Fiction Authors From The United States

"“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."

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

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

"“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."

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

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

"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."

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

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

"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.…"

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

"“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.”"

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

"“I’m telling you to think!” his father snapped. “I’m telling you that if you want to change the world, you have to stop being part of the problem!”"

"“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.”"

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

"Alone in the darkness, standing with his back to the wall, facing overwhelming numbers. A glorious way to die, but Kaladin didn’t want glory. He’d given up on that foolish dream as a child."

"And she would ask the best question of them all. What will I discover next?"

"Wit dropped his bloody handkerchief before Ruthar. “How remarkable,” he said. “If you spend your life knocking people down, you eventually find they won’t stand up for you. There’s poetry in that, don’t you think, you storming personification of a cancerous anal discharge?”"

"Eventually Dalinar had done what any good commander did when faced by such persistent mass insubordination: He backed down. When good men disobeyed, it was time to look at your orders."

"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."

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

"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."

"The man who forges weapons can claim he’s never killed, but he still prepares for the slaughter."

"She knew she shouldn’t let the lack of results bother her. Real scientists understood that experiments like this weren’t failures; they were necessary steps on the way to discovery."

"You don’t get to choose to be free, Venli. Just which master to follow."

"“We proved nothing,” Navani said. “We had a single failed experiment.”"

"The trouble wasn’t getting answers. It was finding the presence of mind to accept them."

"“Nothing is real,” Wit said. “At least by one measure of philosophy. So enjoy what you seem to be able to eat and don’t complain.”"

"“Your stories always have a point,” Kaladin said. “I am an artist,” Wit said. “I should thank you not to demean me by insisting my art must be trying to accomplish something. In fact, you shouldn’t enjoy art. You should simply admit that it exists, then move on. Anything else is patronizing.”"

"“You like irony now too?” “Irony tastes good. Like sausage.”"

"True freedom—with the power to make certain she didn’t ever have to be dependent upon anyone else, listener or spren. True freedom couldn’t exist while someone else had power over you."

"“Innocence is more false a god than the ones in our songs,” Venli said, sitting beside her sister. “People who chase it will find themselves enslaved.”"

"Those gods had never deserved reverence. What was a god who only made demands? Nothing but a tyrant with a different name."

"In her little room of a laboratory, everything fit together. She’d met scholars who claimed they needed chaos to function. Perhaps that was true for some, but in her experience, good science wasn’t about sloppy inspiration. It was about meticulous incrementalization."

"And storm Teft if it wasn’t a valid question. One not enough soldiers asked themselves. Right here, right now, should I be fighting? Is there a better way?"

"Mathematics thought that there were numbers associated with tones—frequencies, wavelengths. Music, at its most fundamental level, was math."

"He grinned, then kissed her hand again. He seemed to think that sort of thing would eventually spark passion in her. When in truth, physical stimulation was so inferior to mental stimulation."

"“The way you talk lacks hope.” “‘Hope,’” she said, spreading her papers out on the table. “Have I ever told you how much I dislike that word? Think of what it means, what it implies. You have hope when you’re outnumbered. You have hope when you lack options. Hope is always irrational, Uncle.”"

"Who did she think was listening? Was she only praying because she was afraid? Yes, she thought, continuing to paint. I’m afraid. And I have to hope that someone, somewhere, is listening. That someone has a plan. That it all matters somehow. Jasnah took comfort in the idea that there was no plan, that everything was random. She said that a chaotic universe meant the only actions of actual importance were the ones they decided were important. That gave people autonomy."

"“You run like a coward.” “Every good sergeant is a coward! And proud of it! Someone needs to talk sense to the officers!”"

"War was a masculine art, but when you started attacking women, you’d stopped engaging in war. You deserved anything that happened to you after that point."

"So Ishar was a butcher, a mad surgeon as well as a crazed theocrat. For some reason, that relieved Dalinar. It was disgusting, but this was an ordinary kind of evil. He’d expected something worse."