"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 how they make use of what life has shown them."

"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."

"Some of us fought back with guns and assassinations. Others fought back with a little hot dog stand on the corner."

"You're a very difficult person to manipulate, you know.""Nonsense," he said. "You just have to promise me that I won't have to do a thing, and then I'll do anything you want.""Anything?""Anything that doesn't require doing anything.""That's nothing, then.""Is it?""Yes.""Well, that's something."

"Kaladin frowned. "Wait. Are you wearing cologne? In prison?"Well, there was no need to be barbaric, just because I was incarcerated."Storms, you're spoiled, Kaladin said, smiling."I'm refined, you insolent farmer, Adolin said. Then he grinned. "Besides, I'll have you know that I had to use cold water for my baths while here."Poor boy."

"There are two kinds of people in this world, son. Those who save lives, and those who take lives.""And what of those who protect and defend? Those who save lives by taking lives?""That's like trying to stop a storm by blowing harder. Ridiculous. You can't protect by killing."

"You see, that is the sad, sorry, terrible thing about sarcasm.It's really funny."

"Brightlord Adolin insisted. So long as you were in here, he wouldn't leave. We tried to stop him, but the man's a prince. We can't storming make him do anything, not even leave. He locked himself away in the cell and we just had to live with it."

"We create things to watch them grow, Ruin, she said. To take pleasure in seeing that which we love become more than it was before."

"Actually, [Wax] said, we came here because we needed someplace safe to think for a few hours."Ranette: "Your mansion isn't safe?"Wax: "My butler failed to poison me, then tried to shoot me, then set off an explosive in my study"Ranette: "Huh.... You need to screen these people better, Wax."

"Only expectation has value as currency."

"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."

"Are there any religions on your list that include the slaughter of noblemen as a holy duty?"

"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."

"A leader did not slump. A leader was in control. Even when he least felt like he controlled anything. Especially then."

"This is a lot more satisfying," he said, "when I have intelligent life whom I can render awed, rapt with attention for my clever verbosity."The ugly lizard-crab-thing on the next rock over clicked its claw, an almost hesitant sound."Your right, of course," Wit said. "My usual audience isn't particularly intelligent. That was also the obvious joke, however, so shame on you."

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

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

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

"Pain los[es] its power when other things bec[o]me more important."

"I swear, my dear. Sometimes our conversations remind me of a broken sword."She raised an eyebrow."Sharp as hell," Lightsong said, "but lacking a point."

"What kind of woman is still able to trust people after everything she's been through? If she'd been Vin, she would have stabbed him in the back at the first opportunity, and that would have probably been the right thing to do. Yet, this girl just continued to trust. It was like finding a beautiful plant growing alone in a field of burnt ash."

"How quickly we come around,' Sazed whispered. 'It wasn't long ago that men were forced to watch the Lord Ruler cut the heads from innocent people. Now we do it to ourselves."

"I wish that I could know you. Not your soul, but you. I've read about you; I've seen into your heart. I've rebuilt your soul, as best I could. But that isn't the same. It isn't knowing someone, is it? That's knowing about someone."

"He didn't recruit me, Cett pointed out. "I got pulled by my balls into this little fiasco."I wish I cared enough to apologize, Elend said, staring at them."

"Seen like that, he was just a shadow; darkness, a nothingness, before real power. The men of this world, epics included, would pass from time. I might be a worm to him, but he was a worm himself in the grand scheme of the universe."

"I froze, shocked. (And don't try to claim that you did anything different the first time a government bureaucrat pulled a gun on you.)"

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

"Onward, then! To glory and some such nonsense."

"People can do great things. However, there are some things they just CAN'T do. I, for instance, have not been able to transform myself into a Popsicle, despite years of effort."

"Can a woman not walk with her possessions down the street of a city?"

"To be human is to seek beauty, Shallan. Do not despair, do not end the hunt because thorns grow in your way."

"I know, better than anyone else, that there are no heroes coming to save us. There are no good Epics. None of them protect us. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

"Authors write books for one, and only one, reason: because we like to torture people."

"...Regardless, I still do not believe that your duty is to do as the people wish. Your duty is to lead as best you can, following the dictates of your conscience. You must be true. Your Majesty, to the man you wish to become...."

"Your insult has offended me. If we were at the Peaks, we would have to duel in traditional alil'tiki'i fashion.""Which is what?" Teft asked. "With spears?"Rock laughed. "No, no. We upon the Peaks are not barbarians like you down here.""How then?" Kaladin asked, genuinely curious."Well," Rock said, "is involving much mudbeer and singing.""How's that a duel?"He who can still sing after the most drinks is winner. Plus, soon' everyone is so drunk that they forget what argument was about."Teft laughed. "Beats knives at dawn, I suppose."

"Tobias took the photograph. At least, that's what I saw. Most likely I still had the photograph in my hand, but I couldn't feel it there, now I perceived Tobias holding it. It's strange, the way the mind can change perception."

"Truth is individual."What? No it's not. Truth is . . . it's Truth. Reality."Your truth is what you see, Pattern said, sounding confused. "What else could it be? That is the truth that you spoke to me, the truth that brings power."

"He was a man. Just a man. Yet, you always knew he'd succeed. He made you be what he wanted you to be."

"I want you to go back into the barrack and tell the men to come out after the storm. Tell them to look up at me tied here. Tell them I'll open my eyes and look back at them, and they'll know hat I survived."

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

"Llarimar had told him to do his best. That sounded like an awful lot of work. Unfortunately, doing nothing was beginning to seem like even MORE work."

"The only time you seem honest is when you're insulting someone!"The only honest things I can say to you are insults."

"It is not the destination that matters, but how one arrives there."

"It was rather difficult to throw a game when you had no idea what you were doing to win it in the first place."

"You don't really get to choose. We worship you, and that makes you our God."

"What a pair they were - a Mistborn who felt guilty wasting coins to jump and a nobleman who thought balls were too expensive."

"Control is the basis of all true power. Authority and strength are matters of perception."

"There was nothing more bitter than a soul who had had its chance and thrown it away."

"I have to say, old friend, you were supposed to help train her, not drop her off a cliff."