"“We need both heart and mind,” Lirin said. “The heart might provide the purpose, but the head provides the method, the path. Passion is nothing without a plan. Wanting something doesn’t make it happen.”"

"Any information—even if you suspect your enemy is feeding it to you—is useful, son. More wars are lost to lack of information than are lost to lack of courage."

"A thousand wrong plans were no more useful that a single wrong one."

"“No one ever accomplished anything by being content with who they were, Shallan,” Adolin said. “We accomplish great things by reaching toward who we could become.” “As long as it’s what you want to become. Not what someone else thinks you should become.”"

"“Must be nice,” Adolin said, patting the horse, “to not have to worry about things like politics or relationships.” The horse snorted in a way that Adolin thought was distinctly dismissive. Well, perhaps there was more to complicate a horse’s life than a man could ever see."

"If there is one thing I can guarantee you about humankind, Last Listener, is is this: Provide them with a sword , and they will find a way to impale themselves upon it.”"

"“It wouldn’t be polite for me to interrupt,” Notum said. “Please continue your insane rant.”"

"We must not let our desires for a specific result cloud our perceptions."

"Navani wasn’t certain what to think about how easily it had happened. It was nice to make headway; yet in her experience, a fair breeze one day was the herald of a tempest to come."

"I wasn’t thinking straight, Veil thought. That’s kind of the point of drinking.…"

"I’m not using a key at all. I’m breaking the lock."

"A good lie, the delicious kind, hinted at hidden grandeur or further secrets. This was instead the lie of a drunken has-been at the bar, trying to drum up enough pity to get a free drink. It was more pathetic than interesting."

"“Do you believe?” Kaladin asked as he advanced. “In God, or the Almighty or whatever?” “I don’t have to believe,” the voice drifted back. “I know gods exist. I simply hate them.”"

"That’s the trouble with science. It’s never done. Always upending itself. Ruining perfect systems for the little inconvenience of them being wrong."

"The fact that these had thrown their lives away so wantonly did not speak highly of their master."

"“Do you think you can take the truth?” “Try for once. It would be refreshing.”"

"These are not the actions of greatness. You are no scholar. You merely like being near them. You are no artifabrian. You are merely a woman who likes trinkets. You have no fame, accomplishment, or capacity of your own. Everything distinctive about you came from someone else. You have no power—you merely like to marry men who have it."

"Would you prefer a reinforcement of what you already want to believe, or do you seek the truth?"

"Heroism is a myth you tell idealistic young people—specifically when you want them to go bleed for you."

"“So…why make these? Why set this place up to appear so rich?” “I’m wondering the same thing,” Rushu said. “They wanted to wow us, maybe?” Lopen said. “Perhaps they thought we’d be so distracted by the riches that we’d be stunned and confused. They did not know that I am accustomed to such incredible sights, for I experience something even more impressive each morning after I awake.” “Is that so?” “When I look in the mirror.” “And you wonder why you’re still single.” “Oh, I don’t wonder,” he said. “I’m fully aware that so much of me is difficult for any one woman to handle. My majesty confuses them. It’s the only explanation for why they often run away.” He gave her a grin."

"Hey, have you heard about the time I saved Huio from being swallowed? Oh yes. He was going to get eaten. By a monster uglier than the women he courts. And I flew into the thing’s mouth to save him. Off the tongue. Then I was very humble about having done such a heroic deed."

"It’s too easy to forget the cost not only to the boys who die, but to the ones who live. Every commander should be reminded periodically."

"You would become the things you pretend to defend against."

"Well, not on Lopen’s watch. You didn’t let your friends drown in nameless oceans during a frigid storm. That was, sure, basic friendship rules right there."

"Words on the page define men to future generations."

"That was the thing about omens—they were made up. Imagined signals of something nebulous. So why not make them up to be something positive?"

"She had been around enough intelligent people to know they worked best in an encouraging environment where study and discovery were rewarded."

"The sea was a strange mistress indeed. Open. Welcoming. Inviting. Sometimes a little too much so."

"All so different. He figured, sure, that people must be like mountains. See, when you were far away from mountains, they all basically looked the same. Fly up high, soar over them in a hurry, and there was no time for detail. Pointed. Covered in snow. Mountain. Got it. Fly up close, and they each had their own distinctive jagged bits and places where the rock showed through. He’d even found flowers growing on a few, near vents that let out warm air. The problem with people was that everyone saw other nations from far away. Saw them as big mountainous blobs. Foreigners. Strange. Got it. Up close, it was hard to see people that way. Each was so distinctive."

"Up close, differences could chafe. But if you remembered that from far away you all looked the same…well, that was important too."

"The sea was so open, so welcoming. Pay her a little respect, and she would carry you anywhere you wished to go. She’d even feed you along the way and lull you to sleep with her songs at night."

"The most important step a man can take. It’s not the first one, is it? It’s the next one."

"You could not arrive at excellence by the average of these people. Excellence was an individual quest, not a group effort."

"“It’s politics. The annoying kind.” “There’s another kind?”"

"It becomes the responsibility of every man, upon realizing he lacks the truth to seek it out."

"“When has any tyrant ever said to himself, ‘This is enough’?”"

"Who cares what your ancestors did, when the enemy is trying to kill you right now?"

"“Be wary,” Shallan whispered, “of anyone who claims to be able to see the future.”"

"“Don’t you care?” “About a man I don’t know?” Azure said. “In danger from a threat you can’t define, happening at a time you can’t pinpoint?” She folded her arms. “Forgive me for not sharing in your anxiety.”"

"“Vstim is good and honest,” Rysn said. “You don’t get a reputation for either without some people seeing your nature as an opportunity.”"

"“‘The question,’ she replied, ‘is not whether you will love, hurt, dream, and die. It is what' you will love, why you will hurt, when you will dream, and "how you will die. This is your choice. You cannot pick the destination, only the path.’”"

"All life worked in concert, he’d been taught in his youth. Everything but men, who refused their place. Who destroyed instead of added."

"Some problems could not be fixed with a lie."

"Kaladin had never had much time for art. Either the picture depicted something useful—like a map—or it was basically pointless."

"Sometimes, a hypocrite is nothing more than a man who is in the process of changing."

"Order was the very substance of rule. If things were organized, control could be asserted."

"“That was rude.” “Rudeness doesn’t imply untruth though.”"

"That was the coward’s route. Wishing for ignorance."

"Being a human was about making sense of chaos, finding meaning among the random elements of the world."

"New recruits might get bored by guard duty, but you’ll never find a veteran complaining about a nice quiet afternoon of not being stabbed."