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

by Brandon Sanderson

“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.”

“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.

Can a person afford to be exclusive with what they ingest? Whether we speak of food or of thoughts?”

The hallmark of insecurity is bravado.

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.”

those who care fight harder, longer, and better than those who don’t. It’s the difference between mercenaries and real soldiers. It’s the difference between fighting to defend your homeland and fighting on foreign soil.

Expect honor from those you meet, and give them the chance to live up to it.

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.”

There is no greater indication of youth, perhaps, than the desire for everything to be as it should. As it has ever been.”

‘Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination.’

“The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.

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

Somebody has to start, son. Somebody has to step forward and do what is right, because it is right. If nobody starts, then others cannot follow.

It doesn’t matter what you create. It matters what you create before anyone else.

“So it’s not the beauty itself we admire. It’s not the force of intellect. It’s not invention, aesthetics, or capacity itself. The greatest talent that we think a man can have?” He plucked one final string. “Seems to me that it must be nothing more than novelty.”

“What is it we value?” Wit whispered. “Innovation. Originality. Novelty. But most importantly … timeliness.