"“Funny, isn’t it, how so many of our stories start the same way, but have opposing endings? In half, the child ignores her parents, wanders out into the woods, and gets eaten. In the other half she discovers great wonders. There aren’t many stories about the kids who say, ‘Yes, I shall not go into the forest. I’m glad my parents explained that is where the monsters live.’”"

"“You’re not a monster, Shallan,” Wit whispered. “Oh, child. The world is monstrous at times, and there are those who would have you believe that you are terrible by association.” “I am.” “No. For you see, it flows the other direction. You are not worse for your association with the world, but it is better for its association with you.”"

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

"“I used to take the terrible things that had happened to me,” he said, “as proof that there was no god. Then in some of my darkest moments, I took my life as proof there must be something up there, for only intentional cruelty could offer an explanation.”"

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

"“Power is a knife,” Wit said, taking his seat. “A terrible, dangerous knife that can’t be wielded without cutting yourself. We joked about stupidity, but in reality most people aren’t stupid. Many are simply frustrated at how little control they have over their lives. They lash out. Sometimes in spectacular ways…”"

"An army was the sort of thing everyone wanted to have, so long as it was off doing important things elsewhere."

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

"“Child, when they were but babes, I had already lived dozens of lifetimes. ‘Old’ is a word you use for worn shoes. I’m something else entirely.”"

"“Be careful. People who aren’t me are prone to spontaneous bouts of sincerity.” “Which is bad?” “Of course! ‘Sincerity’ is a word people use to justify their chronic dullness.” “Well, I like sincere people,” Shallan said, raising her cup. “It’s delightful how surprised they look when you push them down the stairs.” “Now, that’s unkind. You shouldn’t push people down the stairs for being sincere. You push people down the stairs for being stupid.” “What if they’re sincere and stupid?” “Then you run.”"

"“What’s the point of goals, if not to spur you to something lofty?” “Yes, yes. Aim for the sun. That way if you miss, at least your arrow will fall far away, and the person it kills will likely be someone you don’t know.”"

"“I…don’t feel like I’ve won.…” “Welcome to war, Evi,” Dalinar said, heading toward the door. “There are no unequivocal wins. Just victories that leave fewer of your friends dead than others.”"

"Most cities lived on the very edge of civilization. Everyone talked about towns and villages out in the middle of nowhere as if they were uncivilized, but she’d found people in those places pleasant, even-tempered, and comfortable with their quieter way of life. Not in cities. Cities balanced on the edge of sustainability, always one step from starvation. When you pressed so may people together, their cultures, ideas, and stenches rubbed off on one another. The results wasn’t civilization. It was contained chaos, pressurized, bottled up so it couldn’t escape."

"They were too theatrical—and there were too many of them—for all to be truly deranged. This was a fad. A way of dealing with unexpected events and giving some shape to lives that had been turned upside down. That didn’t mean they weren’t dangerous. A group of people all trying to impress one another was always more dangerous than the lone psychopath."

"These are the men…well, these are the men who actually change the world. And they terrify me. For men never see as far as they think they do."

"It was gratifying to see how much one could accomplish in both politics and trade by liberally murdering the other fellow’s soldiers."

"It was a frantic, insane brawl for power."

"“That guy,” a girl’s voice said, “is creepy.”… “I mean, old men are all creepy, Lift said. “Seriously. All wrinkly and ‘Hey, want some sweets?’ and ‘Oh, listen to this boring story.’ I’m on to them. They can act nice all they want, but nobody gets old without ruining a whole buncha lives.”"

"Taravangian did not believe in any religion, for they were unwieldy things, designed to fill gaps in human understanding with nonsensical explanations, allowing people to sleep well at night, granting them a false sense of comfort and control and preventing them from stretching further for true understanding."

"“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.”"

"Fine? All right? Now leave me alone. You’re stinking up the place with an air of contented idiocy."

"“You make it sound like having the power to change the world is a bad thing.” “Bad? No. Abhorrent, depressing, ghastly. Having power is a terrible burden, the worst thing imaginable, except for every other alternative.”"

"“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.”"

"I’d hoped…I’d hoped you could tell me, give me an absolute right. For once, I’d like my moral code not to come with a list of exceptions at the end."

"But you should try to understand what they want out of life, and respect that, rather than projecting onto them what you think they should want out of life."

"You are a man with complicated beliefs, who does not accept everything you are told. You decide how you are defined. Don’t surrender that to them. They will gleefully take the chance to define you, if you allow it."

"He needed more than vague explanations and abstract ideas—but those were the very soul of art. If you could explain something perfectly, then you’d never need art. That was the difference between a table and a beautiful woodcutting. You could explain the table: its purpose, its shape, its nature. The woodcutting you simply had to experience."

"Dalinar bowed his head for a prayer. Let me be stronger than those who would kill me. Simple and to the point, the kind he figured the Almighty would prefer."

"Curious, how quickly tyrants grow religious. It must that be convenient to tell yourself that your murders belong to the Almighty instead."

"Who would have thought that bearing an ancient, divine mantle of power and honor would involve so many meetings?"

"Morality is not a thing you can simply doff to put on the helm of battle, then put back on when you’re done with the slaughter."

"“Morality is an axis that doesn’t interest us,” Mraize said calmly. “Only loyalty and power are relevant, for morality is as ephemeral as the changing weather. It depends upon the angle from which you view it.”"

"“Don’t deflect your evils by pointing out the faults of others,” Shallan said."

"Politics is involved, Adolin—so by definition it can’t be easy."

"“They all stretched farther and farther until they collapsed. In all the history of mankind, has any conqueror decided they had enough? Has any man just said, ‘This is good. This is what I wanted,’ and gone home?”"

"In my painful experience, the truth may be simple, but it is rarely easy."

"“Falsehoods serve nobody, Kadash,” Dalinar said, pulling back. “If the Almighty is dead, then pretending otherwise is pure stupidity. We need real hope, not faith in lies.”"

"But merely being tradition does not make some thing worthy, Kadash. We can’t just assume that because some thing is old it is right."

"His sincerity was so unexpected. Dalinar had been around Alethi politicians so much that he found honesty an obscure thing, like a language he no longer spoke."

"Expensive, yes. But by definition, therefore, not priceless."

"Within moments he was roaring his pleasure. Nothing these men did could touch him. He was a destroyer, a conqueror, a glorious maelstrom of death. A god."

"“You can’t civilize war,” Dalinar said. “There’s no painting it up and making it pretty.”"

"She didn’t exactly understand what she was doing, but she rarely did. Art wasn’t about understanding, but about knowing."

"“But profiting off people’s emotions?” “Pity can be a powerful tool. Anytime you can make someone else feel something, you’ve got power over them.”"

"“You seem to have found purpose in talkin’ a whole bunch,” Lift said. “Without being helpful to nobody.”"

"She felt like drawing this scene, but knew it was the type of moment she couldn’t capture on a page. It wasn’t about content or composition, but the pleasure of living. The trick to happiness wasn’t in freezing every momentary pleasure and clinging to each one, but in ensuring one’s life would produce many future moments to anticipate."

"Too few people listened to anything other than their own thoughts."

"I watched you keep your word with perfection. This is a thing lost to most people—it is the only genuine beauty in the world."

"“That makes no sense.” “Of course it makes sense,” Gawx said. “It’s government.”"