Matthew Neddo > Matthew's Quotes

“Indulgence is emptiness. I have proved the limits of food and frivolity. There is no real fulfillment in meaningless rushes of pleasure. You try to conceal the emptiness with more extravagance, only to find the thrills becoming less satisfying and more fleeting. Most pleasures are best as a seasoning, not the main course. However you try to disguise it, you end up feeding without being nourished.”
― Brandon Mull, A World Without Heroes

“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”
― Epictetus

“Working hard for something we don't care about is called stress: Working hard for something we love is called passion.”
― Simon Sinek

“When you surrender what isn’t under your control, you’re not giving up a crown, you’re giving up a yoke.”
― Brent Weeks, The Broken Eye

“If you’re trapped in the darkness all alone, how do you know you’re alone and not actually surrounded by an army of friends, also silent, also afraid in the dark, merely waiting for the sound of one voice to rouse them from fear, to fight for freedom?”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“We know ourselves by how we see ourselves mirrored in others’ eyes. So when a man lies habitually, he distorts the mirror he holds up to the world. In fooling others, he loses himself. Those who praise him? Those who love him? He knows they must simply be fools. He hates himself because there’s a gap between what he is and what he believes himself to be. If the gap grows too large, it becomes a tear, a schism. A man torn asunder lives in madness. So, my friend, do you know who you are?”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“Strength is a choice, courage is a habit: Andross Guile”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“What do you call it when you realize you've been an asshole your whole life?" Gavin asked.
"A good start?" Orholam offered.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“Sinking into sarcasm is the heart’s last rebellion against a mind choosing helplessness.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“Time makes a coward’s decisions for her.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“Silence is isolation chosen. Silence is darkness, and every evil loves the dark.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“We keep secret what we fear makes us weak, not realizing in our fear that it is the keeping of secrets itself that weakens us.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“When your answer lead you logically to despair, you don't have the wrong answers; you have the right answers--to the wrong questions”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“She didn’t seek her heart’s desire instead of doing her duty; she made it her heart’s desire to seek her duty.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“Take one deep breath through that poo pincher disfiguring your gob for a moment, won’tcha?”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“It was there, and he knew it was there, knew it was more real than what his eyes could presently see.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“Why does everyone else always guess round numbers? They’re not any more likely.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“Climbing out will be tougher than it would be to tell yourself what a noble martyr you are and live half a life, cuddled up with your misery. But you’re making a choice, like it or not. This isn’t happening to you.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“Do you want to know one of the deepest horrors of life? None of us is needed, not truly. It’s just nicer for those who love us if we’re there.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“Strangely, that lack of fear of failure made failures infrequent”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“A man who’ll never risk being seen as an asshole is a man who doesn’t believe in anything.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“A man can’t fall in love at first sight with a woman; he falls in love with what he imagines she is. She is the canvas onto which he casts his hopes and dreams.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“Remember to see yourself as you are in the eyes of those who love you.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“It’s what evil does: it promises an easy way out of one problem at the cost of causing worse ones.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“Maybe . . . rule as if it’s a gift, and not something you’re owed?”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“But Kip knew all about the slimy, steep-sided pit of self-pity. Sometimes, a hard kick in the ass can do what a soft word in the ear can’t.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“So when a man lies habitually, he distorts the mirror he holds up to the world. In fooling others, he loses himself. Those who praise him? Those who love him? He knows they must simply be fools. He hates himself because there’s a gap between what he is and what he believes himself to be. If the gap grows too large, it becomes a tear, a schism. A man torn asunder lives in madness.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“Sometimes the wicked win a battle. Sometimes those who hear the call say no to it. Men have power. Our actions matter, even unto eternity.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“She’d hated him for his weakness, but the young find it too easy to hate the weak.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White

“In the face of life’s black mysteries, answers feel barren. All I know is that I can only choose my attitude. The mysteries aren’t thereby untangled, but when I choose gratitude, I see life flower.”
― Brent Weeks, The Burning White