Brandon Sanderson Quotes

193 Sourced Quotes

He found insanity no excuse, however, for irrational behavior.

Brandon Sanderson
A man was defined not by his flaws, but by how he overcame them.

Brandon Sanderson
Ignorance is hardly unusual, Miss Davar. The longer I live, the more I come to realize that it is the natural state of the human mind. There are many who will strive to defend its sanctity and then expect you to be impressed with their efforts.

Brandon Sanderson
To live is to have worries and uncertainties. Keep them inside, and they will destroy you for certain—leaving behind a person so callused that emotion can find no root in his heart.

Brandon Sanderson
Sometimes, son," my father said, prying my fingers free, "you have to help the heroes along.

Brandon Sanderson
How did men believe in something that preached love on one hand, yet taught destruction of unbelievers on the other? How did one rationalize belief with no proof? How could they honestly expect him to have faith in something that taught of miracles and wonders in the far past, but carefully gave excuses for why such things didn't occur in the present day?

Brandon Sanderson
Yes, Bastille. I keep trying to get killed because it's inconvenient for you.

Brandon Sanderson
In the end, all men die. How you lived will be far more important to the Almighty than what you accomplished.

Brandon Sanderson
Those candle flames were like the lives of men. So fragile. So deadly. Left alone, they lit and warmed. Let run rampant, they would destroy the very things they were meant to illuminate. Embryonic bonfires, each bearing a seed of destruction so potent it could tumble cities and dash kings to their knees.

Brandon Sanderson
I am mountains that crush. I am waves that crash. I am storms that shatter. I am the end.

Brandon Sanderson
Though most expect young men to be fools, I've noticed that just a little bit of age can make a man far more foolish than he was as a child.

Brandon Sanderson
I need something, Wax. A place to look. You always did the thinking. Yes, having a brain helps with that, surprisingly.

Brandon Sanderson
[..] overthrowing the Final Empire seems like a good start. Are there any religions on your list that include the slaughter of noblemen as a holy duty?

Brandon Sanderson
Not all librarians are evil cultists. Some librarians are instead vengeful undead who want to suck your soul.

Brandon Sanderson
Mocking a woman is like drinking too much wine. It may be fun for a short time, but the hangover is hell.

Brandon Sanderson
Faith isn't about logic, son," Haddek said. "Perhaps that's your problem. You cannot 'disprove' the things you study, any more than we can prove to you that the Hero will save us. We simply must believe it, and accept the things Preservation has taught us.

Brandon Sanderson
If you were the wall, what would you rather be? Dreary and dull, or alive with paint?" "Walls can't think!" "That doesn't stop them from caring.

Brandon Sanderson
Entropy shakes its angry fist at you for being clever enough to organize the world.

Brandon Sanderson
The best liars are those who tell the truth most of the time.

Brandon Sanderson
The most dangerous kind of man is not the one who spent his youth shoving others around. That kind of man gets lazy, and is often too content with his life to be truly dangerous. The man who spent his youth being shoved around, however … When that man gets a little power and authority, he often uses it to become a tyrant on par with the worst warlords in history.

Brandon Sanderson
This world, it is a tempest sometimes. But remember, the sun always rises again.

Brandon Sanderson
If you're always on time, it implies that you never have anything better you should be doing. -Kelsier

Brandon Sanderson
Too many of us take great pains with what we ingest through our mouths, and far less with what we partake of through our ears and eyes.

Brandon Sanderson
Ham shook his head, sitting down, pouring himself something to drink. "I don't get it, El. Why'd she attack him?" "She's loony," Spook said.

Brandon Sanderson
Have you finally grown so jealous of my impeccable fashion sense that you've decided to have me disposed of?

Brandon Sanderson
However a man who was honest and clever was always, ALWAYS more difficult to scam than someone who was both dishonest and clever. Sincerity. It was so difficult, by definition, to fake.

Brandon Sanderson
I consider myself to be a man of principle. But, what man does not? Even the cutthroat, I have noticed, considers his actions "moral" after a fashion. Perhaps another person, reading of my life, would name me a religious tyrant. He could call me arrogant. What is to make that man's opinion any less valid than my own? I guess it all comes down to one fact: In the end, I'm the one with the armies.

Brandon Sanderson
A man can only stumble for so long before he either falls or stands up straight.

Brandon Sanderson
Overcome your guilt. Care, but not too much. Take responsibility, but don't blame yourself. Protect, save, help- but know when to give up. They're precarious ledges to walk. How do I do it?

Brandon Sanderson
Of all the recruits in his cohort, he had learned the quickest. How to hold the spear, how to stand to spar. He'd done it almost without instruction. That had shocked Tukks. But why should it have? You were not shocked when a child knew how to breathe. You were not shocked when a skyeel took flight for the first time. You should not be shocked when you hand Kaladin Stormblessed a spear and he knows how to use it.

Brandon Sanderson