Robert E.Howard

In the old free days all I wanted was a sharp sword and a straight path to my enemies. Now no paths are straight and my sword is useless

What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie?
I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky.
The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing;
Rush in and die, dogs—I was a man before I was a king

The wizard stretched forth his hand; his fingers opened and closed like a bird's claws.

"Is that not a wonder--that this blind flesh obeys the thoughts of my mind? I walk, I breathe, I speakare they not all wonders?"

Khemsa was drunk with freedom and the exercise of his power, glorying in his might and flinging his strength about as a young giant exercises his thews with unnecessary vigor in the exultant pride of his prowess.

These men were more like wolves than human beings.

Sorcery thrives on success, not on failure.

“Are you a magician, that you have conquered the Black Seers of Yimsha, Conan of Ghor?” she asked, as they went down the path, with his heavy arm about her supple waist.
“It was a girdle Khemsa gave me before he died,” Conan answered. “Yes, I found him on the trail. It is a curious one, which I’ll show you when I have time. Against some spells it was weak, but against others it was strong, and a good knife is always a hearty incantation.”

I was born in the Cimmerian hills where the people are all barbarians. I have been a mercenary soldier, a corsair, a Kozak, and a hundred other things. What king has roamed the countries, fought the battles, loved the women, and won the plunder that I have?

But the life in me was stronger than the life in common folk, for it partakes of the essence of the forces that seethe in the black gulfs beyond mortal ken.