of Smoke

“But Odin had a trick up his sleeve. For his final question to Vafthrudnir, he asked, "And what, wise giant, did Odin whisper in the ear of Balder, before that great son of his was burned on the funeral pyre?"
Vafthrudnir became livid with rage. "Now I see who you really he said grimly, "for only Odin himself could know the answer that question." He clenched his teeth and his fists, and closed his eyes. When he opened them, however, his face had an expression of melancholy acceptance, and he said, "Now for the first time in my life I have lost a contest of lore. But my consolation will be that I lost it to Odin, the most knowledgeable being there is.”
― Daniel McCoy, The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion

“That is all any of us can do, delay death. But some are more cowardly about it than others.”
― Linnea Hartsuyker, The Golden Wolf

“Equally, the legal codes do seem to genuinely recognise a woman's claim to the integrity of her body and person---for herself rather than merely as an extension of her kin. There were laws against unwanted touching without violence , with penalties that varied according to the part of the body on which a man laid hand or lips.”
― neil price, Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings

“The Faroes, Iceland, and Greenland were all found by accident when ships were driven off course in bad weather; nobody just set out for a far horizon. It is also important to remember that many of these Viking voyagers were simply never seen again.”
― Neil Price, Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings

“There most respected values were not only those forged in war but also---stated outright in poetry--- a depth of wisdom, generosity, and reflection. Above all, a subtlety, a certain play of mind, combined with a resilient refusal to give up.
There are worse ways to be remembered.”
― Neil Price, Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings

“There were dragons when I was a boy. Ah, there were great, grim sky dragons that nested on the clifftops like gigantic, scary birds. Little, brown, scuttly dragons that hunted down the mice and rats in well-organized packs. Preposterously huge sea dragons that were twenty times as big as the big blue whale. Some say they crawled back into the sea, leaving not a bone nor a fang for men to remember them by. Others say they were nothing but folktales to begin with. I’m okay with that.
Legend says that when the ground quakes, or lava spews from the earth, it’s the dragons, letting us know they’re still here, waiting for us to figure out how to get along. Yes, the world believes the dragons are gone, if they ever existed at all. But we Berkians, we know otherwise. And we’ll guard this secret until the time comes when dragons can return in peace.”
― Hiccup Haddock

“The Brave, the Vengeful, the Swift and the Watchfulâ€�”
― H.M. Long, Hall of Smoke

“But people like money. And booze. And they really like breaking the rules.”
― John Anders Erickson, Vikings & Pirates: Tales of My Fathers

“Hail Hyperborean!- sired by Mars, mothered by frigid strife, suckled on the teats of war and sustained by the golden mead of conquest. Harken!- the thunder and clanging steel as he come from atop his glacial fastness. Woe!- red runs his marauding, rapine path; ever southward the unstoppable scourge, and onto gleaming cities- trampling underfoot the flower of their soldiery. Behold!- his heal on the throats of their champion elite. Hence he stands astride the vanquished and wailing land to be crowned the supreme fighting-man of the earth"

-Boudewyn de Carlamagna
Excerpt from
VARANGIAN- Book One of Byzantum Saga”
― Wolraad J. Kirsten, Varangian: Book One of the Byzantum Saga

“Vi ble kalt hedninger, og folkene i sør fryktet oss og kalte oss onde. Og av alle nordboere var det vi nordmenn som gikk for Ã¥ være de verste. Men det var, sant nok, noe eget ved oss. Ingen konge hadde noensinne klart Ã¥ temme oss, selv ikke HÃ¥rfagre klarte det. Paven i Roma lærte munkene sine at vi ikke kunne omvendes fra hedenskapen, for vi var slett ikke mennesker, men ville dyr. Men ville dyr kunne ikke krysset Ã¥pne hav slik vi gjorde, og ingen hadde vel reist lenger av sted enn oss. TÃ¥per er de som forveksler fri vilje og mot med umenneskelighet og ondskap!”
― Bjørn Andreas Bull-Hansen, Jomsviking

“Odin talte en gang til menneskene og ba oss gripe det vi ønsker oss i livet. Han sa at dagen vi skal dø, er avgjort allerede før vi blir født, og ingenting kan vi gjøre for Ã¥ endre pÃ¥ det, annet enn Ã¥ leve det livet vi har fÃ¥tt, fullt og helt.”
― Bjørn Andreas Bull-Hansen, Jomsviking

“In the year 970, the Greek historian Leo Diaconus witnessed a band of far-traveling beserkers as they fought against an army of the Byzantine emperor, his employer. He says that they fought in a burning frenzy beside which ordinary battle rage paled in comparison. They roared, growled, bayed, and shrieked like animals, and in an especially eerie and uncanny way. They seemed utterly indifferent to their own well-being, as if lost to themselves. Their leader, who embodied all of these traits to an extreme degree, was thought by Leo to have literally gone insane. Leo and Byzantine forces were veterans of countless battles, so the reactions elicited by the Scandinavian's behavior in Leo and his companions strongly suggests that what they witnessed in that battle was something unique to the Scandinavians, and something which chilled Leo and the Byzantines to their core.”
― Daniel McCoy, The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion

“Their greatest folly is that they don't understand you or your kinfolk. They cannot imagine that you would refuse being their vassal on the throne. They have no inkling that there are races of man that value sovereignty above the air they breathe. Like a puppet they expect you to approve and sign whatever policy put before you, bulking as they presume and barbarian would confronted with the daily administrative minutiae of rulership- along with the flowery jargon they'll use to disguise their schemes. And soon, drowning in woman and wine, your senses dulled from that stuporous escape- they'll have you unwittingly dismantle the Varangian guard before burying a dagger in your back"

- Almuric Agricola

Excerpt from
Varangian: Book One of the Byzantum Saga”
― Wolraad J. Kirsten, Varangian: Book One of the Byzantum Saga

“The prince remembers his father's words- "Steal a loaf of bread, son, and they will cut your hands off, but steal an entire country and they will proclaim you their king. Humanity can never forgive mediocrity, but when audacity and brilliance combine in the right individual it can luster godlike- and they will forgive you anything, even a whole generation of boys sent off to battle for the interests of that lustrous-one".

Excerpt from
Varangian: Book One of the Byzantum Saga”
― Wolraad J. Kirsten, Varangian: Book One of the Byzantum Saga

“How is it that after war and conquest the spoils are split evenly between the Emperor, the treasury and his Varangian Guard? True they are an unmatched commodity in war, but servants nonetheless, not so?Not so. They are tigers. Wild things we have allowed into our lands, our cities and our homes. They stand over our sleeping forms with their terrible axes poised. They have come to know all our secrets and entrenched themselves so deeply within the bosom of the Empire that it begs the question: are we paying them to guard us, or are we bribing them not to kill us?"

- Justrudd Valusarian

Excerpt from
Varangian: Book One of the Byzantum Saga”
― Wolraad J. Kirsten, Varangian: Book One of the Byzantum Saga

“We are the sons of that beast, Almuric, we are but spruced up- urbane predators. What else, if not a talent for violence separates the aristocracy from the peasantry? We are the nobility for the very fact that we are able to visit more violence upon them than they can upon us. History is written by nations with superior violence. The greatest civilizations to ever have existed were allowed such lofty cultivations only because of their divine brutality- their ability to vanquish those nations standing in the path of their destiny"

- Grand Champion, Count Húracan

Excerpt from
Varangian: Book One of the Byzantum Saga”
― Wolraad J. Kirsten, Varangian: Book One of the Byzantum Saga

“When I saw her figure standing on Ulv Hunger's ship, I realized she was my first love. Oh, do not laugh! Go and ask your grandfather who was his first love, and when he answers, 'Your grandmother', ask him again. He will smile, for such is the pain of first love that it leaves no bitterness behind.”
― Erik Christian Haugaard, Hakon of Rogen's Saga

“Grummoch said, ‘There is little profit in talking to him yet. These berserks live in a closed world of conflict and brotherhood. It will be long before Knud Ulfson’s ears will be open to the voices of men, for he is in the battle-trance yet, and I doubt whether he could see his hand before his face. That is the way of berserks.”
― Henry Treece, Viking's Sunset

“Knud Ulfson did not like those words; but he knew that Harald Sigurdson never spoke unless he meant what he said. Indeed, along the fjord there was a fire-saying which went:

‘Thunder threatens but may not strike;
Rain threatens but may blow over;
Wolf snarls but may not bite;
When Harald snarls, your life is over.”
― Henry Treece, Viking's Sunset

“Harald said, ‘In England, in the south, there is a circle of great stones, about which men say the same thing. It was there before the Romans came, and it will be there when Odin decides to crumble the world in his two great
hands. There are some such monuments which are meant to teach man that he is but a little thing, with a life hardly longer than that of a spring fly.”
― Henry Treece, Viking's Sunset

“Harald Sigurdson, I am a fool who has come to his senses. I obey you in all things. I love you in all things. I am your man. Let us now fight as brothers!â€�
Harald did not hear these words. For he too was a berserk. . . .”
― Henry Treece, Viking's Sunset

“The saga teems with life and action, with memorable and complex characters from the heroic Gunnar of Hlidarendi, a warrior without equal who dislikes killing, to the
villainous, insinuating Mord Valgardsson, who turns out to be less dastardly than we first expect. Unforgettable events include Skarphedin’s head-splitting axe blow as he glides past his opponent on an icy river bank, or Hildigunn’s provoking of her uncle to seek blood revenge by placing on his shoulders the blood-clotted cloak in which
her husband was slain...

Just as in the Norse poem Völuspá (‘The Seeress’s Prophecy�) the gods met their doom (no mere twilight) at the hands of brute giants and monsters, after which a new and peaceful earth arose, so do the terrible events of Njal’s Saga lead finally and at great cost to a dignified resolution bearing the promise of a better time.

(Robert Cook(”
― Anonymous, Njal's Saga

“A.D. 867. This year the army went from the East-Angles over the mouth of the Humber to the Northumbrians, as far as York. And there was much dissension in that nation among themselves; they had deposed their king Osbert, and had admitted Aella, who had no natural claim. Late in the year, however, they returned to their allegiance, and they were now fighting against the common enemy; having collected a vast force, with which they fought the army at York; and breaking open the town, some of them entered in. Then was there an immense slaughter of the Northumbrians, some within and some without; and both the kings were slain on the spot. The survivors made peace with the army. The same year died Bishop Ealstan, who had the bishopric of Sherborn fifty winters, and his body lies in the town.”
― Various, The Anglo Saxon Chronicle