Quotes About Legacy

If I should die," Dalinar said, "then I would do so having lived my life right. It is not the destination that matters, but how one arrives there." "The Codes?" "No. The Way of Kings." "That storming book.

I am, unfortunately, the Hero of Ages.

You want to change the world, Shallan. That's well and good. But be careful. The world predates you. She has seniority.

They say a man doesn't know himself until he faces death for the first time. . . I don't know about that. It seems to me that the person you are when you're about to die isn't as important as the person you are during the rest of your life. Why should a few moments matter more than an entire lifetime?

I hadn't been fighting because of my father's death. I fought because of his dreams.

When heritage becomes a box instead of an inspiration, it has gone too far.

Small things were important. Seconds were small things, and if you heaped enough of those on top of one another, they became a man's life.

History is like that, always gobbling up the present.

No army, no matter how clean its reputation, walked away from war untainted. And no leader, no matter how noble, could help but sink into the crem when he stepped into the game of conquest.

Somehow, she had grown into a woman in between the fall of kings and collapse of worlds. Once she had been terrified of change. Then she had been terrified of losing Elend. Now her fears were more nebulous - worries of what would come after she was gone, worries of what would happen to the people of the empire if she failed.

The old Words must be spoken again.

The Hero of Ages shall be not a man, but a force. No nation may claim him, no woman shall keep him, and no king may slay him. He shall belong to none, not even himself.

I think that's everything. It was a fun job, wasn't it? When you remember me, please remember that. Remember to smile. Now, move quickly. May you rule in wisdom." - Kelsier

We always pretend the ideals and culture of the past have aged like wine, but in truth, the ideas of the past tend to age more like biscuits. They simply get stale.

The life of a person is more than the chaos of its passing.

Who... who are you?" "I am what you will soon be. I am a survivor.

Kaladin stared outward at the blue sky. "I have to know," he whispered. "Know?" "You asked why I protect Dalinar. I have to know if he really is what he seems, Syl. I have to know if one of them lives up to his reputation. That will tell me-" "Tell you? Tell you what?" "If honor is dead, Kaladin whispered. "He is," Syl said. "But he lives on in men. And in me.

Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination. Speak again the ancient oaths and return to men the Shards they once bore.

Honor' is a word applied to the actions of men from the past who have had their lives scrubbed clean by historians.

Good men don't become legends.

A little fear, a little history, those things don't mean anything. Only what we do means anything.

Children in the future were going to insist my adventures were too outlandish—and therefore I wasn't an actual historical person, but one that was obviously made up, like Gilgamesh or David Bowie.

Remembering the fallen was important, but working to protect the living was more so.

Wit smiled. "All stories told have been told before. We tell them to ourselves, as did all men who ever were. And all men who ever will be. The only things new are the names.