77 Arthurian Quotes

The timeless tales of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table have captivated imaginations for centuries. Embarking on quests for glory, justice, and the elusive Holy Grail, the legends of Camelot weave a rich tapestry of chivalry, magic, and adventure. In celebrating these extraordinary stories, we've curated a collection of the top 77 Arthurian quotes that encapsulate the essence of honor, bravery, and destiny. Whether you're a devoted Arthurian enthusiast or a newcomer to the legends, these quotes offer a glimpse into the timeless wisdom and enduring magic of one of history's most fascinating sagas.

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. “He had only heard of dragons, and although he had never seen one, he was sure they existed.” - Dee Marie

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

4. “Magic is a matter of focusing the disciplined will. But sometimes the will must be abandoned. The secret lies in knowing when to exercise control, and when to let go.” - Marion Zimmer Bradley

5. “I have seen a land shining with goodness, where each man protects his brother's dignity as readily as his own, where war and want have ceased and all races live under the same law of love and honour.I have seen a land bright with truth, where a man's word is his pledge and falsehood is banished, where children sleep safe in their mother's arms and never know fear or pain.I have seen a land where kings extend their hands in justice rather than reach for the sword; where mercy, kindness, and compassion flow like deep water over the land, and men revere virtue, revere truth, revere beauty, above comfort, pleasure or selfish gain. A land where peace reigns in the hill, and love like a fire from every hearth; where the True God is worshipped and his ways acclaimed by all.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

6. “Yet, there was once a king worthy of that name. That king was Arthur. It is paramount disgrace of this evil generation that the name of that great king is no longer spoken aloud except in derision. Arthur! He was the fairest flower of our race, Cymry's most noble son, Lord of the Summer Realm, Pendragon of Britain. He wore God's favour like a purple robe.Hear then, if you will, the tale of a true king.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

7. “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

8. “Arthur was simply there in their midst, the sword in his hand.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

9. “And then, just as I begin to raise my sword to cleave a path to Arthur's side, there comes a sound like a tempest wind - the blast of a mighty sea gale. Men fall back, suddenly afraid. They cover their heads with their arms and peer into the darkness above. What is it? Is the roof falling? The sky?The strange sound subsides and they glance at one another in fear and awe. Merlin is there. The Emrys is standing calmly beside Arthur. His hands are empty and upraised, his face stern in the unnatural silence he has created . . .” - Stephen R. Lawhead

10. “Arthur stood alone in the centre of the ring of kings. In the flickering light of the Christ Mass candles, holding the sword easily by the hilt, alert, resolute, unafraid, he appeared an avenging angels, eyes alight with the bright fire of righteousness.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

11. “All that winter's day and far into the night the kings twisted and squirmed, but Merlin held them in his iron grasp and would not let go. He became first a rock, and then a mountain in Arthur's defence. Arthur stood equally unmoved. No power on earth could have prevailed against them . . .” - Stephen R. Lawhead

12. “He holds the sword!' shouted Merlin. 'And that has not changed. Whoever would be king must first take the sword from Arthur's hand. For I tell you truly, none among you will be king without it!” - Stephen R. Lawhead

13. “And the Wise Emrys said that Arthur would yet come again to lead his own.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

14. “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

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

16. “Myrddin', I said gently, 'what is she to you?'His head whipped round and he glared at me. His mouth was a grimace of revulsion, and his eyes were hard, bright points of pain. 'She is my death” - Stephen R. Lawhead

17. “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

18. “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

19. “Do not borrow tomorrow's troubles today” - Stephen R. Lawhead

20. “He sighed and shook his head slowly. 'And there will be no bringing back the light once it has gone.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

21. “I took him by the arm to steady him. He opened his eyes slowly, the bright golden gleam now darkened with pain and sorrow. "Morgian!' he uttered, his voice strangled with grief. "It was Morgian. . . ” - Stephen R. Lawhead

22. “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

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

24. “Your faith is admirable, Pelleas. But I know nothing of sorcery. As it is, I have not been able to discover how the spell may be broken or how Merlin may be released from it.” - Stephen R. Lawhead

25. “The spell is Morgians” - Stephen R. Lawhead

26. “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

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

28. “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

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

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

31. “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

32. “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

33. “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

34. “At least Morgan is honest! Artor thought as he forced his tired lips to smile. She refuses to eat at my table because she is my enemy. How many of my guests pretend?” - M K Hume

35. “You hate him worse than me, you viper,’ he whispered as the stimulant cleared his brain.‘Aye, lord, but here’s the oddity of it - I love him too.’ Morgan replied, her eyes void of all emotion.” - M K Hume

36. “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

37. “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

38. “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

39. “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

40. “It is all true, or it ought to be; and more and better besides.” - Winston S. Churchill

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

42. “Do I look like I want to be involved in your teen love saga? Ask someone who cares.” - Priya Ardis

43. “Did you recently turn into a jerk or have you been one since birth?” - Priya Ardis

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

45. “Soft sun shone down on a misty cathedral at the opposite end of a football-field length courtyard. The cathedral had a long pointed tower with beautiful rose and ivory stained glass windows. Pink-petal flowers and deep green ivy climbed the stones from the ground to it’s roof. A large fountain stood in the middle of the courtyard with water falling from several lion’s heads. Between the misty air and rolling slope of the earth, the grounds reminded me of a long lost fairy tale.” - Priya Ardis

46. “Why did you wear heels? How are you supposed to fight a gargoyle in what you're wearing?” - Priya Ardis

47. “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

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

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

50. “Vane’s lips tightened to suppress a smile. “Why so hostile, love?”“You whacked me on the head with a ball!”“You deserved it.” - Priya Ardis

51. “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

52. “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

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

54. “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

55. “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

56. “Plus, I happened to be a history nerd. Why else would I be interested in a guy born in the year 519?” - Priya Ardis

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

58. “Well, can you tell her that?"He looked down at his feet. "I will. I will."Guy-speak for, "I plan to keep avoiding her until she gives up.” - Priya Ardis

59. “You'll get fired if anyone finds out about us!""So many rules in this century," Vane muttered.” - Priya Ardis

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

61. “The last declaration he'd made to me hung between us. The L word. The one that had nothing to do with like.” - Priya Ardis

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

63. “... 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

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

65. “He’d used the amulet to read my thoughts again. I pictured smacking him in the face.” - Priya Ardis

66. “I noticed him right away. No, it wasn’t his lean, rugged face. Or the dark waves of shiny hair that hung just a little too long on his forehead. It wasn’t the slim, collarless biker jacket he wore, hugging his lean shoulders. It was the way he stood. The confident way he waited in the cafeteria line to get a slice of pizza. He didn’t saunter. He didn’t amble. He stood at the center, and let the other people buzz around him. His stance was straight and sure.” - Priya Ardis

67. “Beware what you speak,' said the Merlin very softly, 'for indeed the words we speak make shadows of what is to come, and by speaking them we bring them to pass, my king.” - Marion Zimmer Bradley

68. “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

69. “In the Medieval poem, we are surrounded by Winter, but I always imagined the Green Chapel and the castle of Lord and Lady Bercilak in all seasons. I was quite convinced (and still am) that Gawain did not return to Camelot immediately after his initiatory encounter with the Green Knight. That's where 'The Green Knight's Apprentice' began, I think, in my imaginings of what Gawain would learn and experience after his initiation was complete” - Virginia Chandler

70. “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

71. “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

72. “As we rode slowly through the battle camp, the sounds and smells of war overwhelmed my senses: horses stamping and sweating in anticipation; men shouting; the steady rhythm of metal grinding on stone; leather snapping and buckling, and wood crackling in flame. The simmering energy of warriors as they eagerly awaited battle slithered through the camp like an invisible serpent” - Virginia Chandler

73. “John Matthews' title, 'Gawain, Knight of the Goddess', was confirmation that I wasn't imagining the many layers of Gawain, the court of King Arthur, and most assuredly Gawain's role as a Protector and Champion of the Mother Goddess” - Virginia Chandler

74. “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

75. “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

76. “Once I discovered Robin Hood and the medieval poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” I realized that I felt a very deep calling to the Wild forest, the deep forest, the Wood that holds the Deep Mysteries and where the Wild Hunt is run....” - Virginia Chandler

77. “I am nothing, yes; I am air and darkness, a word, a promise. I watch in the crystal and I wait in the hollow hills. But out there in the light I have a young king and a bright sword to do my work for me, and build what will stand when my name is only a word for forgotten songs and outworn wisdom, and when your name, Morgause, is only a hissing in the dark.” - Mary Stewart