Quotes from Brandon Sanderson

Could a man both believe, and not believe, at the same time?

The enemy thinks he's won. But I want to see his face when he realizes the truth. Don't you? It's going to be delightful.

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

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.

But you can't be amazed at the convergent examples of domestication across the cosmere. You can't know any of this, because you live on a giant ball of rock full of slime where everything is wet and cold all the time. This is a dog, Kaladin. They're fluffy and loyal and wonderful.

Remember, despite the fact that this book is being sold as a "fantasy" novel, you must take all of the things it says extremely seriously, as they are quite important, are in no way silly, and always make sense. Rutabaga.

Sometimes, continuing to breathe is a tough enough prospect

Logic doesn't work on Wayne." "I bought a ward against it off a traveling fortune-teller," Wayne explained. "It lets me add two 'n' two and get a pickle.

The end of the world has come, and still nobody will listen.

Glass broke and metal tools clattered to the ground. "Have you any idea what all of that is worth?" Shezler growled, lowering his arm and advancing. "Your soul, apparently," Kelsier whispered.

You came all this way, leaving behind luxury, to eat some pancakes." "Really awesome pancakes.

Middle ground only comes in war after lots of people have died—and only after the important people are worried they might actually lose.

We were supposed to be Defiant.

That music the water makes," she said. "Isn't it the most wonderful sound ever?" "The most wonderful sound ever is the lamentations of my enemies, screaming my name toward the heavens with ragged, dying voices.

It has been my experience that most problems in life are caused by a lack of information. Many people just don't know the things they need to know. Some ignore the truth; others never understand it.

Technically, I was a part owner of that noodle shop. What? Renowned interdimensional storytellers can't invest in a little real estate now and then?)

I don't think I'd ever realized, until that moment, that a person could be beautiful and ugly at the same time. When you're a teenage boy, you want the beautiful people to be truly beautiful. It's hard to see otherwise, stupid as it sounds. I guess I owe her for that." "It's a lesson a lot of people never learn, Adolin.

His brothers, Spin. They're wingmates, Nightstorm Six and Seven.

I doubt hell has this much Kool-Aid

Brandon: How does the character fit into the story, how will people expect them to fit into the story, and how, therefore, can I make them incongruous for those expectations? I'm looking for incongruity. Ask yourself why this character cannot fill the role in the plot that they are expected to fulfill. Ask yourself who would be perfect for this role. I'm not going to use that person.

It frightens me," Shallan said, "because we all see the world by some kind of light personal to us, and that light changes perception. I don't see clearly. I want to, but I don't know if I ever truly can.

All things have a soul. A vase, a wall, a chair. And when a vase is broken, it might die in the physical realm, but for a time its soul remembers what it was. So all things die twice. Its final death is when men forget it was a vase, and only think of the pieces. I imagine the vase floating away then, its form dissolving into the nothingness.

You're supposed to be some kind of wagon with legs,' Kaladin said to the thing. 'You're worth more than a village. Prove it to me. Get going! Forward! Onward!' The horse licked the rocks.

Perhaps, unlike you, not all people are accustomed to turning every single item in their lives into a competition," M-Bot said. "Oh, come on," I said. "I'm not that bad." "I recorded you trying to get Kimmalyn to have a tooth-brushing contest the other night in the barracks." "Just a little fun," I said. "Besides, gotta kill that plaque good and dead.