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November 5 - November 20, 2025
Spit it out. Words aren’t meant to be kept inside, you see. They are free creatures, and if locked away will unsettle the stomach.”
“Past failure does not prove that there is not chance in the future, yes?”
“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.”
Sometimes we find it hardest to accept in others that which we cling to in ourselves.
“Too many of us,” she said, “take great pains with what we ingest through our mouths, and far less with what we partake of through our ears and eyes. Wouldn’t you say?”
He’d been breeding axehounds since his youth, and had discovered—as had many before him—that the smarter an animal was, the more likely it was to disobey.
The hallmark of insecurity is bravado.
The means by which we achieve victory are as important as the victory itself.”
Need. That word had strange effects on men. Some ran when you used it. Others grew nervous. Teft seemed to long for it.
“Tradition is the blind witness they use to condemn
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.”
has it ever struck you that most masculine arts deal with destroying, while feminine arts deal with creation?”
“Must someone, some unseen thing, declare what is right for it to be right? I believe that my own morality—which answers only to my heart—is more sure and true than the morality of those who do right only because they fear retribution.”
“You are old enough to wonder, to ask, to reject what is presented to you simply because it was presented to you. But you also cling to the idealism of youth. You feel there must be some single, all-defining Truth—and you think that once you find it, all that once confused you will suddenly make sense.”
Does one deserve to have evil done to her by consequence of putting herself where evil can reach her?
“Spren appear when something changes—when fear appears, or when it begins to rain. They are the heart of change, and therefore the heart of all things.”
‘Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination.’
‘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. “ ‘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.
“The finest defense of character is correct action. Acquaint yourself with virtue, and you can expect proper treatment from those around you.”
Then they released one another and Dalinar turned to the soldiers around them. “It is time for us to fight,” he said, voice growing louder. “And we do so not because we seek the glory of men, but because the other options are worse. We follow the Codes not because they bring gain, but because we loathe the people we would otherwise become. We stand here on this battlefield alone because of who we are.”
What good was it to fight, what good was it to win, if there was no difference between ally and enemy? What was victory?
I’ve remembered what kind of spren I am.” “Is this the time for it, Syl?” “I bind things, Kaladin,” she said, turning and meeting his eyes. “I am honorspren. Spirit of oaths. Of promises. And of nobility.”
The lighteyes don’t care about life, Lirin had said. So I must. So we must. So you must. … Life before death. I’ve failed so often. I’ve been knocked to the ground and trod upon. Strength before weakness. This would be death I’d lead my friends to … Journey before destination. … death, and what is right.
