Brandon Sanderson

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

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

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

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

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

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

"“You are…very strange.” “Excellent.” “Very much strange.” “Says the woman who likes to munch on weeds,” Lopen said. “That’s not food, misra, it’s what food eats.”"

"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?"

"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."

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

"“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."

"Adeline placed the glyphward in the brazier, then bowed his head as it burned. A prayer to the Almighty for aid. His combatants for the day would probably be burning their own prayers. How did the Almighty decide whom to help?"

"The difference between a successful thief and a dead thief is knowing when to escape with your takings."

"All stories have been told before. We tell them to ourselves, as did all men who ever were. And all men who ever will be. The only things new are the names."

"“The storm caught him,” Kaladin said. “The storm catches everyone, eventually. Does it matter?” “I don’t know.” “Good.” Wit tipped his sword up toward his forehead, as if in respect. “Then you have something to think about.”"

"To age truly was to suffer the ultimate treason, that of one’s body against oneself."

"“‘Honor’ is a word applied to the actions of men from the past who have had their lives scrubbed clean by historians.”"

"“I have to protect him,” Kaladin whispered. Why? “If I protect …” He coughed. “If I protect…only the people I like, it means that I don’t care about doing what is right.” If he did that, he only cared about what was convenient for himself. That wasn’t protecting. That was selfishness."

"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."

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

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

"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."

"Oh, Adolin, Shallan thought. He’d arrived at a theory he liked, and now wouldn’t let it go. It was a common mistake warned of in her scientific books."

"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."

"“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?”"

"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."

"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."

"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."

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

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

"“Why, Jasnah? Why have you always denied me?” “Other than the fact that you are a detestable buffoon who achieves only the lowest level of mediocrity, as it is the best your limited mind can imagine? I can’t possibly think of a reason.”"

"Every army needed someone to run at the front and soak up arrows."

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

"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."

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

"“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.”"

"“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.”"

"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."

"“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."

"“Where’s your sense of adventure?” “I dragged it out back and clubbed it senseless for getting me into the army.”"

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

"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."

"“‘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.’”"

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