Tress of the Emerald Sea

by Brandon Sanderson

The girl wondered why men so often used food to describe women’s features. There was a hunger to such men that was best avoided.

if every other option has been discarded as impossible, then insanity might—in this case—be practical.”

If you wish to become a storyteller, here is a hint: sell your labor, but not your mind.

I’m drowning in bravery, cleverness, and heroism. Instead, kindly give me a little common sense.

“Most people never live, Tress, because they’re afraid of losing the years they have left…years that also will be spent not living. The irony of a cautious existence.”

Beyond that, memories have a way of changing on us. Souring or sweetening over time—like a brew we drink, then recreate later by taste, only getting the ingredients mostly right.

What else would she have never known about herself, if she hadn’t left her home island? Worse, how many people like her lived in ignorance, lacking the experience to fully explore their own existence?

Indeed, the path to a life without empathy is a long and painful one, full of bartered humanity sold at a steep discount.

If bravery is the wind that makes us soar like kites, fear is the string that keeps us from going too far.