The best Quotes by Brandon Sanderson

Tress considered herself to be categorically boring. She liked her tea lukewarm, she went to bed on time, she loved her parents, occasionally squabbled with her little brother, and didn't litter. She was fair at needlepoint, and had a talent for baking. But had no other noteworthy skills. She didn't train at fencing in secret, she couldn't talk to animals, she had no hidden royalty or deities in her lineage. Though her great-grandmother Glorf had once reportedly waved at the king.

Life breaks us, Teft. Then we fill the cracks with something stronger.

"I kind of lost track of time..."
"For two hours?"
Elend nodded sheepishly. "There were books involved."

The book spoke of a king carrying the burdens of his people. It said that those who led were the lowest of men, for they were required to serve everyone.

What honor can we find on a battlefield while our people starve?

How many other planets have you visited? Perhaps they all sail in oceans of pollen and your home is the freakish one.

Do not let your assumptions about a culture block your ability to perceive the individual, or you will fail.

I have found, through painful experience, that the most important step a person can take is always the next one.

"Good men don't become legends," he said quietly.
"Good men don't need to become legends." She opened her eyes, looking up at him. "They just do what's right anyway."

Life before Death.
Strength before Weakness.
Journey before Destination.

A man was defined not by his flaws, but by how he overcame them.

"I swear, my dear. Sometimes our conversations remind me of a broken sword."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Sharp as hell," Lightsong said, "but lacking a point."

Unknowing ignorance is preferable to informed stupidity.

It's easy to believe in something when you win all the time... the losses are what define a man's faith.

Somehow, we'll find it. The balance between whom we wish to be and whom we need to be. But for now, we simply have to be satisfied with who we are.

You should try not to talk so much, friend. You'll sound far less stupid that way.

But you can't kill me, Lord Tyrant. I represent that one thing you've never been able to kill, no matter how hard you try. I am hope.

Mocking a woman is like drinking too much wine. It may be fun for a short time, but the hangover is hell.

As I fear not a child with a weapon he cannot lift, I will never fear the mind of a man who does not think.

Our belief is often strongest when it should be weakest. That is the nature of hope.

A woman's strength should not be in her role, whatever she chooses to be, but in the power to choose that role.

Expectations were like fine pottery. The harder you held them, the more likely they were to crack.

"How do you 'accidentally' kill a noble man in his own mansion?"
"With a knife in the chest. Or, rather, a pair of knives in the chest..."

Somebody has to start. Somebody has to step forward and do what is right, because it is right.

The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.

Faith means that it doesn't matter what happens. You can trust that somebody is watching. Trust that somebody will make it all right.

If you give up what you want most for what you think you should want more, you'll end up miserable.

"That's the funny thing about arriving somewhere, Vin," he said with a wink. "Once you're there, the only thing you can really do is leave again."

Books have great value, actions have greater value.

Men rarely see their own actions as unjustified.

"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."

Yes, I began my journey alone, and I ended it alone.
But that does not mean that I walked alone.

"I will take responsibility for what I have done," Dalinar whispered. "If I must fall, I will rise each time a better man."

This world, it is a tempest sometimes. But remember, the sun always rises again.

As long as you keep trying, there's a chance. When you give up? That's when the dream dies.

And Vin liked solitude. When you're alone, no one can betray you.

To lack feeling is to be dead, but to act on every feeling is to be a child.

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

The world isn't fair? What a huge revelation! Some people in power abuse those they have power over? Amazing! When did this start happening?

Words are where most change begins.

"I don't talk to myself because I'm crazy."
"No?"
"I do it because I'm awesome."

One can believe in a story without believing it happened.

In the end, I must proclaim that no good can be achieved of false means. For the substance of our existence is not in the achievement, but in the method.

Plan every battle as if you will inevitably retreat, but fight every battle like there is no backing down.

Expectation wasn't just about what people expected of you. It was about what you expected of yourself.

"Ah, the outdoors," Shallan said. "I visited that mythical place once."

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.

All stories told 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 only time you seem honest is when you're insulting someone!"
"The only honest things I can say to you are insults."

Those candle flames were like the lives of men. So fragile. So deadly. Left alone, they lit and warmed. Let run rampant, they would destroy the very things they were meant to illuminate.