The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)

by Brandon Sanderson

you can’t go someplace a second time until you been there a first time,

“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.”

“That’s like trying to stop a storm by blowing harder. Ridiculous. You can’t protect by killing.”

“Authority doesn’t come from a rank,” Kaladin said, fingering the spheres in his pocket. “Where does it come from?” “From the men who give it to you. That’s the only way to get it.”

I understand that, so much as it is possible to understand someone with whom I disagree so completely.

The means by which we achieve victory are as important as the victory itself.”

If a king is seen to assume the burden of the poorest of men, perhaps there will be those who will help him with his own load, so invisible, yet so daunting.

We remember the good times and the bad ones, forgetting that most times are neither good nor bad. They just are.”

Strength for strength’s sake? What good was strength unless you did something with it?

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.”

praise should be honest, but it should never be withheld.

Thirty-four years old. That seemed ancient in some regards—some

😑

A story doesn’t live until it is imagined in someone’s mind.”

“The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon. Too often, we forget that.”

Kings, they explained, do not walk like beggars for hundreds of miles. My response was that if a beggar could manage the feat, then why not a king?

‘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.

he must not become so focused on what he wishes to accomplish that he diverts his gaze from the path he must take to arrive there.’

“The finest defense of character is correct action. Acquaint yourself with virtue, and you can expect proper treatment from those around you.”

Dalinar didn’t buy the arguments about a ‘good’ fight being a close one. When you won, it was always better to win quickly and with extreme advantage.

Strength does not make one capable of rule; it makes one capable of service.”

weakness can imitate strength if bound properly, just as cowardice can imitate heroism