41 Inspiring Arthurian Legend Quotes

The tales of King Arthur and his noble knights have captivated imaginations for centuries, weaving a rich tapestry of chivalry, adventure, and timeless wisdom. From the mystical allure of Excalibur to the profound camaraderie of the Round Table, Arthurian legends are brimming with poignant moments and inspiring words. In this collection, we delve into 41 of the most uplifting quotes from these classic tales, each offering a glimpse into the enduring virtues of courage, honor, and hope. Whether you're a long-time admirer of Camelot or new to its enchantment, these quotes are sure to resonate with the hero within us all, illuminating the ageless relevance of Arthur's world.

1. “Fighting in the name of freedom has too high a price," Merlin sighed as he leaned into his mother's arms.” - Dee Marie

2. “The very purpose of a knight is to fight on behalf of a lady.” - Thomas Malory

3. “Arthur is no fit king. Uther's bastard, Merlin's pawn, he is lowborn and a fool. He is wanton and petty and cruel. A glutton and a drunkard, he lacks all civilized graces. In short, he is a sullen, ignorant brute.All these things and more men say of Arthur. Let them. When all the words are spoken and the arguements fall exhausted into silence, this single fact remains: we would follow Arthur to the very gates of Hell and beyond if he asked it. And that is the solitary truth.Show me another who can claim such loyalty.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

4. “That Arthur has not always existed seems odd to me. Like the wind on the moors and the wild winter stars, surely he has always lived . . . and always will.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

5. “All he had, in fact, was Merlin's shining promise.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

6. “I raised my spear to heaven. 'For God and Britain!' I cried, and my cry was answered in kind. And then I was racing down the hillside, my cloak rippling out behind me, the wind singing from my dark-glinting spearhead.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

7. “Arthur!' I cried, but my voice was lost in the battle roar. The seething waters of the enemy host closed over the place where he had been.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

8. “I searched until I panted for breath, but could not find it. The solid stone structure was nowhere to be seen. The house was gone - and Merlin with it.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

9. “In truth I had forgotten all about Arthur and our reason for coming to Benowyc in the first place.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

10. “I could not see the unholy creature, but I could feel the bone-aching chill of its presence, and I heard the howl of its mindless hate. I quailed to think of the power that had called it into being and loosed it on the world.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

11. “It was Arthur's welcome alone, I believe, which turned the tide of misery for Merlin.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

12. “The Emrys! The Emrys is here!' Merlin shook his head in astonishment. 'Has it come to this?' he wondered. 'Even small children know me by sight.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

13. “Arthur, their young king, like a hero out of legend.” - Marion Zimmer Bradley

14. “Only fools want to be great.” - T.H. White

15. “The Queen of Air and Darkness tilted back her head and laughed. A more ghastly sound I hope never to hear. ‘Do you think I care about these trifles?’‘Murder is no trifle, woman,’ Arthur said. ‘No? How many men have you killed, Great King? How many have you slain without cause? How many did you cut down that you might have spared? How many died because you in your battle-rage would not heed their pleas for mercy?’The High King opened his mouth to speak, but could make no answer.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

16. “Stop, Morgian. Your wiles cannot avail you now.’ He turned to the High King and said, ‘The hurt this woman has done me, I readily forgive. It is for the harm that she has caused others that she is to be judged.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

17. “A priestess of Avalon does not lie. But I am cast out of Avalon, and for this, and unless it is all to be for nothing, I must lie, and lie well and quickly” - Marion Zimmer Bradley

18. “But, I believe," I continue, "I know what true love is - or what it should be." "What should it be?" Tristan asks, his voice soft now. "It should be a friendship and truly knowing who a person is, knowing his flaws and hopes and strengths and fears, knowing all of it. And admiring and caring for - loving the person because of those things.” - Lisa Ann Sandell

19. “Hic Jacet Arthurus Rex Quondam Rexque FuturusArthur is gone…Tristram in CareolSleeps, with a broken sword - and Yseult sleepsBeside him, where the Westering waters rollOver drowned Lyonesse to the outer deeps.Lancelot is fallen . . . The ardent helms that shoneSo knightly and the splintered lances rustIn the anonymous mould of Avalon:Gawain and Gareth and Galahad - all are dust.Where do the vanes and towers of CamelotAnd tall Tintagel crumble? Where do those tragicLovers and their bright eyed ladies rot?We cannot tell, for lost is Merlin's magic.And Guinevere - Call her not back againLest she betray the loveliness time lentA name that blends the rapture and the painLinked in the lonely nightingale's lament.Nor pry too deeply, lest you should discoverThe bower of Astolat a smokey hutOf mud and wattle - find the knightliest loverA braggart, and his lilymaid a slut.And all that coloured tale a tapestryWoven by poets. As the spider's skeinsAre spun of its own substance, so have theyEmbroidered empty legend - What remains?This: That when Rome fell, like a writhen oakThat age had sapped and cankered at the root,Resistant, from her topmost bough there brokeThe miracle of one unwithering shoot.Which was the spirit of Britain - that certain menUncouth, untutored, of our island broodLoved freedom better than their lives; and whenThe tempest crashed around them, rose and stoodAnd charged into the storm's black heart, with swordLifted, or lance in rest, and rode there, helmedWith a strange majesty that the heathen hordeRemembered when all were overwhelmed;And made of them a legend, to their chief,Arthur, Ambrosius - no man knows his name -Granting a gallantry beyond belief,And to his knights imperishable fame.They were so few . . . We know not in what mannerOr where they fell - whether they wentRiding into the dark under Christ's bannerOr died beneath the blood-red dragon of Gwent.But this we know; that when the Saxon routSwept over them, the sun no longer shoneOn Britain, and the last lights flickered out;And men in darkness muttered: Arthur is gone…” - Francis Brett Young

20. “Ah Gawaine, Gawaine, ye have betrayed me; for never shall my court be amended by you, but ye will never be sorry for me as I am for you” - Sir Thomas Malory

21. “Yet some men say in many parts of England that King Arthur is not dead, but had by the will of our Lord Jesu into another place; and men say that he shall come again, and he shall win the holy cross.” - Thomas Malory

22. “My name is Arianna Morganna Brittany DuLac--you can imagine why I went by the name Ryan.” - Priya Ardis

23. “He’s so powerful. Who knows maybe he’s advanced past eating” - Priya Ardis

24. “Marilynn...passed out black cases to everyone. I opened mine to find an iPad inside. Several candidates whistled. Despite my agitated state, it impressed me too. Maybe wizard school wasn’t going to be as lame as I had thought.“All of your schedules and assignments will be done on these,” Marilynn explained. “The whole school is on these. We’ve had them for awhile now.” - Priya Ardis

25. “The sweetness of love is short-lived, but the pain endures.” - Thomas Malory

26. “Vane grabbed me. “DuLac, let’s chat.”Chat. British-speak for “Stand still while I yell at you.” - Priya Ardis

27. “He said, and his voice was strained as if he had had a mortal wound, 'Gwenhwyfar-' He so seldom spoke her formal name, it was always my lady or my queen, or when he spoke to her in play it was always Gwen. When he spoke it now, it seemed to her she had never heard a sweeter sound. 'Gwenhwyfar. Why do you weep?'Now she must lie, and lie well, because, she could not in honor tell him the truth. She said, 'Because-' and stopped, and then, in a choking voice, she said, 'because I do not know how I shall live if you go away.” - Marion Zimmer Bradley

28. “To behold Queen Gwenhwyvar and the Lady of the Lake together was to peer too long into the sun's brilliant dazzle, to feel the heart lurch in the breast for yearning, to have the words stolen from the tongue before the lips could speak them.” - Stephen Lawhead

29. “Matt was almost completely naked. A tattered loincloth and an ugly chain with a yellow diamond were his only apparel.” - Priya Ardis

30. “I caught his hand. “What do you want me to do?”Leaning down, he kissed the pulse beating on my neck just above the damaged skin. “Tomorrow, I need you to die.” - Priya Ardis

31. “Rough palms cradled my face while my fingers gripped the pillow on either side of his. Lips, teeth, tongue, mingled together. I ate him up and didn’t let go until I had to come up for air.” - Priya Ardis

32. “The combination of razor-sharp wit (completely real) and his credentials (completely fake) had won them over in the end.” - Priya Ardis

33. “If I were to lock you up in a dungeon, I guarantee you would not be bored.” - Priya Ardis

34. “Aye, we all know your fondness for apples, brother.” - Phyllis Ann Karr

35. “... and it seemed to her that time stopped, that her body melted into his as if she were without nerve or bone or will, and his kiss was like fire and ice on her lips.” - Marion Zimmer Bradley

36. “Do you think we can be friends?” I asked.He stared up at the ceiling. “Probably not, but we can pretend.” - Priya Ardis

37. “I totally geeked when I discovered (while in college) that Tolkien had a published version of 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight', so that's my favorite version. I think I have 3 or 4 copies on my bookshelf” - Virginia Chandler

38. “There are well known Arthurian figures in the book, and some not so well known. Mabon plays a pivotal role in the tale as the Motherless Child who helps Rhowbyn, the narrator of the tale, to find and reconcile with his missing parent. There is a game of riddles in which Mabon and Rhowbyn engage that is both an homage to Tolkien and a nod of acknowledgement to events from 'The Mabinogion' and specifically the tale of Culwch and Olwen” - Virginia Chandler

39. “The Lord and Lady of the Fair Folk sat at our own table, dressed in robes of red and black, their faces painted in patterns with ash and oils. Their eyes were intense, almost searing, and I found myself still unable to hold their gaze formore than a moment. I felt naked within their gaze, but even more so, unwhole. As if there were parts of me missing and only they knew where to find them” - Virginia Chandler

40. “In the energies of the Green Knight, we have an Elder who comes to the entire court of Arthur to challenge and "open a bridge" to the Otherworld. Here is the Holly King, the Forest Lord, the Green Man. The Green Knight enters Arthur's court at a Yuletide festival and challenges at once both Arthur and his warriors to step forth and take part in the traditional Beheading contest” - Virginia Chandler

41. “I suppose it could be said that indeed all my roads to Arthur have led to my novel, The Green Knight’s Apprentice. I read Malory when I was very young and my first reading left me with very vivid images that haunt me still: white stags, headless damsels, horns hanging from tree limbs, and giants. Oh yes, I had the usual sword in the stone, lady of the lake, and Holy Grail images, too, I assure you.” - Virginia Chandler