Quotes from WoR

[Tamzin Ashevai she/her]

“‘Power is an illusion of perception.’”

- Jasnah to Shallan, p. 47 HC

“‘Some kinds if power are real – power to control armies, power to Soulcast. These come into play far less often than you would think. On an individual basis, in most interactions, this thing we call power – authority – exists only as it is perceived.’”

- Jasnah to Shallan, p. 47 HC

”Control is the basis of all power.”

- Jasnah’s words, in Shallan’s memory, p. 147 HC

“‘Iriali need no preaching, only experience. As each experience is different, it brings completeness. Eventually, all will be gathered back in - when the Seventh Land is attained - and we will once again become One.’”

- Ym to a street urchin, p. 175 HC

“‘As One, we knew truth … but as many, we need ignorance. We exist in variety to experience all kinds of thought. That means some of us must know and others must not - just like some must be rich, and others must be poor. … More people did know this, once.’”

- Ym to a street urchin, pp. 175-176 HC

“‘Justice does not expire.’”

- Nalan to Ym, p. 178 HC

”Courage. Passion. Want what you need, embrace it, desire it and bring it to you.”

- Rysn, in her mind in response to the charm worn by a guard, p. 187 HC

“‘You have to know a predator’s tricks before you can catch him.’”

- Talik to Rysn, p. 191 HC

”Progress is learning to control your world.” ... “Progress was taking nature and putting a box around it.”

- Eshonai, in her mind, p. 198 HC

“‘Stupidity is a function of one’s surroundings … ‘“.

- Shallan to Bluth, p. 212 HC

“‘You wish any honor were left for you, but know you’ve already given it away.’”

- Bluth to Shallan, p. 232 HC

“‘Truth is sometimes more surprising than a lie.’”

- Shallan to Tyn, p. 311 HC

“‘You have to stare the world in the eyes, all all its grimy brutality. You have to acknowledge its depravities. Live with them. It’s the only way to accomplish anything meaningful.’”

- Sadeas to Amaram, p. 348 HC

“‘… you are rarely cut by a weapon if you are the one holding its hilt.’”

- Sadeas to Ialai, p. 353 HC

“‘War means desperation, and desperation is our mother’s milk, kid.’”

- Tyn to Shallan, p. 386 HC

“‘... The lies we tell, the dreams we create, they’re not real. We can’t let them be real.’ … ‘When a good con woman dies, it’s usually because she starts believing her own lies. She finds something good and wants it to continue. She keeps it going, thinking she can juggle it. One day more, she tells herself. One day more, and then … .’”

- Tyn to Shallan, p. 387 HC

“Just because you learned how to lie didn’t mean you had to let the lie rule you.”

- Shallan, in her mind, p. 388 HC

“‘Sometimes. we must do things we don’t like, kid. Difficult things.’”

- Tyn to Shallan, p. 390 HC

“This was the mark of humankind: to take the wild, unorganized world and make something logical of it. You could get so much more done when everything was in its place, when you could easily find what or whom you needed. Creativity required such things.

Careful planning was, indeed, the water that nourished innovation.”

- Navani, in her mind, p. 412 HC

“True wit was controlled wit. It shouldn’t be allowed to run free, any more than an arrow should be loosed in a random direction.

- Shallan, in her mind, p. 428

”Authority is not a real thing. … It is mere vapors - an illusion. I can create that illusion … as can you.”

- Jasnah’s words, in Shallan’s memory, p.484 HC

“To create art was not to capture it, but to participate in it.”

- Shallan, in her mind, p. 554 HC

“‘The Almighty save a man when his female relatives collude about his future, … .’”

- Adolin to Shallan, p. 568 HC

“‘If you want to understand a people, learn their weapons. The way men kill one another says far more about a culture than any scholar’s ethnography.’”

- Mraize to Shallan (as Veil), p. 616 HC

“Men who glory in the hunt seek grand captures …”. “Trophies. …”.

- Shallan (as Veil) to Mraize, p. 627 HC

“Better to be overly cautious than naive.”

- Shallan, in her mind, p. 632 HC

“‘All people are musicians, ...’ ‘The question is whether or not they share their songs. As for music being feminine, it’s interesting that the woman who wrote that treatise - the one you all practically worship in Alethkar - decided that all of the feminine tasks involve sitting around having fiun while all the masculine ones involve finding someone to stick a spear in you. Telling, eh?’”

- Wit to Kaladin, p. 638 HC

“‘The difference between a successful thief and a dead thief is knowing when to escape with your takings.’”

- Huqin to Lift, p. 687 HC

“‘That is a joke, … . … Sarcasm is similar. You replace an expected result with one grossly unexpected, and the humor is in the juxtaposition.’”

- Pattern to Shallan, p. 735 HC

““‘As I fear not a child with a weapon he cannot lift, I will never fear the mind of a man who does not think.’””

- Dalinar to Navani (from TWoK), p. 795 HC

“‘Unlike a sword, scorn has only the bite you give it.’”

- Dalinar to Navani, with regard to Sadeas, p. 795 HC

“‘The wisest of men know that to render an insult powerless, you often need only to embrace it.’

… ‘It is an era for tyrants. I doubt this place is ready for anything more, and a benevolent tyrant is preferable to the disaster of weak rule. Perhaps in another place and time, I’d have denounced you with spit and bile. Here, today, I praise you as what this world needs.'”

- Wit to Dalinar, p. 797 HC

“To be human was often to be forced to choose between distasteful options. Life wasn’t clean and neat like [syl] wanted it to be. It was messy, coated with crem. No man walked through life without getting covered in it, not even Dalinar.”

- Kaladin, in his mind, p. 801 HC

“‘Whenever your enemy changes established tactics, you need to worry. It could mean they’re getting desperate. Desperation is very, very dangerous.’”

- Adolin to Shallan, p. 812 HC

“‘… great art is a matter of contrast. Some lights and some darks. The happy, smiling, radiant lady and the dark, brooding, malodorous bridgeman.’

… ‘A great figure painting, ...shows the hero with inherent contrast - strong, yet hinting at vulnerability, so that the viewer can relate to him.’”

- Shallan to Kaladin, p. 835 HC

“‘Do not take pleasure in suffering, … . … ‘Even when it is a work of our hands.’ … ‘Particularly when it is a work of our hands.’”

- Taravangian to Mrall, p. 903 HC

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

- Aladar to Dalinar, p. 927 HC

“‘Sometimes good men must die so that the greater goals may be accomplished.’”

- Amaram to Kaladin, p. 932 HC

“Contradictions. Those were what made people real.”

- Shallan, in her mind, p. 946 HC

Re: creationspren; “‘They don’t do[/]anything. They flit around and watch, admire. Most spren have a purpose.’”

- Pattern to Shallan, p. 946 HC

“‘Humans can see the world as it is not. It is why your lies can be so strong. You are able to not admit that they are lies.’”

- Pattern to Shallan, p. 946-947 HC

“‘Trust a coward … to know the smartest way to stay out of fighting.’”

- Sebarial to Roion, p. 961 HC

“‘Voidbringers have no pattern. Besides, I have read of them in your lore. They speak of spindly arms like bone, and horrific faces.’”

- Pattern to Inadara, p. 982 HC

“Do not take pleasure in suffering … . Even when it is a work of our hands. … Particularly when it is a work of our hands.”

- Pattern to Inadara, p. 982 HC

“‘Insults in particular will be of great use to my people, as they are truths and lies combined in a quite interesting manner.’”

… “‘Stormspren … “. “‘They are a variety of Voidspren. It is not good.’”

- Pattern to Shallan, p. 982 HC

“Killing was a young man’s game, if only because the old men fell first.”

- Dalinar, in his mind, p. 1003 HC

“‘My father,’” … . “‘He brought the storm, rushing its pace. He’s … broken, Kaladin. He doesn’t think any of this should be happening. He wants to end it all, wash everyone away, and try to hide from the future.’”

- Syl to Kaladin, p. 1031 HC

“‘Art, … is fundamentally unfair.’”

… “‘You see, we pretend that art is eternal, that there is some kind of persistence to it. A Truth, you might say. Art is art because it is art and not because we say that it is art.’”

… “‘But if art is eternal and meaningful and independent, why does it depend so damnation much on the audience?’”

… “‘Anyway, as this story is a comedy … . Various nonsense follows … .’”

… “‘Expectation. That is the true soul of art. If you can give a man more than he expects, then he will laud you his entire life. If you can create an air of anticipation and feed it properly, you will succeed.

“‘Conversely, if you gain a reputation for being too good, too skilled … beware. The better art will be in their heads, and if you give them an ounce of less than they imagined, suddenly you have failed. Suddenly you are useless. A man will find a single coin in the mud and talk about it for days, but when his inheritance somes and is accounted one percent less than he expected, then he will declare himself cheated.’”

… “‘Give me an audience who have come to be entertained, , but who expect nothing special. To them, I will be a god. That is the best truth I know.;”

- Wit to “An audience of ugly lizard-crab-things and songlings … .”, pp.1077-1078 HC