28 Grendel Quotes That Are Perfect For Students

'Grendel' is a European mythology novel written by John Gardener and published in 1917.

This book is based on the epic poem 'Beowulf'. This book is known to be a prequel to the poem.

This novel has many characters, among them, Grendel, the dragon, Beowulf, Hrothgar, etc. If you desire to study this epic book then we have compiled the best quotes on what Grendel looks like and the other characters like the dragon, Beowulf, and others.

For more quotes articles, take a look at Tom Robinson quotes and Tom Sawyer quotes which you will surely love as well.

We have compiled the best quotes from the 'Grendel' book just for you. Check them out to see if there are any quotes listed below from your favorite chapter.

1. "Tedium is the worst pain. The mind lays out the world in blocks, and the hushed blood waits for revenge. All order, I've come to understand, is theoretical, unreal - a harmless sensible, smiling mask men slide between the two great, dark realities, the self and the world - two snake pits."

― Grendel, Chapter 11.

2. "I understood that the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears. I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist. All the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against, blindly—as blindly as all that is not myself pushes back"

-Grendel, Chapter 2.

3. "I look down, down, into bottomless blackness, feeling the dark power moving in me like an ocean current, some monster inside me, deep sea wonder, dread night monarch astir in his cave, moving me slowly to my voluntary tumble into death.”

― Grendel, Chapter 12.

4. “But dragons, my boy, have a whole different kind of mind.”

― Grendel, Chapter 5.

5. "She has taken up the feud. Because of last night, when you killed Grendel, Wrestled and racked him in ruinous combat. Since for too long he had terrorized us. With his depredations. He died in battle."

― Grendel.

6. "I have heard moreover that the monster scorns in his reckless way to use weapons; therefore to heighten Hygelac’s fame and gladden his heart, I hereby renounce sword and the shelter of the broad shield."

― Grendel.

7. "Twelve winters of grief for Hrothgar, king/ Of the Danes, sorrow heaped at his door/ By hell-forged hands, His misery leaped/ The seas, was told and sung in all/ Men's ears."

― Grendel.

8. "and for the one Murdered by Grendel gold was carefully Paid."

― Grendel.

9. "Not, of course, that I fool myself with thoughts that I'm more noble. Pointless, ridiculous monster crouched in the shadows, stinking of dead men, murdered children, martyred cows."

― Grendel, Chapter 1.

10. "I knew, for one, that the brother-killer had put on the Shaper's idea of the hero like a merry mask, had seen it torn away, and was now reduced to what he was: a thinking animal stripped naked of former illusions, stubbornly living on, ashamed and meaningless, because killing himself would be, like his life, unheroic."

-Grendel.

Planning to study the 'Grendel' book? These interesting quotes will motivate you and make you desire to study the book with ease.

11.  “I tried to tell her all that had happened, all that I’d come to understand: the meaningless objectness of the world, the universal bruteness. She only stared, troubled at my noise. She’d forgotten all language long ago, or maybe had never known any.”

-Grendel.

12. “I discovered that the dragon had put a charm on me: no weapon could cut me. I could walk up to the meadhall whenever I pleased, and they were powerless. My heart became darker because of that. "

-Grendel.

13. "'Why can't I have someone to talk to?' I said. The stars said nothing, but I pretended to ignore the rudeness. 'The Shaper has people to talk to,' I said. I wrung my fingers. 'Hrothgar has people to talk to.'"

-Grendel.

14. "I have not committed the ultimate act of nihilism: I have not killed the queen."

-Grendel.

15. “I had a feeling that if I let myself I could fall towards it, that it was pulling me, pulling the whole world in like a whirlpool.”

-Grendel.

16.  "I backed away, crablike, further into darkness—like a crab retreating in pain when you strike two stones at the mouth of his underwater den. I backed away till the honeysweet lure of the harp no longer mocked me."

-Grendel.

17. "Then Hrothgar and his neighbors, loaded like ants on a long march, pushed foot by foot and day by day around the marshes.… Hrothgar’s realm was like a wobbly, lopsided wheel with spokes of stone.”

-Grendel.

18. Thus I fled, ridiculous hairy creature torn apart by poetry--crawling, whimpering, streaming tears, across the world like a two-headed beast."

-Grendel.

19. "But though I laughed, I felt trapped, as hollow as a rotten tree."

-Grendel, Chapter 6.

20. "There is no limit to desire but desire's needs."

-Grendel, Chapter 7.

The quotations written below describe the life of Grendel and his world. You will learn a lot about the book by going through these compiled sets.

21. "They were small, these creatures, with dead-looking eyes and gray-white faces, and yet in some ways they were like us, except ridiculous and, at the same time, mysteriously irritating, like rats."

-Grendel, Chapter 2.

22. "There was nothing to stop the advance of man."

-Grendel, Chapter 3.

23. "You now, you see the past and the present, like other low creatures: no higher faculties than memory and perception. "

-Grendel.

24. “I look down past the stars to a terrifying darkness. I seem to recognize the place, but it's impossible. 'Accident,' I whisper. I will fall."

-Grendel.

25. "Go ahead, scoff, he said, petulant. Except in the life of a hero, the whole world's meaningless. The hero sees values beyond what's possible..."

-Grendel.

26. "The bane of the race of men roamed forth, Hunting for a prey in the high hall."

-Grendel.

27. "All over the world. Men wise in counsel continue to remember him."

-Grendel.

28. “The monster’s hatred rose higher, But his power had gone. He twisted in pain. And the bleeding sinews deep in his shoulder. Snapped, muscle and bone split And broke.”

-Grendel.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Grendel quotes then why not take a look at Tom Buchanan quotes, or Tolstoy quotes.