Wind and Truth (The Stormlight Archive, #5)

by Brandon Sanderson

He’d imagined Lightweavers as strange beings who turned the truth into whatever they wanted it to be. But perhaps re-forming the truth into what you wanted it to be was not a trait merely of liars, but of all human beings.

Maybe that as well was simply life. To be pulled between two partial truths. Sivi had tried so hard to get him to accept that, and he’d always resisted. For if life was about partial truths as much as it was about singular ones, then all other aspects of his existence became extremely messy.

It is not my goal to begin a new religion, or to inspire a division in Vorinism. However, I insist that when I was at my darkest moments, there was something there with me, and it was not the being we called the Almighty. He is dead. And even if he were not, I would find his actions increasingly suspect. —From the epilogue to Oathbringer, by Dalinar Kholin

I realize this is, in a way, ridiculous. I, who proclaim a god to be dead, am also the one who rejects the idea that no God exists. And yet my very being—soul, mind, body—rebels at the idea that nothing out there cares. It must. —From the epilogue to Oathbringer, by Dalinar Kholin

Jasnah says that the existence of an all-powerful and all-loving God must be questioned by the simple evidence of injustices done in life to the innocent, such as the child who dies from disease. —From the epilogue to Oathbringer, by Dalinar Kholin

Jasnah’s argument is probably the greatest a person could make against what I teach, and so it must be addressed. I am not certain I have the philosophy, the words, or the experience to do so with the respect it deserves. —From the epilogue to Oathbringer, by Dalinar Kholin

But I will say that for me, the existence of something that cares—and can, after death, make up for injustices in life—is not the question. But the answer. —From the epilogue to Oathbringer, by Dalinar Kholin. Excerpt used at his tribunal, in absentia—for the appeal filed on his behalf by supporters after his excommunication from the Vorin church—as evidence of continued heresy.

Unite them. Dalinar still occasionally heard echoes of that command vibrating through him. He thought that hadn’t come from the Stormfather or Honor, but from a god that once had existed, and might yet, if not in a form people recognized.

If you started to think that your enemy had planned for every decision you could make, then you’d let your fear of being wrong guide you instead of a reliance upon the facts you’d discovered.

A feint could work even if you knew it was a feint, because it left you worried about what else you might be missing.

You are right, and your letter to me was—characteristically—full of wisdom and excellent deductions.

Renarin would always love his brother for that, and would always quietly resent being unable to do it for himself.

I accept that we cannot continue as we have.

“I die!” Leyten shouted, spasming. “The Scholar with a Spear! I die by the hands of a friend! My spren screams in death, and I know that I have failed to lead! I am no captain! I am nothing! Vyre strikes me, and my eyes burn!”

In the past, I’ve held on too tightly. I’ve worked on that, but find that sometimes my grip is too loose.

“I am in awe, Navani. I didn’t realize your scholarly methods could help us understand the ways of the gods.” “Dalinar,” she said, “understanding the ways of God is the primary purpose of science.”

“I climb the wall of grief toward the light, locked away above! I climb, the weight of my darkened twin on my back, and seek the captive! The light I love! I … Storms … the light I love!”

With you, it was both, wasn’t it? Suffocating at times, yet not involved enough at others.

“Hey,” he said to the sword, his voice muffled in his helm. “I’m Adolin. I need to borrow you for a little while, if that’s all right.”

In the end, it is my lies that do me in. Another lesson I fail to learn time and time again. I recognize this flaw. I hope it does not someday destroy me.

I offer my most sincere apology for everything wrong I’ve done. I am glad we tried. I am sorry that I continue to be someone with whom a relationship is nearly impossible.

Szeth deserves to make his own choices, he thought. If I step in, I take that from him—and that’s not who I want to be. If I don’t control myself, I can’t protect, can’t help. If I let what Tien’s death did to me happen again and again, I will break. I can’t keep a stranglehold on those I love. And finally, most potent of all: I have to live for myself. Let him go for now.

Goodbye. It might be a great long time before we see one another again, if ever.

I sense I’ve done a poor job of explaining the exact nature of anti-Light. This might be in part because even I, its discoverer, do not yet understand all the nuances of what I’ve done, though I do worry the ramifications of it will be felt for ages. —From Rhythm of War, first coda, Navani Kholin

Some might assume that Light and anti-Light are opposites, as can be found in philosophy, though not truly in actual physical science. Hot banishes and destroys cold. Light banishes and destroys dark. Likewise, one might say that Light and anti-Light are opposites in that they are mutually destructive. —From Rhythm of War, first coda, Navani Kholin

… In mathematics, we have negative numbers—an impossible reality, yet an extremely useful model, as explained by the woman who developed them. Negative one balances with one to create zero, both evening out at nothing. —From Rhythm of War, first coda, Navani Kholin

This is closer to the interactions of Light and anti-Light, yet I do not fully accept it as the proper parallel either. —From Rhythm of War, first coda, Navani Kholin

Instead, I find the closest model to be that of destructive interference in sound. A destructive waveform is not itself an opposite, but indeed the exact same waveform played opposite the primary one. —From Rhythm of War, first coda, Navani Kholin

The destructive version of a melody is not its opposite, then, but instead the exact same song played back at precisely the right time to negate the melody. If you were to hear the two in isolation, you would not be able to tell the difference. —From Rhythm of War, first coda, Navani Kholin

You can’t let your soldiers question the difference between the moral decision and the right one. Make them the same thing!”

Anti-Light is not inherently the opposite of standard Light, nor is it negative, or imaginary, or a philosophical opposite. It is a different phase of the same entity. I see it more like the same melody, played at a different time. —From Rhythm of War, first coda, Navani Kholin

“Enjoy. It.” “Enjoy it?” Shallan asked. “What?” “Life.”

“We were formed by the Almighty, and find our deepest joy in building, creating, making oaths—and keeping them. The truly special experience of marriage is the chance to help one another in this journey. None of us is perfect, and so none of us can keep oaths perfectly. Though you remain devoted, there will be fires of anger, frustration, confusion, and pain.

“I believe that in nothing are we so blessed,” Kadash continued, “as we are in our ability to accept one another as imperfect, yet trying.

If you played the “destructive” melody and the primary melody at the same time, they would reinforce one another instead of destroying. This is humans and singers. Not opposites. The same song. Played at different times. —From Rhythm of War, first coda, Navani Kholin

And yet, Odium didn’t know him. Dalinar. Who he had become deep down; Odium couldn’t see that man. For that man … he could not be broken by the truth. Truth was the weapon once used to bloody him, pulled from his own flesh afterward, and now held up as his finest blade.

Unite them. Who he had been. Who he was. Who he would become.

Dalinar strode through the fire, and it could not touch him, for he was the thing shadows and flames feared. He was a man who did not care what they revealed.

“You will love,” the haunting voice continued. “You will hurt. You will dream. And you will die. Each man’s past is your future.” “Then what’s the point?” Dalinar begged. “Why? Must everything I do have no meaning because of the terrible choices I once made?” “Ah, Dalinar,” the voice said. “Listen. Remember. 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.”

“Your pain,” the voice said. “All men have the same ultimate destination, Dalinar. But we are not creatures of destinations. It is the journey that shapes us. Our callused feet. Your callused feet. Our backs strong from carrying the weight of our travels. Your back strong from carrying the weight of your travels. Our eyes open. Your. Eyes. Open. You kept the pain, Dalinar. Remember that. For the substance of our existence is not in the achievement, but in the method…”

Then, with Rysn’s permission, they began laying out the schematics for the intricate gemstone-changing device that let her chair have such smooth flight. That included the specifics of the gravity- and ocean-wave-based propellant prototypes, both of which were far more efficient than simply having a track of chulls move your ship.

Few combatants win on board or battlefield without first having won the fight against their own minds. —Proverbs for Towers and War, Zenaz, date unknown

Fear the old man who welcomed failure when young. If he has survived this long, he learned. —Proverbs for Towers and War, Zenaz, date unknown

The fool will, when losing, seek to flip the board and scatter the pieces. This is not an adage for towers. —Proverbs for Towers and War, Zenaz, date unknown

The best way to win is to provide your opponent with no options but to lose. But beware the assumption that you have considered every possibility. —Proverbs for Towers and War, Zenaz, date unknown

In every game are a hundred paths to failure. But not always a single one to victory. It is not weakness to admit that another general must fight this foe another day. —Proverbs for Towers and War, Zenaz, date unknown

No general can control a battlefield. He must instead learn to ride it like one does an untamed beast. But you can practice and prepare for that eventuality. —Proverbs for Towers and War, Zenaz, date unknown

Even if an emperor makes the laws, when we uphold them, the laws become ours. The responsibility ours. And every action those people took … that blood was on their hands.”

The first rule of warfare is to know your enemy. If you can guess what he will do, then you have already won. —Proverbs for Towers and War, Zenaz, date unknown

The second rule of warfare is to know your terrain. Your enemy cannot conquer mountains or rivers. Turn them against him. —Proverbs for Towers and War, Zenaz, date unknown