Dreams were a treacherous ground on which to build.“Pain was as much a part of knighthood as were swords and shields.I am going to clout you in the ear so hard your head will turn around backwards, and you'll spend the rest of your life looking at where you've been.A hedge knight must hold tight to his pride. Without it, he was no more than a sellsword.Better a beggar than a thief.All men are fools, and all men are knights, where women are concerned.Egg has the truth of it. Aerion's quite the monster. He thinks he's a dragon in human form, you know. That's why he was so wroth at that puppet show. A pity he wasn't born a Fossoway, then he'd think himself an apple and we'd all be a deal safer, but there you are.Why give a horse to a man who cannot ride?A Hedge Knight is the truest kind of knight, Dunk. Other Knights serve the Lords who keep them, or from whom they hold their lands, but we serve where we will, for men whose causes we believe in. Every Knight swears to protect the weak, but we keep the vow the best, I think."A great battle is a terrible thing," the old knight said, "but in the midst of blood and carnage, there is sometimes also beauty, beauty that could break your heart."Hard things only grow harder if you put them off."Outwitted by a boy of ten." Dunk looked at Egg and silently mouthed the words "clout in the ear". The boy grinned.Is that gallantry I smell, or just stupidity? The two scents are much alike, as I recall.My brothers have my measure when it comes to fighting and dancing and thinking and reading books, but none of them is half my equal at lying insensible in the mud.Dunk the lunk, thick as a castle wall.Oak and iron, guard me well, or else I'm dead, and doomed to hell.The summers have been shorter since the last dragon died, and the winters longer and crueler. 
