Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Sanderson is an American author of epic fantasy and science fiction. He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe. (Brandon Sanderson Quotes)
“A coward is a person who cares more about what people say than about what is right.”
Brandon Sanderson
Skyward
“A flower in a field of weeds was always a sight, but if you passed cultivated flower beds every day, none of them drew your notice.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
“A good crewleader is always sure of himself, even when he isn’t. Especially when he isn’t.”
Brandon Sanderson
Secret History
“A good king is one who is trusted by his people- and one who deserves that trust.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“A good officer was one who accepted orders and fulfilled them, even when he disagreed. But the mark of a great officer was that he also tried to innovate and offer appropriate suggestions.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“A hero does not choose her trials. She steps into the darkness, then she faces what comes next.”
Brandon Sanderson
Starsight
“A leader is often judged by how well he bears responsibility. As king, everything that happens in your kingdom – regardless of who commits the act -is your fault.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“A lot of soldiers, they think that you fight the best if you’re passionless and cold. I think that’s stormleavings. Yes, you need to be focused. Yes, emotions are dangerous. But if you don’t care about anything, what are you? An animal, driven only to kill. Our passion is what makes us human. We have to fight for a reason. So I say that it’s all right to care.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“A man better appreciates love when he has been forced for so long to go without.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“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.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“A man can only stumble for so long before he either falls or stands up straight.”
Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Trilogy
“A man doesn’t choose to be an idiot, but he does choose to be loyal.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
“A man doesn’t have to like his duty. He just has to do it.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Bands of Mourning
“A man should never pull a trigger unless he’s willing to kill. And if the other fellow is armed, I’m going to aim for the chest. That way, when people do die around me, it’s the right ones.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“A man was defined not by his flaws, but by how he overcame them.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“A man’s emotions are what define him, and control is the hallmark of true strength. To lack feeling is to be dead, but to act on every feeling is to be a child.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“A merchant who is careless with contracts is one who finds himself with enemies instead of friends.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“A person needed to experience real danger or they would never find joy in excelling. There had to be a risk of failure, the chance to die.”
Brandon Sanderson
Perfect State
“A person was like a dense forest thicket, overgrown with a twisting mess of vines, weeds, shrubs, saplings, and flowers. No person was one single emotion; no person had only one desire. They had many, and usually those desires conflicted with one another like two rosebushes fighting for the same patch of ground.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Emperor’s Soul
“A psychotic who finds it more tiring to create his fantasy world than live in the real one?”
Brandon Sanderson
Legion
“A rope could be a weapon, if you really needed one. Tie a heavy bit of metal to one end, then swing it about and attack.”
Brandon Sanderson
Awakening
“A strong rudder steers the ship even in a storm.”
Brandon Sanderson
Legion
“A true scholar must not close her mind close on any topic, no matter how certain she may feel.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“A true soldier knows each weapon he owns through repeated firing. No gun fires perfectly straight. Each has a personality.”
Brandon Sanderson
Legion
“A warrior is nothing if she has nothing to fight for.”
Brandon Sanderson
Skyward
“A woman’s mind is her most precious weapon. It must not be employed clumsily or prematurely. Much like the aforementioned knife in the back, a clever gibe is most effective when it is unanticipated.” (Brandon Sanderson Quotes)
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“A woman’s strength should not be in her role, whatever she chooses to be, but in the power to choose that role.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“Act like you were important, act like you were angry, and people just wanted to get out of your way.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“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.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“Alcatraz actually knows a person named Brandon Sanderson. That man, however, is a fantasy writer and is therefore prone to useless bouts of delusion in literary form.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
“All men are ignorant, Aes Sedai. The topics of our ignorance may change, but the nature of the world is that no man may know everything.”
Brandon Sanderson
A Memory of Light
“All of the best motives boiled down to a single, driving emotion.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“All the world does as it is supposed to, except for humans. Maybe that’s why you so often want to kill each other.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“All wars are games. The greatest kind, with the pieces lost real lives, the prizes captured making for real wealth! This is the life for which men exist. To fight, to kill, to win.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Allomancy wasn’t just about fighting and killing. It was about skill and grace. It was something beautiful.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“An excuse is what you make after the deed is done, while a justification is what you offer before.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“And don’t waste time worshipping Harmony. Doing good was the worship.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“And no, for those searching, Hoid does not make an appearance. Unfortunately, he needed to be somewhere else in the timeline at this point.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
“And so, does the destination matter? Or is it the path we take? I declare that no accomplishment has substance nearly as great as the road used to achieve it. We are not creatures of destinations. It is the journey that shapes us. Our callused feet, our backs strong from carrying the weight of our travels, our eyes open with the fresh delight of experiences lived.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“And which would you rather live in? The fake prison where you think you are free, or the real prison where you spend each day in drudgery?”
Brandon Sanderson
Legion
“Animals lived out there, but fort surveyors declared that there were no predators. The shades had gotten those long ago, drawn by the shedding of blood.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
“Anytime you can make someone else feel something, you’ve got power over them.”
Brandon Sanderson
Arcanum Unbounded
“Are there any religions on your list that include the slaughter of noblemen as a holy duty?”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“Art was about creation. That was its soul, its essence. Creation and order. You took something disorganized—a splash of ink, an empty page—and you built something from it. Something from nothing. The soul of creation.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“As a side note, I hate assassination. It looks way too much like a dirty word. Either that or the name of a country populated entirely by two donkeys.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens
“As for being young,” I said, kneeling down, “yeah, I’m aware. Doesn’t mean I haven’t figured out a few things.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Dark Talent
“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.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“As she’d left, I’d glanced at her gun. This time, when she’d pointed it at me, she’d flicked the safety on. If that wasn’t true love, I don’t know what was.”
Brandon Sanderson
Firefight
“As was often the case, the most outspoken man was the least discerning.”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“At the end of time, when the many become one, the last storm shall gather its angry winds to destroy a land already dying. And at its center, the blind man shall stand upon his own grave. There he shall see again, and weep for what has been wrought.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
“At times, it seems to me that to be human is to want that which we cannot have. For some, this is power. For me, it is peace.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Authors also create lovable, friendly characters, then proceed to do terrible things to them, like throw them in unsightly librarian-controlled dungeons. This makes readers feel hurt and worried for the characters. The simple truth is that authors like making people squirm. If this weren’t the case, all novels would be filled completely with cute bunnies having birthday parties.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
“Authors write books for one, and only one, reason: because we like to torture people.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
“Bastille has a talent for killing conversations. Basically, Bastille has a talent for killing anything.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens
“Battle was always a mess. The only neat battles were the ones in stories or history books.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
“Battle was no time for reflection; you had to keep your mind on what you were doing.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Beards were like axehound pups. Boys dreamed of the day they’d get one, never realizing how annoying they could be.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Beauty was out there, all around. To create art was not to capture it, but to participate in it.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“Because if I accept that Elend bears no guilt for what his people did to mine, then I must admit to being a monster for the things that I did to them.”
Brandon Sanderson
“Because people were people, and if there was one thing you could count on, it was that some of them would be weird. Or rather that all of them would be weird when circumstances happened to align with their own individual brand of insanity.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Bands of Mourning
“Because they don’t want to make choices anymore, he thought. Choices can be hard.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“Being given it so easily seemed to devalue the years she had spent relishing her brief moments of solitude.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“Being in charge isn’t always about telling people what to do. Sometimes, it’s about knowing when to step out of the way of people who know what they’re doing.”
Brandon Sanderson
A Memory of Light
“Being polite to a person is not a sign of respect for them. It is merely a sign of a good upbringing and a balanced nature.”
Brandon Sanderson
A Memory of Light
“Bitterness is repaid more often than kindness.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Bloody ashes, woman. This isn’t a metaphor for anything! It’s just boots.”
Brandon Sanderson
Towers of Midnight
“Books can store information better than we can—what we do that books cannot is interpret. So if one is not going to draw conclusions, then one might as well just leave the information in the texts.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Bravery isn’t about what people call you, Spensa. It’s about who you know yourself to be.”
Brandon Sanderson
Skyward
“But he was fatigued. Worn out like an old banner allowed to flap in the wind through too many rainstorms.”
Brandon Sanderson
Secret History
“But he’d found that imaginary things were often the only items of real substance in people’s lives.”
Brandon Sanderson
Warbreaker
“But I still wondered: if we didn’t matter as individuals, then what were we saving the group for?”
Brandon Sanderson
Sunreach
“But it was important to be rational at all times, not just when calm.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“But maybe you shouldn’t be looking for life to be easier because you choose to do something that is right!”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“But Rysn understood the tone in the Lopen’s voice. She shouldn’t have to do such things, but life was unfair, and so you controlled the situation as best you could. Strange, to find such wisdom in a man she’d initially dismissed as silly.” (Brandon Sanderson Quotes)
Brandon Sanderson
Dawnshard
“But the mark of a great man is one who knows when to set aside the important things in order to accomplish the vital ones.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“But they’re, you know, Alethi. Conquering folks is basically their primary cultural heritage.”
“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.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“By the way, I saved Moiraine. Chew on that as you try to decide which of the two of us is winning.”-Mat”
Brandon Sanderson
A Memory of Light
“Can a woman not walk with her possessions down the street of a city?”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Can’t be any harder than sitting here and having a staring contest with mortality.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Combat begins with the legs. I don’t care how fast you are with a jab, how accurate you are with a thrust. If your opponent can trip you, or make you stumble, you’ll lose. Losing means dying.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Control yourself, she told herself forcibly. Become someone who can deal with this. She took a deep breath and let herself become someone else. An imitation of herself who was calm, even in a situation like this. It was a crude forgery, just a trick of the mind, but it worked.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Emperor’s Soul
“Cupcakes are too dainty for a Scotsman. Give him one, and he’ll ask why didn’t you shoot the wee cake’s parents instead and serve that.”
Brandon Sanderson
Calamity
“Damn, I miss the internet. You could always find people doing stupid stuff on the internet.”
Brandon Sanderson
Calamity
“Death comes to all. But life comes first. Cherish it. Death is the destination. But the journey, that is life. That is what matters.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Definitely not—you optimists just can’t understand that a depressed person doesn’t want you to try and cheer them up. It makes us sick.”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“Defying the Dark One no matter the length of his shadow. We will live, that defiance said. We will love and we will hope.”
Brandon Sanderson
Towers of Midnight
“Do not dash if you only have the strength to walk, and do not waste your time pushing on the walls that will not give. More importantly, don’t shove where a pat would be sufficient.”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“Do not let your assumptions about a culture block your ability to perceive the individual, or you will fail.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“Does one deserve to have evil done to her by consequence of putting herself where evil can reach her?”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Doesn’t matter how good your bullets are if you don’t aim carefully.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“Doing something brave is much like saying something stupid. You rarely plan on it happening.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
“Don’t just act because you can; act because it’s the right thing to do. If you keep that in mind, you’ll be all right.”
Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart
“Don’t worry that you aren’t giving people what they want. Give them who you are, and let that be enough.”
Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Trilogy
“Don’t you know how to use chopsticks?” Joel asked. Melody grimaced. “I’ve never been one for European food. A fork works just fine.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Rithmatist
“Don’t try to stop yourself from feeling. You’ll hate who you become.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Dozens had been sent over the centuries, always from the same family. A family sheltered, protected, and hidden by the people of the land.”
Brandon Sanderson
Awakening
“Epics are weak because they are fools. They will destroy this world. Give men power, and they abuse it. That is all one needs to know.”
Brandon Sanderson
Calamity
“Every man had to die. He’d always found it odd that so many died when they were old, as logic said that was the point in their lives when they’d had the most practice not dying.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“Every man is a hero of his own story.”
Brandon Sanderson
Warbreaker
“Every single thing in the city that we touch, see, feel, experience comes as the result of some person’s influence.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Emperor’s Soul
“Every Smedry has a Talent. The Talent can be powerful, it can be unpredictable, and it can be disastrous. But it’s always interesting.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens
“Every time I turn around, it seems the world has changed somehow.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“Everyone betrays everyone else. That’s the way life is….”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“Everything is a contest. All dealings among men are a contest in which some will succeed and others fail. And some are failing quite spectacularly.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Expectation wasn’t just about what people expected of you. It was about what you expected of yourself.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“Expectations were like fine pottery. The harder you held them, the more likely they were to crack.”
“Failure is refusing to fight. Failure is remaining quiet and hoping someone else will fix the problem.”
Brandon Sanderson
Calamity
“Failure is the mark of a life well lived. In turn, the only way to live without failure is to be of no use to anyone.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“Faith means that it doesn’t matter what happens. You can trust that somebody is watching. Trust that somebody will make it all right.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Hero of Ages
“Fenweed, a very healthy soup. A warrior’s soup. It tasted like dishwater.”
Brandon Sanderson
Awakening
“Few men have the wisdom to realize when they need help. Fewer still have the strength to go get it.”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“For glory lit, and life alive, for goals unreached and aims to strive. All men must try, the wind did see. It is the test, it is the dream.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“For nothing is truly complete until the day it is finally destroyed.”
Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Trilogy
“Gotta do what you can to stay alive, son. Turn a liability into an advantage whenever you can. Remember that, if you live.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Grains of sand will only flow with the winds, Kenton, never against them.”
Brandon Sanderson
White Sand
“Greet every morning with a smile. That way it won’t know what you’re planning to do to it?”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“Harmony protect us from small-minded men with too much power.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“Have you finally grown so jealous of my impeccable fashion sense that you’ve decided to have me disposed of?”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“He came like the wind, like the wind touched everything, and like the wind was gone. From The Dragon Reborn. By Loial, son of Arent son of Halan, the Fourth Age.”
Brandon Sanderson
A Memory of Light
“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.”
Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Trilogy
“He found what he’d hoped to see, the reason why she’d left so quickly. Just outsidee the tent, Lan held her tightly.”
Brandon Sanderson
A Memory of Light
“He gritted his teeth, frustrated with himself, but there was nothing he could do about years past. Perhaps he could change the future.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Rithmatist
“He had been more complex than that. Every person was.”
Brandon Sanderson
Arcanum Unbounded
“He was protecting. He was saving. Yet he was killing. How could something so terrible be so beautiful at the same time?”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“He was right. I was letting myself get distracted, like a rabbit doing math problems instead of looking for foxes.”
Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart
“He was running through mists again. Walls, people, buildings faded. Nothing but dark, swirling mists. But the mists had never been his enemy.”
Brandon Sanderson
Secret History
“Her aunt Sol had once told Shai to smile at the worst insults and snap at the minor ones. That way, no man would know your heart.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Emperor’s Soul
“Heroism is a myth you tell idealistic young people—specifically when you want them to go bleed for you.”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“History is like that, always gobbling up the present.”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“Holding your brain hostage against your own stupidity – that was how to get stuff done.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Bands of Mourning
“Honestly, for an evil god of darkness, he certainly can be dull.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“Honestly, I don’t know that the universe yould really handle everyone being infinite Batmans. Perhaps the point of God was to prevent nonsense like that.”
Brandon Sanderson
Legion
“Honor is dead. But I’ll see what I can do.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“How do you fight someone smarter than yourself?’ Rand Whispered. ‘The answer is simple. You make her think that you are sitting down across the table from her, ready to play her game. Then you punch her in the face as hard as you can.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
“How much of what you’ve done was about love, and how much was about proving something?”
Brandon Sanderson
Secret History
“However a man who was honest and clever was always, always more difficult to scam than someone who was both dishonest and clever. Sincerity. It was so difficult , by definition, to fake.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Emperor’s Soul
“Humans can see the world as it is not. It is why your lies can be so strong. You are able to not admit that they are lies.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“I always forgive curiosity. It strikes me as one of the most genuine of emotions.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“I don’t want to anger your grandmother by getting you killed. She made me a pie last week.”
Brandon Sanderson
Starsight
“I doubt you can understand the magnitude of the stupidity in your statement”
Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
“I fear not a child with a weapon he cannot lift, I will never fear the mind of a man who does not think.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“I feel like I should tell you,” Jorgen said over the radio, “that I now have a slug on each shoulder and three on my lap, all seeming vaguely uncomfortable that I’m touching them. I blame you.”
Brandon Sanderson
Sunreach
“I felt cowardly, but part of being in a team was about recognizing when someone else could do a job better than you. And part of being a man was learning to let your immortal girlfriend take a turn being the heroic one.”
Brandon Sanderson
Calamity
“I figured that once you’ve decided to jump off a cliff, you might as well pick the highest one. Why accept the risk, if not for the greatest prize?”
Brandon Sanderson
A Memory of Light
“I have never known anyone else,” Egwene said to him, “who will work so hard to avoid hard work, Matrim Cauthon.”
Brandon Sanderson
A Memory of Light
“I know, better than anyone else, that there are no heroes coming to save us. There are no good Epics. None of them protect us. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart
“I learned how much power over a situation you gain when you decide that you don’t care what others think of you.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Bands of Mourning
“I let out a sound that was definitely not a whimper. It was something far more manly, no matter what it sounded like.”
Brandon Sanderson
Firefight
“I mixed with ordinary people about the same way that a bucket of paint mixed with a bag of gerbils.”
Brandon Sanderson
Firefight
“I need you to stick your head in a bucket of water and slowly count to a thousand!”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“I never find hunts as interesting as everyone says they’re going to be. I don’t care how big the beast is—in the end, it’s really just butchery.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“I never wanted to be feared. If I regret one thing, it is the fear I have caused. Fear is the tool of tyrants. Unfortunately, when the fate of the world is in question, you use whatever tools are available.” (Brandon Sanderson Quotes)
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“I point out truths when I see them, Brightlord Sadeas. Each man has his place. Mine is to make insults. Yours is to be in-sluts.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“I say that there is no role for women—there is, instead, a role for each woman, and she must make it for herself.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“I think that’s everything. It was a fun job, wasn’t it? When you remember me, please remember that. Remember to smile. Now, move quickly. May you rule in wisdom.” – Kelsier”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“I think we could do far worse than having a fleet of M-Bots on our side. It might get a little strange to talk to you all, but…well, my life isn’t exactly normal these days anyway.”
Brandon Sanderson
Starsight
“I told you that if you are going to do something, son. You need to do it with all of your heart. You have something you didn’t have before. Hope. You’ve defeated one of them. They can be beaten.”
Brandon Sanderson
Awakening
“I tried to bring them back, but apparently fixing the bodies doesn’t return the souls.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Hero of Ages
“I want control,” she said, opening her eyes. “Not like a king or anything. I just want to be able to control it, a little. My life. I don’t want to get shoved around, by people or by fate or whatever. I just … I want it to be me who chooses.”
Brandon Sanderson
Edgedancer
“I was thinking that work is like fertilizer in that I’m glad it exists; I just don’t ever want to get stuck in it.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“I wasn’t a nerd, mind you, but I’d spent a lot of my youth studying Epics, so I’d had limited experience with social interaction. I mixed with ordinary people about the same way that a bucket of paint mixed with a bag of gerbils.”
Brandon Sanderson
Firefight
“I will protect those I hate. Even if the one I hate most is myself.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“I will sing to you. As your ship burns and your soul flees, I will sing. To the contest we had.”
Brandon Sanderson
Starsight
“I write these words in steel, for anything not set in metal cannot be trusted.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“I’m a thief, not a prophet. Sometimes, we just have to be what the job requires.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“I’m sorry that your mystical, godlike powers do not instantly work as you would like them to.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“I’m wondering if every person I pass has similar depths, and if there’s any way to avoid the mistake of judging them so shallowly that I’m rocked when they show their true complexity.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Bands of Mourning
“If all people are equal, then why is my opinion worth less than that of the expert?”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia
“If any of these women had been here instead of Nynaeve, the world would have ended.”
Brandon Sanderson
A Memory of Light
“If I should die, then I would do so having lived my life right. It is not the destination that matters, but how one arrives there.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“If men read these words, let them know that power is a heavy burden. Seek not to be bound by its chains.”
Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Trilogy
“If men should read these words, let them know that power is a heavy burden. Seek not to be bound by its chains.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“If nobody asked questions, then we would never learn anything.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“If nobody changes the world, if nobody works to make it better, then we stagnate.”
Brandon Sanderson
Firefight
“If people can’t tell when I’m being an idiot and when I’m being a genius, perhaps they’ll assume my blunders are brilliant political maneuvers.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“If the journey itself is indeed the most important piece, rather than the destination itself, then I traveled not to avoid duty—but to seek it.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“If the title changes so frequently, there can’t be any real power to it.”
Brandon Sanderson
Perfect State
“If there was a universal law regarding mankind, it was that they’d find a way to ferment anything, given time.”
Brandon Sanderson
Firefight
“If there was one thing Kelsier was good at, it was lying to himself.”
Brandon Sanderson
Secret History
“If we can choose, we can change. If we can’t change, then choice means nothing. I’m glad I feel this way, to remind me that I haven’t always felt the same. Been the same.”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“If we stop helping people because we’re afraid, or ambivalent or whatever, then we lose. Let them do evil. I’ll stop them.”
Brandon Sanderson
Firefight
“If you don’t believe what I’m telling you, then ask yourself this: would any decent, kind-hearted individual become a writer? Of course not.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
“If you ever encounter another of the Sleepless, tell them you’ve spoken with Arclo. I’m certain it will gain you sympathy.”
Brandon Sanderson
Arcanum Unbounded
“If you give up what you want most for what you think you should want more, you’ll end up miserable.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Hero of Ages
“If you had to shoot a man, society had already failed.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Bands of Mourning
“If you must fight a man, then you have already failed. Killing is, at best, a brutish way of solving problems.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“If you perpetuate the dreams of the past, you stifle your own dreams of the future.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“If you remove the foundation of trust from a relationship, then what is the point of that relationship?”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“If you spend your life knocking people down, you eventually find they won’t stand up for you.”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“If you’re always on time, it implies that you never have anything better you should be doing.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“Ignorance is hardly unusual, Miss Davar. The longer I live, the more I come to realize that it is the natural state of the human mind. There are many who will strive to defend its sanctity and then expect you to be impressed with their efforts.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“I’m convinced that responsibility is some kind of psychological disease.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia
“I’m from southern Arelon, Princess,” Ahan said, reaching for some more clams. “To us, round is beautiful. Not everyone wants their women to look like starving schoolboys.”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“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.”
Brandon Sanderson
Dawnshard
“I’m not crazy, I’m compratmentalized.”
Brandon Sanderson
Legion
“Impossible things are really rough to do, you know.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens
“In a three-way negotiation, the weakest party actually has the most power – because his allegiance added to either of the other two will choose the eventual winner.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“In fact, the entire nature of this State seemed to highlight that political power was just an illusion provided to engage and excite us.”
Brandon Sanderson
Perfect State
“In the end, all men die. How you lived will be far more important to the Almighty than what you accomplished.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“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.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“In the end, I stopped worrying about how strange you seemed. I realized that it didn’t really matter if I understood you, because I trusted you.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Hero of Ages
“In war, as in farming, you sometimes had to step in and get knee-deep in the muck.”
Brandon Sanderson
Towers of Midnight
“Incredible cosmic powers do not equate with high IQ.”
Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart
“Is human nature to believe that other places and other times are better than the here and now.”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“It became more difficult to ignore the part of her that whispered lies.”
Brandon Sanderson
Dawnshard
“It does strange things to you to realize that the conservative establishment is forcing you to be a progressive liberal fighter for universal rights.”
Brandon Sanderson
Perfect State
“It has always seemed to me that a coward is a person who cares more about what people say than about what is right. Bravery isn’t about what people call you, Spensa. It’s about who you know yourself to be.” (Brandon Sanderson Quotes)
Brandon Sanderson
Skyward
“It is a time of change,” Sazed said. ”Perhaps it is also time to learn of other truths, other ways.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“It is strange,” the man said. “People get such a small amount of time. So many I’ve known say it—as soon as you feel you’re getting a handle on things, the day is done, the night falls, and the light goes out.”
Brandon Sanderson
Edgedancer
“It looked like a bird – in the same way that a wolf looked like a lapdog.”
Brandon Sanderson
Sixth of the Dusk
“It seems odd that a place so remarkably agrarian could have produced the prophecies and theologies upon which the entire world now relies.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“It seems that the rebels found the chaos of transition more difficult to accept than the tyranny they had known before. They joyfully welcomed back authority-even oppressive authority-for it was less painful for them than uncertainty.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“It strikes me that religion—in its essence—seeks to take natural events and ascribe supernatural causes to them. I, however, seek to take supernatural events and find the natural meanings behind them. Perhaps that is the final dividing line between science and religion. Opposite sides of a card.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“It was about a hero who insisted with every breath that he was anything but a hero.”
Brandon Sanderson
A Memory of Light
“It was amazing how many books one could fit into a room, assuming one didn’t want to move around very much.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“It was an imitation of a comfortable home. Much like the man in front of us wore an imitation of a smile.”
Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart
“It was hard to explain to students that there was a rule that trumped all of the others: Always trust your instincts.”
Brandon Sanderson
Towers of Midnight
“It was rather difficult to throw a game when you had no idea what you were doing to win it in the first place.”
Brandon Sanderson
Warbreaker
“It was strange, how easily and quickly protection could cause destruction. Sometimes, Vasher wondered if the two weren’t really the same thing. Protect a flower, destroy pests who wanted to feed on it. Protect a building, destroy the plants that could have grown in the soil. Protect a man. Live with the destruction he creates.”
Brandon Sanderson
Warbreaker
“It was the teaching itself that I loved. At least, I loved it back when I thought it would be enough to change things.”
Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart
“It was too late to change one’s aim when the hammer was already falling. But it wasn’t too late to straighten his back.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“It will,” Wit said, “but then it will get better. Then it will get worse again. Then better. This is life, and I will not lie by saying every day will be sunshine. But there will be sunshine again, and that is a very different thing to say. That is truth. I promise you, Kaladin: You will be warm again.”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“It’s always a dangerous thing for a writer to resurrect a character. It threatens to undermine the consequences in a story, and minimizes the risks characters take.”
Brandon Sanderson
Secret History
“It’s good to care when you fight, so long as you don’t let it consume you. Don’t try to stop yourself from feeling. You’ll hate who you become.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“It’s honestly a wonder that writing groups produce writers at all, instead of walking insecurities raised entirely in echo chambers of bad advice.”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“It’s what happens when you shoot someone,” Wayne pointed out. “At least, usually someone has the good sense to get dead when you go to all the trouble to shoot them.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“It’s worse when they think they’re your friend. Gawx, the viziers. They make assumptions. They think they know you, then start to expect things of you. Then you have to be the person everyone thinks you are, not the person you actually are.”
Brandon Sanderson
Edgedancer
“It’s actually a rather romantic and dramatic story – one I would eagerly tell you, except for the fact that I recently forgot it, based on it being far too long and having not enough decapitations.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia
“It’s beneficial to have a reputation for honesty, if only so that one can lie at crucial moments.”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“It’s easy to believe in something when you win all the time…The losses are what define a man’s faith.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“It’s not evil, Rand. I know something evil when I smell it. This isn’t evil, it’s just incredibly stupid.”
Brandon Sanderson
A Memory of Light
“It’s not imitating anything; it has become a better version of itself.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Emperor’s Soul
“I’ve always been very confident in my immaturity.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“Journey before destination, you bastard.”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“Joy was more than just an absence of discomfort.”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“Just because I honor the Almighty doesn’t mean I’m going to accept any explanation. It might be religion, but it still has to make sense.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Just because you’ve had misfortune in your past doesn’t mean you have to give up on your future.”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“Just for that, I shall hunt your firstborn and laugh with glee as I tell them of your death in terrible detail, with many unpleasant adjectives!”
Brandon Sanderson
Skyward
“Kelsier watched after him, then did the only rational thing. He ate the bolt he’d taken from the bottom of the stool.”
Brandon Sanderson
Secret History
“Kind of looks like a potato who is pretending to be a man, and is worried someone will call his bluff.”
Brandon Sanderson
Legion
“Lately, I feel like my life is a book written in a language I don’t know how to read.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Hero of Ages
“Laugh when good things happen. Laugh when bad things happen. Laugh when life is so plain boring that you can’t find anything amusing about it beyond the fact that it’s so utterly unamusing.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener’s Bones
“Leadership is rarely about what we want, son. I think too few among the Alethi elite realize that fact.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Legends say that one of your ancestors —one of only two others to have this Talent—broke time and space together, forming a little bubble where nothing aged.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener’s Bones
“Let them see my weakness, and let them see me overcome it.”
Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Trilogy
“Let your actions defend you, not your words.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Librarians seemed to have a sixth sense for noticing when students were doing things they weren’t supposed to.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Rithmatist
“Life as a human being is about posturing and influence.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“Life before Death. Strength before Weakness. Journey before Destination.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Life breaks us, Teft. Then we fill the cracks with something stronger.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“Life was a tempest, whether you were a milkmaid or a queen. The queens were simply better at projecting control in the middle of that storm.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
“Life was so much harder, but potentially so much more fulfilling, when you found the courage to choose.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“Like a rockbud, humans were. Soft at first, but capable of gripping onto the stone and growing into something practically immovable.”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“Listening to this speech, he was half inclined to string himself up, which was really disturbing, since he was generally suicidal only in the mornings.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“Logic puzzles are intriguing. Mathematical computations can be intriguing. Political maneuvers are intriguing. But women … they should be nothing short of baffling.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Love can’t change the realities of our situation.” “No, but it can change people.”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“Magic works best for me when it aligns with scientific principles.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Emperor’s Soul
“Maybe there would be a Tinker city someday, too. They would buy up all of the colored dye, and everyone else in the world would ave to wear brown.’ – Mat” (Brandon Sanderson Quotes)
Brandon Sanderson
A Memory of Light
“Memories of my youth carried a lot of baggage.”
Brandon Sanderson
Calamity
“Men are unreliable in many things. But if there’s one thing you can count on, it’s their greed.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Men rarely see their own actions as unjustified.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“Merchants of the same type like to clump together. Seems dumb to me, but I guess merchants are like fish. Where you find one, you’ll find others.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Mocking a woman is like drinking too much wine. It may be fun for a short time, but the hangover is hell.”
Brandon Sanderson
Warbreaker
“My behavior is nonetheless, deplorable. Unfortunately, I’m quite prone to such bouts of deplorability–take for instance, my fondness for reading books at the dinner table.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“My eyelids drooped like angry drunk men stumbling down a street, looking for an alleyway in which to vomit.”
Brandon Sanderson
Firefight
“My life to yours. My breath become yours.”
Brandon Sanderson
Warbreaker
“My Megan is a sunrise, always changing, but beautiful the entire time.”
Brandon Sanderson
Calamity
“My robotic ghost would haunt your fleshy one.”
Brandon Sanderson
Starsight
“Names didn’t mean a whole lot in the Forests. Or maybe they meant everything. The right ones, that was.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
“Never apologize for being clever. It sets a bad precedent. However, one must apply one’s wit with care.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Never call this land hell, he had said. Respect the land as you would a dangerous beast, but do not hate it.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
“Never choose the card a man wants you to. Mat should have realized that. It was one of the oldest cons in creation.”
Brandon Sanderson
Towers of Midnight
“Never do anything standing that you can do sitting, or anything sitting that you can do lying down.”
Brandon Sanderson
Legion
“Never let your life depend on the competence of someone whose life isn’t also on the line.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Hero of Ages
“Never throw the first punch. If you have to throw the second, try to make sure they don’t get up for a third.”
Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart
“Never trust a man who tells you good news.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“Never underestimate the simple intimidating force of a man who won’t back down.”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“No man should try to know the future, nor lay claim to it, for it belonged only to the Almighty himself.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“No matter how good you were, someone was better. Live by that knowledge, and you would never grow so confident that you became sloppy.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Emperor’s Soul
“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.”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“No person was one single emotion; no person had only one desire. They had many, and usually those desires conflicted with one another like two rosebushes fighting for the same patch of ground.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Emperor’s Soul
“No, freedom was not lack of responsibilities—it was being able to do what was right, without having to worry if it was also wrong.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“Nobody walks a difficult path without stumbling now and again. It didn’t break you when you fell. That’s the important part.”
Brandon Sanderson
Towers of Midnight
“Nonsense. The sword is worth far more than that. I’ll throw in a pair of penis.”
Brandon Sanderson
Awakening
“Normal people did not hear voices. Zane did. He found insanity no excuse, however, for irrational behavior.”
Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Trilogy
“Not all librarians are evil cultists. Some librarians are instead vengeful undead who want to suck your soul.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener’s Bones
“Not contradicting a point and proving it are different things.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“Not that there’s anything wrong with humans. I find their frail, emotionally unstable, irrational natures quite endearing.”
Brandon Sanderson
Starsight
“Nothing was more dangerous for the sanity of men than a woman with too much time on her hands.”
Brandon Sanderson
Towers of Midnight
“Now, I had been frightened on several different occasions in my life. The most frightening of these involved an elevator and a mime.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
“Obsession with the Epics isn’t healthy. You need to watch yourself.”
Brandon Sanderson
Calamity
“Omens weren’t real. But the way people reacted to them was very real.”
Brandon Sanderson
Dawnshard
“On the three-hundredth anniversary of my birth, I finally managed to conquer the world.”
Brandon Sanderson
Perfect State
“Once one becomes a man, he can and must make his own decisions. But I do offer warning. Even a good thing can become destructive if taken to excess.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“Once the soul grows accustomed to the wound, it’s much harder to fix.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“One can cut the body, and it will heal – but do it over and over again in the same spot, and you will scar. The soul cannot be so different.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Emperor’s Soul
“One cannot apply logic as an absolute where human beings are concerned. We are not beings of thought only.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“One cannot seperate truth from actions…Physically inevitable or not, truth stands above all things. It is independant of who has the best army, who can deliver the longest sermons, or even who has the most priests. It can be pushed down, but it will always surface. Truth is the one thing you can never intimidate.”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“Our accents are clothing for our thoughts, my dear,” Wayne said. “Without them, everything we say would be stripped bare, and we might as well be screaming at one another.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“Our belief is often strongest when it should be weakest. That is the nature of hope.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“Our weakness doesn’t make us weak. Our weakness makes us strong. For we had to carry it all these years.”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“Owning things of value is secondary to creating things of value where none once existed.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“Pain lost its power when other things became more important”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“People are never pleased when you reveal that their beliefs are wrong.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
“People can do great things. However, there are some things they just can’t do. I, for instance, have not been able to transform myself into a Popsicle, despite years of effort.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
“People did not respond to anger. They did not respond to demands. Silence and questions, these were far more effective.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
“People don’t know how to handle schizophrenics. They’ve read stories, seen films. We make them afraid, though statistically we’re not any more likely to commit violent crimes than the average person.” (Brandon Sanderson Quotes)
Brandon Sanderson
Legion
“People need stories, child. They bring us hope, and that hope is real. If that’s the case, what does it matter whether people in them actually lived?”
Brandon Sanderson
Skyward
“People need stories, child. They bring us hope, and that hope is real.”
Brandon Sanderson
Skyward
“People were just too complex to reduce to simple personality traits.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“People who underestimated you were easier to manipulate.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“Perhaps a greater kindness would have been to stay away.”
Brandon Sanderson
Awakening
“Personally, I say, “Out of the frying pan and into the deadly pit filled with sharks who are wielding chainsaws with killer kittens stapled to them.” However, that one’s having a rough time catching on.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener’s Bones
“Pity can be a powerful tool. Anytime you can make someone else feel something, you’ve got power over them.”
Brandon Sanderson
Edgedancer
“Plan every battle as if you will inevitably retreat, but fight every battle like there is no backing down.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“Please, just remember that a woman’s mind is her most precious weapon. It must not be employed clumsily or prematurely.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Power was an illusion of perception, as Jasnah had said. The first step to being in control was to see yourself as capable of being in control.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“Proper loafing requires company. One man lying about is being idle; two men lying about is a lunch break.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“Prudence is for those who intend to live long lives”
Brandon Sanderson
Towers of Midnight
“Put two men together, and they will find something to argue about. Gather them into groups, and one group will find reason to oppress or attack another.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Religion worried him. It could ask men to do things they’d otherwise never do.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“Remember, the past need not become our future as well.”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“Respect is a thing earned and not demanded, Perrin Aybara.”
Brandon Sanderson
Towers of Midnight
“Respect is like manure. Use it where needed, and growth will flourish. Spread it on too thick, and things just start to smell.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Respect the people you lie to, Tao had taught her. Steal from them long enough, and you will begin to understand them.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Emperor’s Soul
“Respond to demands with silence, respond to challenges with questions.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
“She can shoot like a dream and she carries tiny grenades in her top, a bit of my addled mind thought. I think I might be in love.”
Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart
“She had a way of pouring everything of herself into what she did. When she fought, she was the blade. When she loved, she was the kiss. In that regard, she was far more … human than any I have known.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“She had spent months as a knife, held immobile at someone’s throat. It was time to cut.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“She hated dreams. They either showed her a life she couldn’t have, or a life that terrified her.”
Brandon Sanderson
Arcanum Unbounded
“She stuck her tongue out at him. A totally rational and reasonable way to fight a demigod.”
Brandon Sanderson
Edgedancer
“She was absolutely beautiful. She had long blonde hair, kind of the shade of a bowl of mac and cheese. She was smiling a wide, genuine smile—which was rather the shape of a macaroni and cheese noodle. She seemed to radiate light, much like a bowl of mac and cheese might if you stuffed a lightbulb into it. Her skin was soft and squishy, like— Okay. Maybe I’m too hungry to be writing right now.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens
“She wore trousers, because skirts were stupid, and boots, ‘cuz stuff needed to be kicked.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“She’d built her life around not having to wait for anyone or anything.”
Brandon Sanderson
Edgedancer
“Silence took one of the burlap sacks from her pack and handed it to William Ann, then removed her hammer. It wasn’t some war weapon, like her grandfather had spoken of. Just a simple tool for pounding nails. Or other things.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
“Small things were important. Seconds were small things, and if you heaped enough of those on top of one another, they became a man’s life.”
Brandon Sanderson
Towers of Midnight
“So if Cobb wanted me to turn, I’d turn. I’d turn until my fingers bled—until I rubbed the flesh from my hands and withered away to a skeleton. A skeleton who could turn really, really well.”
Brandon Sanderson
Skyward
“So it’s time for you to stand up, stop whining, and either help or get out of my way.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Dark Talent
“So many questions. Could she not think about what the answers might be before asking?”
Brandon Sanderson
Sixth of the Dusk
“So much about life was disappointment. He often wondered how humankind endured so long, and if the few moments when things went right really made up for all the rest.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Rithmatist
“So, there I was, tied to an altar made from outdated encyclopedias, about to get sacrificed to the dark powers by a cult of evil Librarians.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
“Some mistakes, though, you can’t fix by being sorry. Can’t fix them, no matter what you do.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“Some of you have been waiting for years to read this, the final volume of my autobiography.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Dark Talent
“Some people charged toward the goal, running for all they had. Others stumbled. But it wasn’t the speed that mattered. It was the direction they were going.”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“Some things just work. There is elegance in simplicity.”
Brandon Sanderson
Firefight
“Somebody has to start, son. Somebody has to step forward and do what is right, because it is right. If nobody starts, then others cannot follow.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“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.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Hero of Ages
“Sometimes a hypocrite is nothing more than a man in the process of changing.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“Sometimes doing things we used to do reminds us of who we used to be, and not always in good ways.”
Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart
“Sometimes fashion was silly. Bold, different. There was something invigorating about dressing in a way that interested others, moving with the waves of style.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Sometimes it was daunting, knowing how easily I could break things. This one simple curse seemed to dominate my entire life.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
“Sometimes the prize is not worth the costs. The means by which we achieve victory are as important as the victory itself.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Sometimes we find it hardest to accept in others that which we cling to in ourselves.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Sometimes you need to accept what you’ve lost, then move forward. Then you can instead realize what you’ve gained.”
Brandon Sanderson
Dawnshard
“Sometimes, people only seem determined upon one course because they have been offered no other options.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“Sometimes, you have to destroy something in order to build something better.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Hero of Ages
“Spook, child. You want to be like me? Really like me? Then fight when you are beaten!”
Brandon Sanderson
Secret History
“Standing out like a punk guitarist in a mariachi band.”
Brandon Sanderson
Firefight
“Strength does not make one capable of rule; it makes one capable of service.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Successful leaders all share one common trait—they believe that they can do a better job than the alternatives. Humility is fine when considering your responsibility and duty, but when it comes time to make a decision, you must not question yourself.” (Brandon Sanderson Quotes)
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“Surround yourself with people too afraid to speak, and you left yourself to only your own ideas. That could be disastrous. It was important to have men who would question you and see flaws in your plans, so long as you could control them. It was all about control.”
Brandon Sanderson
Awakening
“Tantrums are a noble and time-tested strategy,she said airily. Particularly if you have a good set of lungs and are facing down a crotchety old priest. I know Stewart; he always bends if you make enough noise.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Rithmatist
“That a thing is hated is not proof that it’s great art, but the lack of hatred is certainly proof that it is not.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“That didn’t stop the world from ending, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Hero of Ages
“That third one is the most fun. Kind of like gym class for the murderously insane.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
“That was a thing of wolves; they could know the past and the future, yet keep their attention on the hunt. Could he do the same? Allow himself to be consumed when needed, yet keep balance in other parts of his life?”
Brandon Sanderson
Towers of Midnight
“That was not a glare. That was a dignified look of measured contempt.”
Brandon Sanderson
Awakening
“That was one nice thing about books and notes. They could always wait for another time.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“That was terribly thoughtless of you. What good is having friends if they don’t put you in mortal peril every once in a while?”
Brandon Sanderson
The Rithmatist
“That was the nature of the waters. You never knew what lurked below.”
Brandon Sanderson
Sixth of the Dusk
“That was the strangest thing that had happened to me since starting flight school, and I spent my mornings talking to a slug.”
Brandon Sanderson
Skyward
“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?”
Brandon Sanderson
Dawnshard
“That’s an answer in the same way that ketchup can be hair gel.”
Brandon Sanderson
Firefight
“That’s the point, isn’t it? We have to live on, no matter how hard it gets. We’ll win in the end.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“That’s what trust is. It’s about giving someone else power over you. Power to hurt you.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Hero of Ages
“The body needs many different foods to remain healthy. And the mind needs many different ideas to remain sharp.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“The difference between good and evil men is not found in the acts they are willing to commit—but merely in what name they are willing to commit them in.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Bands of Mourning
“The end is near,” Moridin said. “The Wheel has groaned its final rotation, the clock has lost its spring, the serpent heaves its final gasps.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
“The explosion, it seemed, had shocked the life into people.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Dark Talent
“The first step to being in control was to see yourself as capable of being in control.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“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.”
Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Trilogy
“The human mind was very clever at tricking itself, at keeping the despair of inevitability at bay.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“The immortal demigod took a throaty slurp of her beer, then slammed the mug down onto the table, grinning like a four-year-old who had been paid in cookies to rat out her sister.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“The interesting thing about people is that while they might seem unique, they actually play into broad patterns. Historically, the working class has often been more resistant to change than the class oppressing them.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“The law is not something holy, son. It’s just a reflection of the ideals of those lucky enough to be in charge.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“The law is there to keep us from ruining everyone else’s ability to explore. Without law, there’s no freedom.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Bands of Mourning
“The Law of Inevitable Occurrence. In layman’s terms, this law states that some things simply have to happen. If there’s a red button on a console with the words don’t push taped above it, someone will push it. If there’s a gun hanging conspicuously above Chekhov’s fireplace, someone is going to end up shooting it.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener’s Bones
“The life of a person is more than the chaos of its passing.”
Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Trilogy
“The man who wants you to trust him is the one you must fear the most.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“The mark of a great man is one who knows when to set aside the important things in order to accomplish the vital ones.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“The measure of a person is not how much they have lived. It’s in how they make use of what life has shown them.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“The more alone you are,” Waxillium said softly, “the more important it is to have someone you can rely upon.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“The more power a man held, the more likely he was to be an idiot with it.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
“The most dangerous kind of man is not the one who spent his youth shoving others around. That kind of man gets lazy, and is often too content with his life to be truly dangerous. The man who spent his youth being shoved around, however … When that man gets a little power and authority, he often uses it to become a tyrant on par with the worst warlords in history.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Rithmatist
“The most important step a person can take is always the next one.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“The most important truths can always withstand a little examination.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia
“The most important word a man can say are, “I will do better.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“The nature of the world is that when we create something, we often destroy something else in the process.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Hero of Ages
“The newest pups always blame the elders of the pack.”
Brandon Sanderson
Towers of Midnight
“The only reason to be subservient to those with power is so that you can learn to someday take what they have.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“The past was a field of embers and ash, an old Saldaean proverb said, the remnants of the fire that was the present.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
“The people who end up dead are the ones who lose control. Don’t let your nerves determine how this plays out.”
Brandon Sanderson
Legion
“The problem with being clever, Serene thought with a sigh, is that everyone assumes you’re always planning something.”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“The problem with people was that everyone saw other nations from far away. Saw them as big mountainous blobs. Foreigners. Strange. Got it.”
Brandon Sanderson
Dawnshard
“The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“The purpose of youth is to experience variety while it is still interesting.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“The question 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.” (Brandon Sanderson Quotes)
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“The real reason everything looks the same has to do with one simple concept: underpants.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens
“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.”
Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Trilogy
“The robots, on the other hand, acted like a bunch of youthful dreams and got thoroughly crushed.”
Brandon Sanderson
Calamity
“The sickness I feel right now, this pain – this is responsibility.”
Brandon Sanderson
White Sand
“The sun peeked over the horizon like the head of a giant radioactive manatee.”
Brandon Sanderson
Calamity
“The sunrise didn’t need to be beautiful to be beautiful.”
Brandon Sanderson
Calamity
“The surest way to stay alive in the underworld was to make yourself indispensable.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“The Survivor said that we should smile,” the priest pled. “He taught that we should not let our sorrows drag us down no matter how bad life became.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“The topics of our ignorance may change, but the nature of the world is that no man may know everything.”
Brandon Sanderson
A Memory of Light
“The trick is not to satisfy everyone, but to leave everyone feeling they reached the best possible result.”
Brandon Sanderson
Towers of Midnight
“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.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“The truth is not a downer,” Abraham said in his lightly accented voice. “The lies that you pretend to accept are the true downer.”
Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart
“The two great constants of life. Food and death.”
Brandon Sanderson
Firefight
“The ways of Wayne are mysterious and incomprehensible.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“The whole world could be going wrong, but seeing her made him forget.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“The wisest of men know that to render an insult powerless, you often need only to embrace it.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“The world ends tomorrow, but the day after that, people are going to ask what’s for breakfast.”
Brandon Sanderson
Edgedancer
“The world’s gone mad: joining it is the only solution.”
Brandon Sanderson
Calamity
“Their heads are heads of rock, their hearts set upon rock. Set your sights on something higher. Something more grand.”
Brandon Sanderson
Skyward
“Then he lifted them out of the wreckage on a line of blue light.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“There are more than a few cities like Newcago, where the ruling Epics are clever enough to realize that a population with mobiles is a population they can propagandize and control.”
Brandon Sanderson
Calamity
“There are no endings, and never will be endings, to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was an ending.”
Brandon Sanderson
A Memory of Light
“There are two ways to stay safe, Reen’s voice whispered to her. Either be so quiet and harmless that people ignore you, or be so dangerous that they’re terrified of you.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“There is beauty in compassion, but one must learn wisdom too.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“There is honor in loss. If that loss brings learning.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“There is no greater indication of youth, perhaps, than the desire for everything to be as it should.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“There isn’t much time for a plan. This is more of a hunch with scaffolding.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“There was more to all of this than he’d ever known, and because of that he had a reason to live. Perhaps more importantly, he had a reason to stay sane.”
Brandon Sanderson
Secret History
“There was nothing more bitter than a soul who had had its chance and thrown it away.”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“There was rarely an obvious branching point in a person’s life. People changed slowly, over time. You didn’t take on step, then find yourself in a completely new location. You first took a little step off a path to avoid some rocks. For a while, you walked alongside the path, but then you wandered out a little way to step on softer soil. Then you stopped paying attention as you drifted farther and farther away. Finally, you found yourself in the wrong city, wondering why the signs on the roadway hadn’t led you better.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Emperor’s Soul
“There was safety in being the one everyone else looked to. I felt everything, but I didn’t want anyone to know it.”
Brandon Sanderson
Sunreach
“There were books involved.”
Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Trilogy
“There were great advantages to being unimportant.”
Brandon Sanderson
Warbreaker
“They all want to be involved, but nobody wants to be responsible.”
Brandon Sanderson
Warbreaker
“They looked so dangerous, like alligators. Really fast alligators wearing black. Ninja alligators. I decided not to use that one on Megan.”
Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart
“They say they give their women more freedom, but there’s still the impression that the freedom was theirs to ‘give’ in the first place.”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“They were the lowest in the army, and yet they bore the weight of kings.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Thievery was the most authentic form of flattery. What could be more satisfying than knowing the things you possessed were intriguing, captivating, or valuable enough to provoke another man to risk everything to obtain them? This was Kelsier’s purpose in life, to remind people of the value of the things they loved. By taking them away.”
Brandon Sanderson
Secret History
“This is life, and I will not lie by saying every day will be sunshine. But there will be sunshine again, and that is a very different thing to say. That is truth.”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“This is my story. Or, well, part four of it. Otherwise known as “The part where everything goes wrong, and then Alcatraz has a cheese sandwich.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens
“This is the true test of a man. He who will stand when others grow complacent.”
Brandon Sanderson
Firefight
“This was a kid who scheduled extra time in his day for sneezes when he had a cold.”
Brandon Sanderson
Skyward
“This world, it is a tempest sometimes. But remember, the sun always rises again.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Those people gave in to their pain because they couldn’t find purpose—their torture was meaningless, and when you can’t find reason in life, you tend to give up on it.”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“Those who take lightly promises they make to those they love are people who find little lasting satisfaction in life. This is not an easy time in which to live. That does not mean that it has to be a difficult time to love, but it does mean that you will find unusual stresses upon your lives and your relationship.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“Those who take lightly promises they make to those they love are people who find little lasting satisfaction in life.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“Though most expect young men to be fools, I’ve noticed that just a little bit of age can make a man far more foolish than he was as a child.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“Though, if you think about it, hostile, dethroned pseudodeities probably make disagreeable neighbors. You’ll have to figure out something to do with him.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“To be of use in even a single burst of flame and sound is worth more than a lifetime of achieving nothing.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“To be young is about action. To be a scholar is about informed action.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“To believe in a God was to accept that He or She wasn’t going to deliver you from every problem.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“To believe, it seemed, one had to want to believe.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Hero of Ages
“To lack feeling is to be dead, but to act on every feeling is to be a child.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“To live is to have worries and uncertainties. Keep them inside, and they will destroy you for certain leaving behind a person so callused that emotion can find no root in his heart.” (Brandon Sanderson Quotes)
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“To live was to be a fragment of the cosmere that was experiencing itself.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“To love the journey is to accept no such end. I have found, through painful experience, that the most important step a person can take is always the next one.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“Too many of us take great pains with what we ingest through our mouths, and far less with what we partake of through our ears and eyes.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“True art was more than beauty; it was more than technique. It was not just imitation.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Emperor’s Soul
“Truth can never be defeated, Sarene. Even if people do forget about it occasionally.”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“Two blind men waited at the end of an era, contemplating beauty.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“Two hands. One to destroy, the other to save. Which had he lost?”
Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
“Unknowing ignorance is preferable to informed stupidity.”
Brandon Sanderson
Warbreaker
“Using a fetching face to make men do as you wish is no different from a man using muscle to force a woman to his will. Both are base, and both will fail a person as they age.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“Wayne held back a smile, tucking it into his pocket for later use.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Bands of Mourning
“We are not creatures of destinations. It is the journey that shapes us. Our callused feet, our backs strong from carrying the weight of our travels, our eyes open with the fresh delight of experiences lived.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“We are Forescouts. We survive. We will be the ones to defeat the Evil, someday.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
“We follow the codes not because they bring gain, but because we loathe the people we would otherwise become.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“We may feel in control, but we never truly are unless we understand people. Controlling our environment is no longer about blocking the wind, it’s about knowing why the serving lady was crying last night, or why a particular guard always loses at cards. Or why your employer hired you in the first place.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Emperor’s Soul
“We must not cower in the dark because we’re afraid of the spark within us. The answer is not to put out the spark, but to learn to control it.”
Brandon Sanderson
Skyward
“We never lack men and women who wish to lead.” “True,” Dalinar said, “but we do lack ones who are good at it.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“We remember the good times and the bad ones, forgetting that most times are neither good nor bad. They just are.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“We want what we can’t have, even when we have no right to demand it.”
Brandon Sanderson
Firefight
“We were an audience watching a duet. A duet in which the violinists tried to ram their violins down each other’s throats.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia
“We were like deaf people trying to dance to a beat we couldn’t hear, long after the music actually stopped.”
Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart
“Weakness can imitate strength if bound properly, just as cowardice can imitate heroism if given nowhere to flee.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Well, I myself find that respect is like manure. Use it where needed, and growth will flourish. Spread it on too thick, and things just start to smell.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“We’re like rats in cages. It’s a beautiful cage, but still a cage.”
Brandon Sanderson
Perfect State
“We’re not moments, Megan, you and me. We’re events. You say you might not be the same person you were a year ago? Well, who is? I’m sure not. We change, like swirling clouds around a rising sun.”
Brandon Sanderson
Calamity
“What could be worse than being granted great power, yet still being too weak to save those he loved?”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“What do you trust when your own thoughts and emotions seem to hate you?”
Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart
“What good is seeking a greater law, when that law can be the whims of a man either stupid or ruthless?”
Brandon Sanderson
Edgedancer
“What if everybody is frightened, and nobody has the answers?”
Brandon Sanderson
Edgedancer
“What is a government but an institutionalized method of making sure somebody else does all the work?”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“What kind of backward culture still had a hereditary monarchy?”
Brandon Sanderson
Starsight
“What separates the heroes from the villains? One speech in the night?”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“What was the good of acting out fake stories? Why not go live a few stories of your own?”
Brandon Sanderson
Towers of Midnight
“What was the purpose, then, of everything they taught in here? If it couldn’t prevent men from acting like monsters?”
Brandon Sanderson
The Bands of Mourning
“What you did tonight was clever,” Wit said. “You turned an attack into a promise. The wisest of men know that to render an insult powerless, you often need only to embrace it.”
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance
“What you haven’t realized before is that all libraries are far more dangerous than you’ve always assumed.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
“Whatever this man wanted, Kelsier’s instincts said that he shouldn’t be allowed to have it.”
Brandon Sanderson
Arcanum Unbounded
“When an officer runs by with a look like that on his face, you don’t ask if he needs help. You just follow!”
Brandon Sanderson
Towers of Midnight
“When change comes, you can scream and try to force things to stay the same. But you’ll usually end up getting trampled. However, if you can direct the changes, they can serve you.”
Brandon Sanderson
Towers of Midnight
“When good men disobeyed, it was time to look at your orders.”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“When heritage becomes a box instead of an inspiration, it has gone too far.”
Brandon Sanderson
Skyward
“When I finally lie down, I find sleep elusive. The same thoughts that trouble me during the day are only compounded by the stillness of night.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“When men fought, they connected. You became brothers as you traded blows.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
“When one achieves immortality, one must find purpose beyond the struggle to live, as old Axies always said.”
Brandon Sanderson
Arcanum Unbounded
“When this is finished, I think I should like to live where it is warm all year.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“When you can’t have both freedom and safety, what do you choose?”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“When you’re young, you can assume that everyone older than you has life figured out. Once you get command yourself, you realize we’re all just the same kids wearing older bodies.”
Brandon Sanderson
Starsight
“Where there are villains, there will be heroes. Just wait. They will come.”
Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart
“White to be bold. White to not blend into the night. White to give warning. For if you were going to assassinate a man, he was entitled to see you coming.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Who do you think is stronger?” Adolin asked. “The man who has walked easily his entire life, or the man with no legs? The man who must pull himself by his arms?”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“Why do they call it research if I’ve only done it this one time?”
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“Without the glowing fruit, the place was as black as the inside of a can of black paint that had also been painted black.”
Brandon Sanderson
Firefight
“Wondering where the Mokians get all those shark teeth? Well it involves using children who read the last pages of books first as bait.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens
“Words aren’t meant to be kept inside, you see. They are free creatures, and if locked away will unsettle the stomach.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Wouldn’t tennis be way more interesting with explosive balls?”
Brandon Sanderson
The Dark Talent
“Wrongness can be amusing. It keeps life interesting. If we were all right all the time, where would that leave us?”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“Yes, Bastille. I keep trying to get killed because it’s inconvenient for you.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia
“Yes, I’m alive,” Mat said. “I’m usually pretty good at staying alive. I’ve only failed one time that I can remember, and it hardly counts.”
Brandon Sanderson
A Memory of Light
“You are inexperienced. So was I, once. So is every man. The measure of a person is not how much they have lived. It is not how easily they jump at a noise or how quick they are to show emotion. It’s in how they make use of what life has shown them.” (Brandon Sanderson Quotes)
Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law
“You are not worse for your association with the world, but it is better for its association with you.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“You are offered proof only once you believe, but if you believe, you can find proof in anything. It is a logical conundrum.”
Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Trilogy
“You are worried I’ve started something dangerous,” I said. “You’re wrong. I’m not starting it, I’m finishing it.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Dark Talent
“You came all this way, leaving behind luxury, to eat some pancakes.” “Really awesome pancakes.”
Brandon Sanderson
Arcanum Unbounded
“You can beat anybody, Wayne always said, so long as you don’t let them fight back properly.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Bands of Mourning
“You can’t immerse yourself in something,” Prof said softly, “without coming to respect it.”
Brandon Sanderson
Firefight
“You can’t just say ‘don’t be offended’ and then say something offensive, man! That’s not how it works.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Bands of Mourning
“You cannot tempt the hearts of men who are pure.”
Brandon Sanderson
Warbreaker
“You can’t be so frightened of what might happen that you are unwilling to act.”
Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart
“You can’t just avoid the game by saying you don’t want to play.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“You could not arrive at excellence by the average of these people. Excellence was an individual quest, not a group effort.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“You could not stop times from changing, his mother said, no more than you could stop the surf from rolling.”
Brandon Sanderson
Sixth of the Dusk
“You could tell a lot about people from the way they talked. You saw their past, their upbringing, their aspirations—all in the words they used.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“You do not agree with my quest. I understand that, so much as it is possible to understand someone with whom I disagree so completely.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“You don’t have to believe in my miracles. You can call them accidents or coincidences, if you must. But don’t pity me for my faith. And don’t presume that you’re better, just because you believe something different.”
Brandon Sanderson
Warbreaker
“You don’t stop loving someone just because they hurt you,” he said. “It would certainly make things easier if you did.”
Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Trilogy
“You don’t have to believe in my miracles. You can call them accidents or coincidences, if you must. But don’t pity me for my faith. And don’t presume that you’re better, just because you believe something different.”
Brandon Sanderson
Warbreaker
“You don’t have to smile. You don’t have to talk. But if you’re going to be miserable, you might as well do it with friends.”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“You fix it, and you fly. You find a way, and you defy them. For those of us who don’t have the courage.”
Brandon Sanderson
Skyward
“You get to choose who you are. Legacy, memories of the past, can serve us well. But we cannot let them define us. When heritage becomes a box instead of an inspiration, it has gone too far.”
Brandon Sanderson
Skyward
“You had to adapt. Move. Change. That was good, but it could also threaten identity, connection, and sense of purpose.”
Brandon Sanderson
Shadows of Self
“You must love him enough to trust his wishes, even if you disagree with them. You must respect him—no matter how wrong you think he may be, no matter how poor you think his decisions, you must respect his desire to make them. Even if one of them includes loving you.”
Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Trilogy
“You must love him enough to trust his wishes, even if you disagree with them. You must respect him – no matter how wrong you think he may be, no matter how poor you think his decisions, you must respect his desire to make them. Even if one of them includes loving you.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension
“You need someone to talk to, Noril, when the darkness is strong. Someone to remind you the world hasn’t always been this way; that it won’t always be this way.”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“You never could tell what a man would do when he was drunk, even if that man was your own self.”
Brandon Sanderson
Towers of Midnight
“You never know how much you’ll like something until you try it out.”
Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart
“You realize he’s claiming to have been in the Olympics, she sent. But a leprechaun stole his medal.”
Brandon Sanderson
Calamity
“You see, that is the sad, sorry, terrible thing about sarcasm. It’s really funny.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
“You see, the great thing about madness is that it’s all in your head.”
Brandon Sanderson
Warbreaker
“You should try not to talk so much, friend,” he suggested. “You’ll sound far less stupid that way.”
Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Trilogy
“You should try not to talk so much, friend. You’ll sound far less stupid that way. – Breeze”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“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.”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“You should try using one of Brandon Sanderson’s fantasy novels. They’re big enough, and goodness knows that’s really the only useful thing to do with them.”
Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener’s Bones
“You tried to help the people of the market. You mostly failed. This is life. The longer you live, the more you fail. Failure is the mark of a life well lived. In turn, the only way to live without failure is to be of no use to anyone. Trust me, I’ve practiced”
Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer
“You trusted me enough to jump off the wall, and I caught you.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Final Empire
“You want to fight a god? You’d better have one on your side too.”
Brandon Sanderson
Calamity
“You will be surprised how much more profitable an independent man is than a slave who thinks of nothing more than his next meal.”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“You will find that hate can unify people more quickly and more fervently than devotion ever could.”
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
“Your father never fit in here either. He never fit in anywhere. It’s part of what I like about him.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Dark Talent
“You’re always willing to give others more charity than you extend yourself.”
Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War
“You’re my pet Voidbringer, and no lies are going to change that. I got you captured. No stealing souls, now. We ain’t here for souls. Just a little thievery, the type what never hurt nobody.”
Brandon Sanderson
Edgedancer
“You’re not asking me to guess the mind of Matrim Cauthon, are you?” Elayne asked. “I’m convinced that Mat only acts simple so that people will let him get away with more.”
Brandon Sanderson
A Memory of Light
“Youthful immaturity is one of the cosmere’s great catalysts for change.”
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
“You’ve got passion to kill but you need to find passion to live.”
Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart
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