The Primarchs on the Legions, Volume III: The Emperor’s Children
I (The Lion)
“I am not opposed to culture. I am opposed to over-gilding a lily. I do not assert that they are poor soldiers, far from it. I do assert that there is nothing perfect about war.”
2 (Redacted)
“Bloody sabers are bloody sabers, gilt or no.”
4 (Perturabo)
“They are fine, fine soldiers. The rank and file, at least. The officers are as useful as lapping powder to a sea turtle.”
5 (The Khan)
“What magnificent horsemen they would be!”
6(The Russ)
“A Legionary should be bathed and well cleaned. That is agreeable to me. I am unsure whether he should be the type who might seriously consider wearing his bathrobe to war, if not for fear of soiling it…”
7(Dorn)
“Peacocks are ferocious in defense of their young. When they aren’t strutting about.”
8(Kurze)
“Yes, yes, Fulgrim’s soldiers are a fine looking lot. Voices like angels. A war cry like thunder. Fewer blades sharper. And the subtlety of a fart in a ceramic prison cell…”
9(Sanguinius)
“Make the jokes you wish. Throne knows I have. But those men have earned their aquilas.”
10(Ferrus Manus)
“They host a fine party. They host an even better war.”
11(Redacted)
“Being completely incapable of seeing color, I am assured they are gaudy. Being completely incapable of seeing color, I can say they are gaudy without any need for assurance. But damned well effective.”
12(Angron)
“Yes. Yes. It’s a lovely sculpture. Where is my artillery?!”
13(Guilliman)
“Artists make exceptional killers. And exceptional tragedies.”
14(Mortarion)
“Brilliance amongst soldiers is always under appreciated. In twenty legions of brilliant men, they are once in a millennia prodigies.”
15(Magnus)
“They appreciate a good book, a good drink, a warm hearth, and a hot kill.”
16(Horus)
“Tell me you have seen a coward. You have never seen a coward from Chemos.”
17(Lorgar)
“Between them, they have made a graven image of a Legion, sanctified in blood. And, unfortunately, that image is stained with excess.”
18(Vulkan)
“They are compassionate. Capable of great kindness. Equally capable of a kind of murder that makes a mockery of the word ‘hope.’ We find much in common with them. And much in opposition. This is why we have built the bond we have. This is equally why, if we were pitted against each other, our Legions would likely destroy each other.”
19(Corax)
“Phoenix? I see little of the bird about them but pigeon shite. Good soldiers. They have the taste of a ninety seven year old granny.”
20(Alpharius)
“They certainly get the job done. Vicious, vicious bastards. The twentieth must occasionally wage what would have been called ‘ungentlemanly’ warfare in a previous age. The third often make us blush.”
- from “Historiae Milites Imperialis” (M31)