Brandon Sanderson famous quotes

Novels aren’t just happy escapes; they are slivers of people’s souls, nailed to the pages, dripping ink from veins of wood pulp. Reading the right one at the right time can make all the difference.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Reading #Differences #People

By now, it is probably very late at night, and you have stayed up to read this book when you should have gone to sleep. If this is the case, then I commend you for falling into my trap. It is a writer's greatest pleasure to hear that someone was kept up until the unholy hours of the morning reading one of his books. It goes back to authors being terrible people who delight in the suffering of others. Plus, we get a kickback from the caffeine industry...
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Morning #Book #Fall

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

#Boyfriend #Fun #Husband

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.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Strong #Eye #Journey

Women? Women are like...thunderstorms. They're beautiful to look at, and sometimes they're nice to listen to-but most of the time they're just plain inconvenient.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Beautiful #Nice #Looks

Why did they believe? Because they saw miracles. Things one man took as chance, a man of faith took as a sign. A loved one recovering from disease, a fortunate business deal, a chance meeting with a long lost friend. It wasn't the grand doctrines or the sweeping ideals that seemed to make believers out of men. It was the simple magic in the world around them.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Believe #Simple #Men

I've always been very confident in my immaturity.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Personality #Immaturity

The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Thinking #Giving #Stories

The mark of a great man is one who knows when to set aside the important things in order to accomplish the vital ones.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Motivational #Inspiring #Leadership

You could be writing the book that changes your life.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Book #Writing #Changing Your Life

Small things were important. Secods were small things, and if you heaped enough of those on top of one another, they became a man's life.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Men #Important #Enough

I try to avoid having thoughts. They lead to other thoughts, and—if you’re not careful—those lead to actions. Actions make you tired. I have this on rather good authority from someone who once read it in a book.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Book #Tired #Trying

Everything is a contest. All dealings among men are a contest in which some will succeed and others fail. And some are failing quite spectacularly.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Men #Competition #Succeed

Never throw the first punch. If you have to throw the second, try to make sure they don't get up for a third.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Trying #Firsts #Thirds

Does one deserve to have evil done to her by consequence of putting herself where evil can reach her?
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Evil #Doe #Done

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

#Men #Important #Almighty

When I write my books, actually, I'm known for very logical rule-based magic systems. I write with one foot in fantasy and one foot in science fiction.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Book #Writing #Feet

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

#Men #Flaws

Expectations were like fine pottery. The harder you held them, the more likely they were to crack.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Life #Expectations #Cracks

What is belief - what is faith - if you don't continue it after failure?
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Belief

You will find that hate can unify people more quickly and more fervently than devotion ever could.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Hate #People #Devotion

A man can only lead when others accept him as their leader, and he has only as much authority as his subjects give to him. All of the brilliant ideas in the world cannot save your kingdom if no one will listen to them.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Leadership #Men #Ideas

Unknowing ignorance is preferable to informed stupidity.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Ignorance #Stupidity #Unknowing

But you can't kill me, Lord Tyrant. I represent that one thing you've never been able to kill, no matter how hard you try. I am hope.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Tyrants #Trying #Matter

Sometimes the prize is not worth the costs. The means by which we achieve victory are as important as the victory itself.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Mean #Victory #Important

I Write those words in steel for anything else not set in metal cannot be trusted
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Writing #Steel #Metals

People can do great things. However, there are somethings they just can't do. I, for instance, have not been able to transform myself into a Popsicle, despite years of effort. I could, however, make myself insane, if I wished. (Though if I achieved the second, I might be able to make myself think I'd achieved the first....) Anyway, if there's a lesson to be learned, it's this: great success often depends on being able to distinguish between the impossible and the improbable. Or, in easier terms, distinguishing between Popsicles and insanity. Any questions?
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Thinking #Years #People

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

#Pain #Eye #Ears

Well, then," he said. "Let's do it." "What?" Vin asked. "Save the world." Elend said. "Stop the ash.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Ashes #World #Said

Good men don't become legends," he said quietly. "Good men don't need to become legends." She opened her eyes, looking up at him. "They just do what's right anyway.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Integrity #Eye #Men

Spook smiled. "Elend is a forgetful scholar - twice as bad as Sazed ever was. He gets lost in his books and forgets about meeting he himself called. He only dresses with any sense of fashion because a Terriswoman bought him a new wardrobe. War has change him some, but on the inside, I think he's still just a dreamer caught in a world with too much violence.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Fashion #War #Book

Breeze turned to look out the window. "You were always the best of us, Sazed," he said quietly. "Because you believed in something.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Looks #Window #Said

And is an ending always bad? it asked. Must not all things, even worlds, someday end?"There is no need to hasten that end," Vin said. "No reason to force it."All things are subject to their own nature, Vin, Ruin said, seeming to flow around her. She could feel its touch upon her - wet and delicate, like mist. You cannot blame me for being what I am. Without me, nothing would end. Nothing could end. And therefore, nothing could grow. I am life. Would you fight life itself?
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Fighting #Needs #World

She remembered timidly standing atop the Luthadel city wall, afraid to use her Allomancy to jump off, despite Kelsier's coaxing. Now she could step off a cliff and muse thoughtfully to herself on the way down.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Wall #Cities #Way

Ham smiled. "Cett's going to be furious." Elend shrugged. "He's a paraplegic. What's he going to do? Bite us?
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Ham #Paraplegics #Furious

Elend started. "Vin!" Then, he smiled. "What took you so long?" "I got delayed by an Inquistor and a dark god," she said. "Now hustle.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Dark #Long #Hustle

You'll never learn how to do your endings until you FINISH your endings.
-- Brandon Sanderson

I'm an amalgamation of what I've needed to be. Part scholar, part rebel, part nobleman, part Mistborn, and part soldier. Sometimes I don't even know myself. I had a devil of a time getting all those pieces to work together. And, just when I'm starting to get it figured out, the world up and ends on me.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Soldier #Working Together #Devil

For now, I only wish to make a simple acknowledgement of the woman who held the power just before me. Of all of us who touched it, I feel she was the most worthy.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Simple #Wish #Worthy

I am a Smedry, and we do ridiculous, unexpected, eccentric things like this all the time! Ha-ha!
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Eccentric #Ridiculous #Unexpected

Impossible things are really rough to do, you know.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Impossible #Rough

All right," Spook said. He reached to the ground, scooping up a pile of ash. "Let's just rub this into your clothing and on your face...." Breeze froze. "I'll meet you back ath the lair," he finally said.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Faces #Ashes #Your Face

There was rarely an obvious branching point in a person's life. People changed slowly, over time. You didn't take on step, then find yourself in a completely new location. You first took a little step off a path to avoid some rocks. For a while, you walked alongside the path, but then you wandered out a little way to step on softer soil. Then you stopped paying attention as you drifted farther and farther away. Finally, you found yourself in the wrong city, wondering why the signs on the roadway hadn't led you better.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Rocks #Cities #People

All the world does as it is supposed to, except for humans. Maybe that's why you so often want to kill each other.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Doe #World #Want

So, using his pride like a shield against despair, dejection, and-most important— self-pity, Raoden raised his head to stare damnation in the eyes.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Eye #Pride #Self

The look of disbelief that ran across the boy's face was somehow more disturbing than the despair it had replaced. This creature had given up hope long ago; he probably begged out of habit rather than expectation.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Boys #Expectations #Long

I'm Galladon, from the sovereign realm of Duladel. I'm most recently from Elantris, land of sludge, insanity, and eternal perdition. Nice to meet you.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Nice #Land #Insanity

Galladon paused for a moment, then laughed. "Does nothing frighten you, sule?" "Actually, pretty much everything here does—I'm just good at ignoring the fact that I'm terrified. If I ever realize how scared I am, you'll probably find me trying to hide under those cobblestones over there.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Trying #Cobblestone #Facts

They tried boiling books, but that didn't work very well." "I'm surprised they haven't tried boiling one another." "Oh, it's been tried," Galladon said. "Fortunately. something happens to us during the Shaod—apparently the flesh of a dead man doesn't taste too good. Kolo? In fact, it's so violently bitter that no one can keep it down." "It's nice to see that cannibalism has been so logically ruled out as an option," Raoden said dryly
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Nice #Book #Men

I'm Teoish," Sarene said, successfully spearing something that looked like a marinated piece of shrimp. "We're all this tall." "Father's Teoish too, Kaise," Daorn said. "And you know how tall he is." "But father's fat," Kaise pointed out. "Why aren't you fat too, Sarene?
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Father #Shrimp #Pieces

I killed you once", the Lord Ruler said, turning back to Kelsier. "You tried", Kelsier replied, his voice loud and firm, carrying across the square. "But you can't kill me, Lord Tyrant. I represent that thing you've never been able to kill no matter how hard you try. I am hope.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Squares #Tyrants #Voice

The door slammed open. Vivenna jumped, putting a hand to her chest. Vasher walked in. 'Start reaching for that sword when you're startled,' he said. 'There's little reason to grab your shirt, unless you're planning to rip it off.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Rip #Doors #Hands

Her aunt Sol had once told Shai to smile at the worst insults and snap at the minor ones. That way, no man would know your heart.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Heart #Men #Aunt

It's not imitating anything; it has become a better version of itself.
-- Brandon Sanderson

If men should read these words, let them know that power is a heavy burden. Seek not to be bound by its chains.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Men #Burden #Should

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

#Father #Hero #Son

You cannot tempt the hearts of men who are pure.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Heart #Men

The motivations of men. They never make sense. And they always make sense.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Motivation #Men #Make Sense

Strength does not make one capable of rule; it makes one capable of service.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Doe #Capable

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

#Believe #Heart #Unseen

It's like a banana farm for guns!
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Gun #Bananas

I have a smoke grenade in my room," I said. "What?" Megan asked. "How?" "I grew up working at a munitions plant," I said. "We mostly made rifles and handguns, but we worked with other factories. I got to pick up the occasional goody from the QC reject pile." "A smoke grenade is a goody?" Cody asked. I frowned. What did he mean? Of course it was. Who wouldn't want a smoke grenade when offered one?
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Mean #Rifles #Want

I've seen Steelheart bleed
-- Brandon Sanderson

We were like deaf people trying to dance to a beat we couldn't hear, long after the music actually stopped.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Long #People #Trying

You see the dilemma?” Ham asked. “I see an idiot,” Breeze mumbled.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Ham #Idiot #Breeze

I was ten,” I said. “Give me a little credit.” “To a boy with aspirations like that, I would extend my respect—but not credit. Or life insurance.” Abraham sounded amused. “You are an interesting man, David Charleston, but you sound like you were an even more interesting child.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Children #Boys #Men

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

#Liars #Telling The Truth

imaginary things were often the only items of real substance in people's lives.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Real #People #Substance

Well Vin says that there's something behind all this, right? Some evil force of doom or whatever? Well, if I were said force of doom, then I certainly wouldn't have used my powers to turn the land black. It just lacks flair. Red. Now, that would be an interesting color. Think of the possibilities--if the ash were red, the rivers would run like blood. Black is so monotonous that you can forget about it, but red--you'd always be thinking, 'Why, look at that. That hill is red. That evil force of doom trying to destroy me certainly has style.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Running #Thinking #Blood

What did it mean to be called “lord”? I’ll assume you’ve never had the honor, since I doubt any of you happen to be British royalty. (And, if by chance you are, then let me say, “Hello, Your Majesty! Welcome to my stupid book. Can I borrow some cash?”)
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Stupid #Book #Mean

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

#Should #Kelsier

It was strange, how easily and quickly protection could cause destruction. Sometimes, Vasher wondered if the two weren't really the same thing. Protect a flower, destroy pests who wanted to feed on it. Protect a building, destroy the plants that could have grown in the soil. Protect a man. Live with the destruction he creates.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Flower #Men #Two

My dear, did you just try to prove the existence of God through the use of your cleavage?
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Trying #Use #Existence

Every man is a hero of his own story.
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Hero #Men #Stories

You should try not to talk so much, friend. You'll sound far less stupid that way. - Breeze
-- Brandon Sanderson

#Stupid #Trying #Sound