Brandon Sanderson · 2201 pages
Rating: (34.9K votes)
“Don’t worry that you aren’t giving people what they want. Give them who you are, and let that be enough.”
“Let them see my weakness, and let them see me overcome it.”
“The right belief is like a good cloak, I think. If it fits you well, it keeps you warm and safe. The wrong fit, however, can suffocate.”
“The Hero of Ages shall be not a man, but a force. No nation may claim him, no woman shall keep him, and no king may slay him. He shall belong to none, not even himself.”
“For nothing is truly complete until the day it is finally destroyed.”
“You just told me you liked me how I am.” “I do,” Elend said. “But I’d like you however you were, Vin. I love you. The question is, how do you like yourself?” That gave her pause. “Clothing doesn’t really change a man,” Elend said. “But it changes how others react to him. Tindwyl’s words. I think…I think the trick is convincing yourself that you deserve the reactions you get. You can wear the court’s dresses, Vin, but make them your own. Don’t worry that you aren’t giving people what they want. Give them who you are, and let that be enough.” He paused, smiling. “It was for me.”
“You don’t stop loving someone just because they hurt you,” he said. “It would certainly make things easier if you did.”
“You should try not to talk so much, friend,” he suggested. “You’ll sound far less stupid that way.”
“A man can only stumble for so long before he either falls or stands up straight.”
“Don’t you see, boy? This is why you shouldn’t be king. Leave the job to men who understand their own corruption; don’t let it destroy you.”
“He found insanity no excuse, however, for irrational behavior. Some men were blind, others had poor tempers. Still others heard voices. It was all the same, in the end. A man was defined not by his flaws, but by how he overcame them.”
“Because he knew we’d never rebel on our own, so he gave us no choice.”
“At first glance, the key and the lock it fits may seem very different,” Sazed said. “Different in shape, different in function, different in design. The man who looks at them without knowledge of their true nature might think them opposites, for one is meant to open, and the other to keep closed. Yet, upon closer examination, he might see that without one, the other becomes useless. The wise man then sees that both lock and key were created for the same purpose.”
“Normal people did not hear voices. Zane did. He found insanity no excuse, however, for irrational behavior.”
“How did one rationalize belief with no proof? How could they honestly expect him to have faith in something that taught of miracles and wonders in the far past, but carefully gave excuses for why such things didn’t occur in the present day?”
“You are offered proof only once you believe, but if you believe, you can find proof in anything. It is a logical conundrum.”
“The life of a person is more than the chaos of its passing.”
“She hadn’t spent as much time with Dockson as she had with Kelsier and Sazed—or even Ham and Breeze. He seemed like a kind man, however. Very stable, and very clever. While most of the others contributed some kind of Allomantic power to the crew, Dockson was valuable because of his simple ability to organize.”
“Suspicion is healthy in our profession—but only to an extent. I’d rather trust my men than worry about what will happen if they turn on me.” “That sounds foolish,” Vin said. “Is happiness foolish?”
“You don't stop loving someone just because they hurt you. It would certainly make things easier if you did.”
“you do realize that you just left the writing desk behind to sit on the floor.” Vin looked up. “And?” “The purpose of a writing desk is, well, writing.” “But my papers are all over here.” “Papers can be moved, I believe. If they prove too heavy, you could always burn pewter to give yourself more strength.”
“The religions in my portfolio weren’t useless after all, he thought, the power flowing from him and remaking the world. None of them were. They weren’t all true. But they all had truth.”
“Lately, I feel like my life is a book written in a language I don’t know how to read.”
“A man can only lead when others accept him as their leader, and he has only as much authority as his subjects give to him. All of the brilliant ideas in the world cannot save your kingdom if no one will listen to them.” Elend”
“He created kingdoms, and then destroyed them as he made the world anew. We had the wrong gender all along.”
“She’d felt … comfortable with Elend. Looking back on the experience, she realized that for those few moments, she hadn’t really been Lady Valette. Nor had she been Vin, for that part of her—the timid crewmember—was almost as fake as Valette was. No, she’d simply been … whoever she was.”
“Goradel frowned at that. “I don’t feel very expendable.”
“And our differences?” Elend asked. “At first glance, the key and the lock it fits may seem very different,” Sazed said. “Different in shape, different in function, different in design. The man who looks at them without knowledge of their true nature might think them opposites, for one is meant to open, and the other to keep closed. Yet, upon closer examination, he might see that without one, the other becomes useless. The wise man then sees that both lock and key were created for the same purpose.”
“Sometimes, people only seem determined upon one course because they have been offered no other options.” Sazed”
“Hold these wires and make sure they don't touch."
"What happens if they touch?"
"The ship will probably self-destruct.”
“I'm a science nerd! Not a cheerleader.
- Claire Danvers”
“The longer I think about a food industry organized around an animal that cannot reproduce itself without technical assistance, the more I mistrust it. Poultry, a significant part of the modern diet, is emblematic of the whole dirty deal. Having no self-sustaining bloodlines to back up the industry is like having no gold standard to underpin paper currency. Maintaining a natural breeding poultry flock is a rebellion, at the most basic level, against the wholly artificial nature of how foods are produced. ”
“Your sense of humor needs some work, then,' Wesley suggested. 'Most girls find my jokes charming.'
'Those girls must have IQs low enough to trip over.”
“Thought you were--'
'--Raphael said--'
'I said, no way in hell--'
'Damn straight--'
'--and Ransom was ready to come--'
'--woke up and I had wings!”
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