Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive, #4)

by Brandon Sanderson

They are your legacy. Treat them with care. They will define how you are remembered.”

Veil was growing increasingly upset that nobody had kidnapped her.

“You humans sleep literally every day. You’ve been practicing it all your lives.”

you’re deliciously weird sometimes.

On one hand, contradictions in nature or science were testaments to the logical, reasonable order of all things. When a hundred items indicated a pattern, then one broke that pattern, it showcased how remarkable the pattern was in the first place. Deviation highlighted natural variety. On the other hand, that deviant stood out. Like a fraction on a page of integers. A seven within a sequence of otherwise sublime multiples of two. Contradictions whispered that her knowledge was incomplete. Or—worse—that maybe there was no sequence. Maybe everything was random chaos, and she pretended the world made sense for her own peace of mind.

Jasnah enjoyed finding inconsistencies in data.

he hated the idea of punishing a group of good men because one of them might be a spy.

Kaladin felt increasingly glad for what Adolin had done. Not because Kaladin felt better; he was still miserable. Yet the misery did lessen around others, and it required Kaladin to keep up a semblance. To pretend. It might be a front, but he’d found that sometimes the front worked even on himself.

“Extinction is the natural escalation of this war,” Leshwi whispered. “If you forget why you are fighting, then victory itself becomes the goal.

“Imagine it this way. You know how you can make an imprint in crem, then let it dry, and fill the imprint with wax to create a copy of your original object? Well, that happened to my soul. When I died, I was drenched in power. So when my soul escaped, it left a duplicate. A kind of … fossil of a soul.”

Odium wasn’t simply the mind that controlled the power: the Vessel. Nor was he merely that power alone: the Shard. He was both, and at times it seemed the power had desires that were counter to the purposes of the Vessel.

The mind did not like being questioned, but the power … It liked questions. It liked arguments. It was passion. There was a weakness here. In the division between the Vessel and the Shard.

you can never have too many swords.

Whimsy was not terribly useful, and Mercy worries me. I do think that Valor is reasonable, and suggest you approach her again. It has been too long, in her estimation, since your last conversation.

they’re cute. So cute I could have died! Except I can’t, because I’m an eternal sliver of God himself, and we have standards about things like that.”

You seem to have discovered my one great weakness: actually listening to anything I say.

“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.”

Never underestimate the simple intimidating force of a man who won’t back down.

“One is never wrong to question,” Dalinar said. “You taught me that.”

shrugged. “If there is a god, then I think we could find him in the way we care about one another.

The methods must match the ideal to be obtained.”

You are wise,

You cannot reach the end of a proof without many steps in the middle, Shallan. I was to be the middle step.”

“I’m not speaking of my ancestors,” Navani said, strapping the sheath on so the flats of the gemstones touched her arm. “I’m speaking of myself.”

You know better than I what your limits are,

It’s not such a terrible thing, to be too weak. Makes us need one another.

I’ve been waiting for someone to actually ask. They never seem to.

“This is a dream, idiot,” Wit said. “It’s not real.”

“Hint,” Design whispered to Kaladin, “that’s impossible. A dog can’t become a dragon.”

I have bonded,” he said, “a literal monster.

“For years, I’ve had to make do with hints of illusions. Suggesting scenes. Leaving most to the imagination. Now, having the power to do more, I find it less satisfying.

Cgi

I should thank you not to demean me by insisting my art must be trying to accomplish something.

“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.”

she would be the one who obtained the most freedom.

Honor is not dead so long as he lives in the hearts of men!

good science wasn’t about sloppy inspiration. It was about meticulous incrementalization.

“I’d be the world’s biggest hypocrite if I couldn’t love you despite your occasional stupid idea.”

We’ve gotta do what we think is best, and be fine with that. It’s all a man can do.”

Teft was worth saving.

“But I like confusion. Too often we belittle it as a lesser Passion. But confusion leads a scholar to study further and push for secrets. No great discovery was ever made by a femalen or malen who was confident they knew everything.

Formless … Formless … Was just Shallan. And Shallan wanted to do this. She wanted to show them what she truly was. So it would be over.

“Of course I am,” Veil said. “I’m your veil, Shallan.”

Thats just perfect

“I killed her,” Shallan whispered. “I killed my spren. My wonderful, beautiful, kindly spren. I broke my oaths, and I killed her.”

“We! CHOSE!”

You. Cannot. Have. My. SACRIFICE!”

Her ancestors might have been aliens to this world, but she was its child.

Part of being smart, in his experience, was about speed more than capacity.

Jasnah, am someone who is not bound.

Who in the world would dispute an idea as fundamental as hope? Yet because we all accept it as vital, we don’t think about it. What it really means. You do.”

“But I promised to unite instead of divide. I don’t do that by giving my book only to those who agree with me.