Cody Brouillette > Cody's Quotes

“Love is a fragile, corruptible thing. And yet I have seen it evince a curious strength. It is beyond any comprehension Love is a weakness that once in a great while triumphs over strength. ”
― Brent Weeks, Shadow's Edge

“Why is it, my shadow-striding friend, that we don't fear dreams? We lose consciousness, lose control, things happen with no apparent logic and abiding by no apparent rules.... We don't fear dreams, but we do fear madness, and death terrifies us.”
― Brent Weeks, Shadow's Edge

“What people value in their books—and thus what they count as literature—really tells you more about them than it does about the book.”
― Brent Weeks

“The truth is, everyone likes to look down on someone. If your favorites are all avant-garde writers who throw in Sanskrit and German, you can look down on everyone. If your favorites are all Oprah Book Club books, you can at least look down on mystery readers. Mystery readers have sci-fi readers. Sci-fi can look down on fantasy. And yes, fantasy readers have their own snobbishness. I’ll bet this, though: in a hundred years, people will be writing a lot more dissertations on Harry Potter than on John Updike. Look, Charles Dickens wrote popular fiction. Shakespeare wrote popular fiction—until he wrote his sonnets, desperate to show the literati of his day that he was real artist. Edgar Allan Poe tied himself in knots because no one realized he was a genius. The core of the problem is how we want to define “literature”. The Latin root simply means “letters”. Those letters are either delivered—they connect with an audience—or they don’t. For some, that audience is a few thousand college professors and some critics. For others, its twenty million women desperate for romance in their lives. Those connections happen because the books successfully communicate something real about the human experience. Sure, there are trashy books that do really well, but that’s because there are trashy facets of humanity. What people value in their books—and thus what they count as literature—really tells you more about them than it does about the book.”
― Brent weeks

“Do you know what punishments I've endured for my crimes, my sins? None. I am proof of the absurdity of men's most treasured abstractions. A just universe wouldn't tolerate my existence.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“..because the only kind of love I have to offer is stupid and blind and so deep and powerful that I feel like I'm cracking just to hold it in.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“king: "You're...you're shit! You shitting, shitting shit!"
"Your Majesty," Durzo said gravely. "A man of your stature's cursing vocabulary ought to extend beyond a tedious reiteration of the excreta that fills the void between his ears.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“Assassination is an art, milord. And I am the city's most accomplished artist.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“Relationships are ropes. Love is a noose. - Durzo Blint”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“The perfect killer has no friends. Only targets.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“A man’s greatest treasures are his illusions - Durzo Blint”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“You'd be surprised at what you'd do to stay alive.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“Elene gasped and sat up. "Kylar Thaddeus Stern!"
Kylar giggled. "Thaddeus? That's a good one. I knew a Thaddeus once."
"So did I. He was a blind idiot."
"Really?" Kylar said, his eyes dancing. "The one I knew was famous for his gigantic-"
"Kylar!" Elene interrupted, motioning toward Uly.
"His gigantic what?" Uly asked.
"Now you did it." Elene said, "His gigantic what, Kyler?"
"Feet. And you know what they say about big feet." He winked lasciviously at Elene.
"What?" Uly asked.
"Big Shoes," Kylar said.”
― Brent Weeks, Shadow's Edge

“Why did women always believe that talking about a problem would fix it? Some issues were corpses. Hot air made them fester and rot and spread their disease to everything else. Better to bury it and move on.”
― Brent Weeks, Shadow's Edge

“I'm not dreaming this, am I?" he asked.
Dehvi lifted an eyebrow. "There's only one way to know for sure," he said.
What's that?"
Go piss in the woods. If you feel wet and warm afterward, wake up.”
― Brent Weeks, Beyond the Shadows

“Words were another sword for the man who wielded them well.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“Life is empty. Life is worthless. When we take a life, we aren't taking anything of value.- Durzo Blint”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“There's no guarantee that justice will win out or that a noble sacrifice will make any difference. But when it does, there's something that still swells my chest. There's magic in that.... It tells me that's the way things are supposed to be. ”
― Brent Weeks, Beyond the Shadows

“Life is meaningless, when we take a life we take nothing of value.”
― Brent Weeks, The Night Angel Trilogy

“A few months ago you assassinated a man who called himself a god; now you're going after a goddess in truth. Unless you can figure out a way to kill continents, after this you're going to have to retire.”
― Brent Weeks, Beyond the Shadows

“I regretted that I hadn't turned myself into the kind of man that you could be with. That it wouldn't be just for me to be with you, even if you wanted me. Our lives started in the same shit hole, Elene, but somehow you've turned into you, and I've turned into this. I don't like what I've done. I don't like who I've become. You don't deserve a fairy tale? I don't deserve another chance, but I'm asking you for one. You're afraid that love is too risky? I've seen what happens when you don't risk it. [...] I'm willing to risk it to see the world through your eyes.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“A wet boy has a deader, an assassin has a target, because assassins sometimes miss.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“Moments of beauty sustain us through hours of ugliness.”
― Brent Weeks, The Black Prism

“You might want to think twice before you try to use a man's conscience against him. It may turn out he doesn't have one.”
― Brent Weeks, The Black Prism

“Love is not a whim. Love is not a flower that fades with a few fleeting years. Love is a choice wedded to action, my husband, and I choose you, and I will choose you every day for the rest of my life.”
― Brent Weeks, The Blinding Knife

“You will find no answers here, just choices.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“Dying well is easy,it only takes a moment of courage. It’s living well that I couldn’t do. What’s death compared to that.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“My question is, do you believe in an evil possessed of its own purity? or does every act intend some good?...”
― Brent Weeks, Shadow's Edge

“How can one love the light and live in darkness?”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“...if reality is hard and flat and unjust, then it's better to adjust to what really is than to complain that it isn't what you wish. That was what made me lose faith..... But having lost it, soon I doubted my lack of faith. There were niggling hints of meaning everywhere.”
― Brent Weeks, Beyond the Shadows