Xavier De Becker > Xavier's Quotes

“We want to imagine that people are consistent, steady, stable. We define who they are, create descriptions to lock them on a page, divide them up by their likes, talents, beliefs. Then we pretend some—perhaps most—are better than we are, because they stick to their definitions, while we never quite fit ours. Truth is, people are as fluid as time is. We adapt to our situation like water in a strangely shaped jug, though it might take us a little while to ooze into all the little nooks. Because we adapt, we sometimes don’t recognize how twisted, uncomfortable, or downright wrong the container is that we’ve been told to inhabit.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Tress of the Emerald Sea

“A boring truth will always have difficulty competing with an exciting lie.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Tress of the Emerald Sea

“Even small actions have consequences. And while we can often choose our actions, we rarely get to choose our consequences.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Tress of the Emerald Sea

“She wasn’t even certain she was Tress anymore, or if she’d become someone else. You could say, in other words, that her state at the moment was distress”
― Brandon Sanderson, Tress of the Emerald Sea

“Well, parents have to say things like that. They’re required to see the best in their children, otherwise living with the little sociopaths would drive a person mad.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Tress of the Emerald Sea

“Many boys will bring you flowers. But someday you'll meet a boy who will learn your favorite flower, your favorite song, your favorite sweet. And even if he is too poor to give you any of them, it won't matter because he will have taken the time to know you as no one else does. Only that boy earns your heart.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“Kaz leaned back. "What's the easiest way to steal a man's wallet?"
"Knife to the throat?" asked Inej.
"Gun to the back?" said Jesper.
"Poison in his cup?" suggested Nina.
"You're all horrible," said Matthias.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“No mourners. No funerals. Among them, it passed for 'good luck.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“When everyone knows you’re a monster, you needn’t waste time doing every monstrous thing.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“I'm a business man," he'd told her. "No more, no less."
"You're a thief, Kaz."
"Isn't that what I just said?”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“Greed is your god, Kaz."
He almost laughed at that. "No, Inej. Greed bows to me. It is my servant and my lever.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“Love speaks in flowers. Truth requires thorns.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic

“You see, some people are born with a piece of night inside, and that hollow place can never be filled - not with all the good food or sunshine in the world. That emptiness cannot be banished, and so some days we wake with the feeling of the wind blowing through, and we must simply endure it as the boy did.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic

“This goes to show you that sometimes the unseen is not to be feared and that those meant to love us most are not always ones who do.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic

“This is the problem with making a thing forbidden. It does nothing but build an ache in the heart.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic

“Bad fates do not always follow those who deserve them.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic

“You know how the stories go. Interesting things only happen to pretty girls; you will be home by sunset.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic

“But hope rises like water trapped by a dam, higher and higher, in increments that mean nothing until you face the flood.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic

“When the coffers are empty and their bellies growl, even good men turn bad.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic

“But then again, there’s nothing intrinsically valuable about any kind of art. That’s not me complaining or making light. It’s one of the most wonderful aspects to art—the fact that people decide what is beautiful. We don’t get to decide what is food and what is not. (Yes, exceptions exist. Don’t be pedantic. When you pass those marbles, we’re all going to laugh.) But we absolutely get to decide what counts as art. If Yumi’s people wanted to declare that rock arrangements surpassed painting or sculpture as an artistic creation…well, I personally found it fascinating. The spirits agreed.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

“Why do we tell stories? They are a universal human experience. Every culture I’ve ever visited, every people I’ve met, every human on every planet in every situation I’ve seen…they all tell stories. Men trapped alone for years tell them to themselves. Ancients leave them painted on the walls. Women whisper them to their babies. Stories explain us. You want to define what makes a human different from an animal? I can do it in one word or a hundred thousand. Sad stories. Exultant stories. Didactic morality tales. Frivolous yarns that, paradoxically, carry too much meaning. We need stories.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

“Never let something trivial, like a sense of humor, get in the way of a good joke.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

“But…I always felt like I was standing on the other side of a large glass window. I could see the world passing beyond it, could even pretend I was part of it. But that barrier was still there. Separating me from everyone else.” He looked away. “That sounds stupid, doesn’t it?”
― Brandon Sanderson, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

“I'll be looking for you, Will, every moment, every single moment. And when we do find each other again, we'll cling together so tight that nothing and no one'll ever tear us apart. Every atom of me and every atom of you... We'll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams... And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they wont' just be able to take one, they'll have to take two, one of you and one of me, we'll be joined so tight...”
― Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials - The Trilogy: The Golden Compass / The Subtle Knife / The Amber Spyglass

“Without stories, we wouldn't be human beings at all”
― Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials

“We are all subject to the fates. But we must all act as if we are not,” said the witch, “or die of despair.”
― Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials

“That’s what you are. Argue with anything else, but don’t argue with your own nature.”
― Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials

“You have to work. Did you think you could snap your fingers, and have it as a gift? What is worth having is worth working for.”
― Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials

“I have a memory of my mother smiling.”
― Hegeleen Kissel, Tales of Thread: A short story collection

“For many centuries to come, men will avoid those woods, taking the long route instead. Beware the Stone Maidens, they will whisper to each other, beware the ones who look back.”
― Hegeleen Kissel, Tales of Thread: A short story collection