Tress of the Emerald Sea

by Brandon Sanderson

More twisted than a librarian’s love life (trust me, they’re a strange bunch),

Sanderson, I have some notes. But continue, please.

If you wish to become a storyteller, here is a hint: sell your labor, but not your mind. Give me ten hours a day scrubbing a deck, and oh the stories I could imagine. Give me ten hours adding sums, and all you’ll have me imagining at the end is a warm bed and a thought-free evening.

One of the great tragedies of life is knowing how many people in the world are made to soar, paint, sing, or steer—except they never get the chance to find out.

It’s beautiful in a way only something so terrifying can inspire, and terrifying in a way that only something so beautiful can demand.

You can’t taste a memory without tainting it with who you have become.