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Quote by Andrzej Sapkowski

“Uno strigo deve difendere gli uomini, affinché non vengano appesi agli alberi per le mani e impalati. Difendere le fanciulle dai capelli biondi, affinché non vengano legate con braccia e gambe divaricate a paletti conficcati nel terreno. Difendere i bambini, affinché non vengano scannati e gettati nei pozzi. Merita di essere difeso perfino un gatto bruciato in un fienile dato alle fiamme. Perciò diventerò una striga, perciò ho la spada, per difendere la gente come quella di Sodden e Oltreriva, perché loro non hanno armi, non conoscono i passi, i mezzi giri, le schivate e le piroette, nessuno ha insegnato loro a combattere, sono impotenti di fronte ai licantropi e ai disertori di Nilfgaard. A me insegnano a combattere. Per poter difendere gli inermi. E lo farò. Sempre. Non sarò mai neutrale. Non sarò mai indifferente. Mai!”

Quote by Andrzej Sapkowski

Book:Krew elfów
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Krew elfów

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Andrzej Sapkowski
Andrzej Sapkowski

Andrzej Sapkowski is a Polish writer born on June 21, 1948. He is renowned for his fantasy novels, especially the 'The Witcher' series, which has been translated into multiple languages and adapted into games and television series. more

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Book:The Greatest Quail Hunting Book Ever, Collector’s Edition
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“At this moment a blood-pressure estimate would bust the machine that takes it. Your heart is so loud it sounds like a pile driver. There is something in your throat about the size of a football, and your lips are dry from the temperature you're running, which is maybe just under 110 degrees Fahrenheit. You are looking straight ahead of the dog—never down at the ground—and you are carrying your shotgun slanted across your chest the stock slightly cocked under your elbow. Nothing happens. The dog creeps forward another six yards, and you come up behind him when he freezes again. This time he’s looking right down at his forefeet, and when you walk past him he jumps and the world blows up. The world explodes, and a billion bits of it fly out in front of you, tiny brown bits with the thunder of love in each wing. They go in all directions—right, left, behind you, over your head, sometimes straight at you, sometimes straight up before they level. Then a miracle happens. Out of these billion bits you choose one bit and fire, and if the bit explodes in a cloud of feathers you choose another bit and fire again, and if this bit also explodes you break your gun swiftly and load, figuring maybe there’s a lay bird and you can turn to the Old Man with a grin, and when he says, “How many?” you can answer, “Three.” More likely you’ll answer, “One” or “None.”’ - November Was Always the Best By Robert Ruark”

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“If there is a broad explanation for the fascination of quail shooting, it must be that no man can bet on just how good he’ll be on any given day. The challenge of bird to man is permanent. You will catch a full night's sleep, find perfect shooting the next day, and miss everything that flies. You can get drunk as an owl, sit up all night, fly a plane from dawn until noon, and with a bellyful of butterflies kill all that rustles. My personal record of 15 out of 18 shots was set on a basis of no sleep at all for two nights, due to work and travel, with a splitting headache and hands that shook like maraca gourds. Recently I had 11 in the bag with 13 shots. We couldn't find bird No. 12, and this so upset my timing that it took me 22 shots to get the other four quail. And we had to chase the last one to death. - The Brave Quail By Robert Ruark”

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Book:The Greatest Quail Hunting Book Ever, Collector’s Edition
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“What's your idea of November?” he asked, his eyes half-closed. I wanted to tell him that it was mostly the opening of the bird season, and the Thanksgiving holidays, the persimmons wrinkled and ripe on the trees, when the weather was real nice, and it was hog-killing time in the country, and the pumpkins looked yellow and jolly in the fields, and the sun set good and red, and a lot of other things, but I couldn’t manage to squeeze it all out because I had no way with words. “The bird season,” I said. - November Was Always the Best By Robert Ruark”

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“It is difficult, very hard, to try to explain what a boy feels when he sees the dogs sweeping the browned peafields, or skirting the edges of the gallberry bays, or crisscrossing the fields of yellow, withered corn shocks, running like racehorses with their heads high and their tails whipping. And then that moment, after nearly a year, of the first dog striking the first scent, and the excitement communicating to the other dogs, and all hands crowding in on the act—the trailers trailing, the winders sniffing high, but slow now, and the final eggshell-creeping, the tails going feverishly and the bellies low to the ground, presaging a point. Then the sudden freeze, then the slight uncertainty, then ja minor change of course, and then the swift, dead-sure cock of head, which says plainly the bird is here, boss, right under my nose, and now it’s all up to you. - November Was Always the Best By Robert Ruark”

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“Some people step into their backyards to shoot quail; others spend thousands of dollars annually for the same privilege. But they all share one defect of character: All quail shooters are abject liars. I know, for | have been lying steadily about quail and bird dogs since I was 8, and got physically sick from excitement when I killed my first one. The quail shooter’s mind works roughly like this: They aren't making the same kind of cartridges anymore, because when you point them at the bird the bird won’ drop. Obviously something is wrong with the powder... The sun was in my eyes... The damn bird flew around a branch just as I shot. The dogs have lost their sense of smell... . The rabbit hounds ran up all the quail... One of the other hunters was in the way, or I would have killed two... It was getting too dark to shoot with safety. All the birds got up wild, ahead of the dogs . . . I slipped and fell... I had a headache and my timing was off... When I was going good after the first two coveys, we couldn't find any more for an hour and I cooled off. The safety on my gun jammed ... The little single dog won't backstand a point any more... The woods were too thick... The birds wouldn't hold to a point. These are the things you tell yourself. You tell other people that you only used half as many shells as you really used, and then you say that you had to run down a couple of wounded birds and shoot some more.’ - The Brave Quail By Robert Ruark”

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Book:The Greatest Quail Hunting Book Ever, Collector’s Edition
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“Each man builds his dog in his own image, but the definition of a good dog, like the definition of a good man, is one who knows and respects the bobwhite. No sincere hunter will overshoot a covey. No good dog will flush a covey until the hunter is at his side. No good dog will encroach on another's point. A smart dog knows more than any man about the likeliest spot to find his quarry. No good man or good dog is happy to leave a wounded bird unfound. No good man hogs the best shot, as no good dog is disrespectful of the rights of his hunting companion. Altogether, the quail manages to bring out a great deal of fineness in both dogs and men. - The Brave Quail By Robert Ruark”

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Book:The Greatest Quail Hunting Book Ever, Collector’s Edition
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