The Rithmatist (Rithmatist, #1)

by Brandon Sanderson

“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.

You are young, Joel. Young enough that you still have time to decide the type of man you would like to become. Do not let jealousy, bitterness, or anger be what guides that path.

school is about learning to learn. If you don’t practice studying things you don’t like, then you’ll have a very hard time in life.

logic didn’t always change the way a person felt.

Life wasn’t simple. It never had been simple. He just hadn’t known.

“Do you know why time is so confusing to some of us, Joel?” Nalizar asked. Joel said nothing. “Because man created it. He sectioned it off. There is nothing inherently important about a second or a minute. They’re fictional divisions, enacted by mankind, fabricated.” He eyed Joel. “Yet in a human’s hands, these things have life. Minutes, seconds, hours. The arbitrary becomes a law. For an outsider, these laws can be unsettling. Confusing. Frightening.” He flipped the coin back to Joel. “Others of us,” he said, “take more concern to understand—for a person rarely fears that which he understands.