Tree Harmon > Tree's Quotes

“The hallmark of insecurity is bravado.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“Sometimes,” Dalinar said, “the prize is not worth the costs. The means by which we achieve victory are as important as the victory itself.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“I feel each of the things you mention, Sadeas,” Dalinar said, eyes forward. “But I don’t always let them out. A man’s emotions are what define him, and control is the hallmark of true strength. To lack feeling is to be dead, but to act on every feeling is to be a child.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn; color your hair; watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five.
In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world; or you can just jump off it.”
― Jodi Picoult, Nineteen Minutes

“I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Must someone, some unseen thing, declare what is right for it to be right? I believe that my own morality—which answers only to my heart—is more sure and true than the morality of those who do right only because they fear retribution.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“When we are young,” Jasnah said, “we want simple answers. There is no greater indication of youth, perhaps, than the desire for everything to be as it should. As it has ever been.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“This world, it is a tempest sometimes. But remember, the sun always rises again.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“The foolishness of men who care, Dalinar,” Wit said. “And the brilliance of those who do not. The second depend on the first—but also exploit the first—while the first misunderstand the second, hoping that the second are more like the first. And all of their games steal our time. Second by second.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“How easy it was to ignore a blackened heart if you dressed it in a pressed uniform and a reputation for honesty.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon. Too often, we forget that.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“My comments are often idle. I never can get them to do any solid work. Would that I could make my words carry stones. That would be something to see.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“Yes, I could have traveled quickly. But all men have the same ultimate destination. Whether we find our end in a hallowed sepulcher or a pauper’s ditch, all save the Heralds themselves must dine with the Nightwatcher. “ ‘And so, does the destination matter? Or is it the path we take? I declare that no accomplishment has substance nearly as great as the road used to achieve it. We are not creatures of destinations. It is the journey that shapes us. Our callused feet, our backs strong from carrying the weight of our travels, our eyes open with the fresh delight of experiences lived. “ ‘In the end, I must proclaim that no good can be achieved of false means. For the substance of our existence is not in the achievement, but in the method. The Monarch must understand this; he must not become so focused on what he wishes to accomplish that he diverts his gaze from the path he must take to arrive there.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“Death is the end of all men!” Dalinar bellowed. “What is the measure of him once he is gone? The wealth he accumulated and left for his heirs to squabble over? The glory he obtained, only to be passed on to those who slew him? The lofty positions he held through happenstance? “No. We fight here because we understand. The end is the same. It is the path that separates men. When we taste that end, we will do so with our heads held high, eyes to the sun.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“They imagine how grand it used to be, their memories enhanced by a decade of stories—it is human nature to believe that other places and other times are better than the here and now.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Elantris

“You couldn’t live your life getting up and seeing the same things every day. You had to keep moving, otherwise people started to know who you were, and then they started to expect things from you. It was one step from there to being gobbled up.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Edgedancer

“Pain lost its power when other things became more important. Kahar didn’t need a potion or an Aon to save him—he just needed something to do.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Elantris

“Once one becomes a man, he can and must make his own decisions. But I do offer warning. Even a good thing can become destructive if taken to excess.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Alloy of Law

“The measure of a person is not how much they have lived. It is not how easily they jump at a noise or how quick they are to show emotion. It’s in how they make use of what life has shown them.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Alloy of Law

“The more alone you are,” Waxillium said softly, “the more important it is to have someone you can rely upon.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Alloy of Law

“Very few people get a chance to quantify how much their father loves them. But I did. The job should have taken forty-five minutes, but Dad spent three and a half hours on it. My father loves me 366 percent more than he loves anything else. Good to know.”
― Andy Weir, Artemis

“There are no good men, Bleeder said. Choice is an illusion, lawman. There are those created to be selfish and there are those created to be selfless. This does not make them good or evil, any more than the ravaging lion is evil when compared to the placid rabbit.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Shadows of Self

“You could tell a lot about people from the way they talked. You saw their past, their upbringing, their aspirations—all in the words they used.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Shadows of Self

“He’s just a man, despite it all. A man full of feelings that, at times, don’t make sense. We’re all like that. We want what we can’t have, even when we have no right to demand it.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Firefight

“There’s something brittle in me that will break before it bends. Something sharp that puts an edge on all the soft words I once owned.”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

“Some men are too dull to feel what might happen. Others torture themselves with maybes and populate their dreams with horrors more terrible than their worst enemy could inflict upon them.”
― Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

“His voice was soft and sweet as molasses; but my mother once told me that you had to trust that the first thing out of a person’s mouth was truth. After they have a chance to think about it, they’ll change what they say to be more socially acceptable, something they think you’ll be happier with, something that will get the results they want.”
― Patricia Briggs, Moon Called

“Yet this was not the end—this was not her end. She had survived loss and pain and torture; she had survived slavery and hatred and despair; she would survive this, too. Because hers was not a story of darkness.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Heir of Fire

“The odd thing about ambition is this: You can acquire it like a fever, but it is not so easy to shed. Once, I was content to hope for knighthood and the power to force Cardan and his friends to leave me alone. All I wanted was to find some place to fit in here in Faerie. Now I wonder what it would be like to choose the next king.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“This is weakness, to put fear above ambition, above family, above love, but it feels good. It feels like being powerful.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince