Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3)

by Brandon Sanderson

There are no foolish oaths. All are the mark of men and true spren over beasts and subspren. The mark of intelligence, free will, and choice.

“It is my solemn and important duty to bring happiness, light, and joy into your world when you’re being a dour idiot. Which is most of the time. So there.”

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.

I mean, is there really someone out there who looks at relationships and thinks, ‘You know what, I’ve got this’? Personally, I rather think we’re all collectively idiots about it.”

Time, the Stormfather said. Which, though dross to him, is the most valuable thing a man can have.

“Every moment in our lives seems trivial,” Zahel said. “Most are forgotten while some, equally humble, become the points upon which history pivots.

Parshmen did breed, though people often spoke of them being bred, like animals. And, well, that wasn’t far from the truth, was it? Everyone knew it.

the nature of slavery. people regarded as livestock

softly. “But sometimes a hypocrite is nothing more than a person who is in the process of changing.”

It doesn’t have to be about humans against parshmen. It can be nobler than that. Oppressed against the oppressors.”

“I can’t help but feel a kinship to them, Syl.”

This makes me think of the saint Patrick's battalion during the Mexican American war

You’ll never be able to do enough to satisfy yourself, Kaladin.

“Sequels always have to be bigger,”

this sounds like Sandersosn's philosophy

“How hard can it be to learn how to fly? Skyeels do it all the time, and they are ugly and stupid. Most bridgemen are only one of those things.”

“I don’t mind people believing what works for them, Uncle. That’s something nobody ever seems to understand—I have no stake in their beliefs. I don’t need company to be confident.”

I wish more people actually felt like tthis

People will still try to classify me by the thing that makes me an outsider.

new. I have never gone to battle where some poor fools on either side—men who didn’t want to be there in the first place—weren’t going to bear the brunt of the pain.” “Maybe,” Kaladin said, “that should make you reconsider those other wars, rather than using them to justify this one.”

It was about this point that Shallan realized she’d missed a good fifteen minutes of the meeting, and had again lapsed in her note-taking.

I relate to this as an ADD person. My mind jumps around like a drop on a hot griddle

“I like to live every day like it’s my last.” Shallan nodded. “And by that I mean lying in a puddle of my own urine, calling for the nurse to bring me more pudding.”

He felt good lots of days. Trouble was, on the bad days, that was hard to remember. At those times, for some reason, he felt like he had always been in darkness, and always would be.

This is exactly what chronic depression is like

“I’m not completely useless with a sword. But … part of me doesn’t see the point.”

Did Kaladin just make a pun? (apparently he doesn't even realize it)

Are you out there, Sah? Did they bring you and the others here? What of Sah’s little daughter, who had collected flowers and clutched playing cards like a treasured toy? Was Khen there, the parshwoman who had demanded Kaladin retain his freedom, despite being angry at him for the entire trip?

How sad Kal would feel if he found out that helping them had caused the punishment they were experiencing

“Every child eventually realizes that her father isn’t actually God.”

“You boys done comparing your swords?” Shallan asked.

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.”

“No. For you see, it flows the other direction. You are not worse for your association with the world, but it is better for its association with you.”

Something to aspire to

“Then live. And let your failures be part of you.”

Find the balance. Accept the pain, but don’t accept that you deserved it.”

spheres. She’d always hated the Alethi, who had acted like they were benevolent parents encountering wild children to be educated. They had pointedly ignored the culture and advancements of Venli’s people, eyeing only the hunting grounds of the greatshells

this reminds me so much of the attitudes towards indigenous people

“I had a splinter once,” Shallan noted. “It eventually got out of hand.”

“Rudeness doesn’t necessarily imply untruth though.”

“But maybe you shouldn’t be looking for life to be easier because you choose to do something that is right! Personally, I think life is fair. It’s merely that often, you can’t immediately see what balances it.”

“Sometimes, a hypocrite is nothing more than a man who is in the process of changing.”

‘The question,’ she replied, ‘is not whether you will love, hurt, dream, and die. It is what you will love, why you will hurt, when you will dream, and how you will die. This is your choice. You cannot pick the destination, only the path.’ ”

“We certainly are an odd bunch.” “Yes. Seven people. Odd.”

It’s true, isn’t it? he thought at the Stormfather. Storms … we’re not the defenders of our homeland. We’re the invaders.

I've felt this about being an American descendent of colonists

When has any man ever been content with what he has? “When has any tyrant ever said to himself, ‘This is enough’?”

The most important step a man can take. It’s not the first one, is it? It’s the next one. Always the next step, Dalinar.

“If I pretend … If I pretend I didn’t do those things, it means that I can’t have grown to become someone else.”

why we have to know our history

“If I must fall, I will rise each time a better man.”

“I’m broken.” “Who isn’t? Life breaks us, Teft. Then we fill the cracks with something stronger.”

You could not arrive at excellence by the average of these people. Excellence was an individual quest, not a group effort.

“Everything I’ve done,” Amaram said, blinking red eyes, “I’ve done for Alethkar. I’m a patriot!”

This sounds like all of the people who have tried to co-opt democracy and remake the country in their own image