The Emperor's Soul Quotes

“There was rarely an obvious branching point in a person's life. People changed slowly, over time. You didn't take on step, then find yourself in a completely new location. You first took a little step off a path to avoid some rocks. For a while, you walked alongside the path, but then you wandered out a little way to step on softer soil. Then you stopped paying attention as you drifted farther and farther away. Finally, you found yourself in the wrong city, wondering why the signs on the roadway hadn't led you better.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“Control yourself, she told herself forcibly. Become someone who can deal with this. She took a deep breath and let herself become someone else. An imitation of herself who was calm, even in a situation like this. It was a crude forgery, just a trick of the mind, but it worked.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“A person was like a dense forest thicket, overgrown with a twisting mess of vines, weeds, shrubs, saplings, and flowers. No person was one single emotion; no person had only one desire. They had many, and usually those desires conflicted with one another like two rosebushes fighting for the same patch of ground.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“No matter how good you were, someone was better. Live by that knowledge, and you would never grow so confident that you became sloppy.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“Her aunt Sol had once told Shai to smile at the worst insults and snap at the minor ones. That way, no man would know your heart.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“He found himself weeping.

Not for the future or for the emperor. These were the tears of a man who saw before himself a masterpiece. True art was more than beauty; it was more than technique. It was not just imitation.

It was boldness, it was contrast, it was subtlety.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“However a man who was honest and clever was always, ALWAYS more difficult to scam than someone who was both dishonest and clever.
Sincerity. It was so difficult , by definition, to fake.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“If you were the wall, what would you rather be? Dreary and dull, or alive with paint?"
"Walls can't think!"
"That doesn't stop them from caring.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“It's not imitating anything; it has become a better version of itself.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“People", Shai said, rising to fetch another seal, "by nature attempt to exercise power over what is around them. We build walls to shelter us from the wind, roofs to stop the rain. We tame the elements, bend nature to our wills. It make us feel as if we're in control. Except in doing so, we merely replace one influence with another. Instead of the wind affecting us, it is a wall. A man-made wall. The fingers of man's influence are all about, touching everything. Man-made rugs, man-made food. Every single thing in the city that we touch, see, feel, experience comes as the result of some person's influence.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“There was rarely an obvious branching point in a person's life. People changed slowly, over time. You didn't take one step, then find yourself in a completely new location. You first took a little step off the path to avoid some rocks. For a while, you walked alongside the path, but then you wandered out a little way to step on softer soil. Then you stopped paying attention as you drifted farther and farther away. Finally, you found yourself in the wrong city, wondering why the signs on the roadway hadn't led you better.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“Magic works best for me when it aligns with scientific principles.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“You can’t always write what you know—not exactly what you know. You can, however, write what you see.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“We may feel in control, but we never truly are unless we understand people. Controlling our environment is no longer about blocking the wind, it's about knowing why the serving lady was crying last night, or why a particular guard always loses at cards.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“One can cut the body, and it will heal - but do it over and over again in the same spot, and you will scar. The soul cannot be so different.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“All things exist in three Realms, Gaotona. Physical, Cognitive, Spiritual. The Physical is what we feel, what is before us. The Cognitive is how an object is viewed and how it views itself. The Spiritual Realm contains an object’s soul—its essence—as well as the ways it is connected to the things and people around it.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“True art was more than beauty; it was more than technique. It was not just imitation.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“There are . . . times when one must accept the aid of darkness in order to contain a greater darkness.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“We may feel in control, but we never truly are unless we understand people. Controlling our environment is no longer about blocking the wind, it’s about knowing why the serving lady was crying last night, or why a particular guard always loses at cards. Or why your employer hired you in the first place.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“He found himself weeping. Not for the future or for the emperor. These were the tears of a man who saw before himself a masterpiece. True art was more than beauty; it was more than technique. It was not just imitation. It was boldness, it was contrast, it was subtlety. In this book, Gaotona found a rare work to rival that of the greatest painters, sculptors, and poets of any era. It was the greatest work of art he had ever witnessed. Gaotona”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“People,” Shai said, rising to fetch another seal, “by nature attempt to exercise power over what is around them. We build walls to shelter us from the wind, roofs to stop the rain. We tame the elements, bend nature to our wills. It makes us feel as if we’re in control. “Except in doing so, we merely replace one influence with another. Instead of the wind affecting us, it is a wall. A man-made wall. The fingers of man’s influence are all about, touching everything. Man-made rugs, man-made food. Every single thing in the city that we touch, see, feel, experience comes as the result of some person’s influence. “We may feel in control, but we never truly are unless we understand people. Controlling our environment is no longer about blocking the wind, it’s about knowing why the serving lady was crying last night, or why a particular guard always loses at cards. Or why your employer hired you in the first place.” Gaotona”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“That was always their mistake—assuming they knew why Shai did what she did.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“People,” Shai said, rising to fetch another seal, “by nature attempt to exercise power over what is around them. We build walls to shelter us from the wind, roofs to stop the rain. We tame the elements, bend nature to our wills. It makes us feel as if we’re in control.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“In her business, there were many who laughed at honest men, calling them easy pickings. That was a fallacy. Being honest did not make one naive. A dishonest fool and an honest fool were equally easy to scam; you just went about it in different ways. However, a man who was honest and clever was always, always more difficult to scam than someone who was both dishonest and clever.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“The empire was not a terrible thing. Neither was it a wonderful thing. The empire simply 'was'. The people suffered its rule because they were comfortable with its little tyrannies. Corruption was inevitable. You lived with it. It was either that or accept the chaos of the unknown.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“smile at the worst insults and snap at the minor ones. That way, no man would know your heart.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“I am depending upon you to preserve us in power by means of this art we so freely call an abomination. Our hunger for power outweighs our conscience.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“Every single thing in the city that we touch, see, feel, experience comes as the result of some person’s influence.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“One can cut the body, and it will heal—but do it over and over again in the same spot, and you will scar.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

“No person was one single emotion; no person had only one desire. They had many, and usually those desires conflicted with one another like two rosebushes fighting for the same patch of ground.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul