"Ear demons are totally real," Cody said. "They're what make microphones like these ones work. They're also what tell you to eat the last slice of pie when you know Tia wanted it."

"Shallan's mental image of Jasnah Kholin was of someone almost divine. It was, upon reflection, an odd way to regard a determined atheist."

"The strong lines of the woman's face bespoke hard-won wisdom and courage, and somehow that made watching her more difficult. If such a woman could be defeated by Elantris, what hope was there for Raoden?"

"You could not stop times from changing, his mother said, no more than you could stop the surf from rolling."

"It was a shallow thing, this acceptance, but sometimes even shallow things feel important."

"Cleaning the wound is often more painfulthan the cut itself."

"Men like you preach change, but I wonder. Is this a battle we can really fight?"You're fighting it already, Goodman Mennis. You're just losing horribly."

"I don't want to make people mad. I just... well, how can people get better if you don't tell them what you honestly think?"

"They didn't speak as the sun slowly sank before them. Why was it most colorful when it was about to vanish for the night? Was it angry at being forced belong the horizon? Or was it a showman, giving a performance before retiring?Why was the most colorful part of people's bodies-the brightness of their blood-hidden beneath the skin, never to be seen unless something went wrong?"

"It's beneficial to have a reputation for honesty, if only so that one can lie at crucial moments."

"So... wait. You're saying that on the other side-where I obviously believed in the other side-I realized that if I Returned I wouldn't believe in the other side, so I came back with the purpose of discovering faith in the other side, which I only lost because I Returned in the first place?"Llarimar paused. Then he smiled. "That last one breaks down a little bit in the face of logic, doesn't it?"

"Dragons were dangerous in the sky. Of course, they were dangerous on the ground too. Just less dangerous. In the same way that a sword is less dangerous so long as it's pointed at someone else."

"I'm convinced that responsibility is some kind of psychological disease."

"Being unkillable, so long as one had some healing power stored up, could do strange things to a person's sense of self-preservation. Of course, Wayne had probably been drunk at the time. That also tended to do strange things to a person's sense of self-preservation."

"That's the point, isn't it? We have to live on, no matter how hard it gets. We'll win in the end."

"Marryin' is the one thing people seem to get worse at the more they do it. Well, that and bein' alive."

"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..."

"Not having ice cream, she proclaimed, "is the culmination of all disasters!"

"In the end, after kingdoms and armies had fallen, the religions were still fighting, weren't they?"

"What you did tonight was clever, Wit said. "You turned an attack into a promise. The wisest of men know that to render an insult powerless, you often need only to embrace it."

"Ideas are never original," Kelsier said. "Only one thing is.""And what is that?"Style," Kelsier said.Then he punched Ruin across the face."

"Eternity ended ten years ago."

"Expectation wasn't just about what people expected of you. It was about what you expected of yourself."

"Jasnah had once defined a fool as a person who ignored information because it disagreed with desired results."

"Holding your brain hostage against your own stupidity - that was how to get stuff done."

"I hope to return. I'll do so if I'm not killed. Probably will anyway."

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

"That's kind of what trust is, isn't it? A willful self-delusion."

"Kelsier smiled. 'It means that you, Vin, are a very special person. You have a power that most high noblemen envy. It is a power that, had you been born an aristocrat, would have made you one of the most deadly and influential people in all of the final empire.'Kelsier leaned forward again. 'But, you weren't born an aristocrat. You're not noble, Vin. You don't have to play by their rules--and that makes you even more powerful."

"Vin paused. "And you have all of these religions memorized?""As much as is possible," Sazed said. "Their prayers, their beliefs, their mythologies. Many are very similar -- break-offs or sects of one another.""Even still, how can you remember all of that?""I have...methods," Sazed said."But, what's the point?"Sazed frowned. "The answer should be obvious, I think. People are valuable, Mistress Vin, and so--therefore--are their beliefs."

"Each time I came crashing down into the ocean porpoiselike, water hit my face like the slap of a jilted lover."

"The entire point of life is to find ways to get others to do your work for you. Don't you know anything about basic economics?"

"You said their prayer " is this the religion you believe in, then?" I believe in them all. Vin frowned. None of them contradict each other? Sazed smiled. "Oh, often and frequently they do. But, I respect the truths behind them all " and I believe in the need for each one to be remembered."

"Ruthlessness is the most practical of emotions, Reen's voice whispered. She ignored it."

"Better to be the failure who nobly strived than the success who never really had to."

"If the afterlife really is a big war, Kaladin said, "then I hope I end up in Damnation. At least there I might be able to get a wink or two of sleep."

"More wine," Lightsong said, raising his cup."You can't get drunk, Your Grace," Llarimar noted. "Your body is immune to all toxins.""I know," Lightsong said as a lesser servant filled his cup. "But trust me-I'm quite good at pretending."

"I grunted, hauling the rope hand over hand. A plaintive squeak came from the pulley system with each draw, as if I had strapped some unfortunate mouse to a torture device and was twisting with glee."

"A scholar knows not to waste time rediscovering information already known."

"There were a group of people before the Ascension known as the Astalsi. They claimed that each person was born with a certain finite amount of ill luck. And so, when an unfortunate event happened, they thought themselves blessed-thereafter, their lives could only get better."

"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."

"I like visiting people in prison. I can say whatever I want to them, and they can't do anything about it."

"So many questions. Could she not think about what the answers might be before asking?"

"If you perpetuate the dreams of the past, you stifle your own dreams of the future."

"Progress is learning to control your world."

"What was the purpose, then, of everything they taught in here? If it couldn't prevent men from acting like monsters?"

"Sarene finally released him, wiping her eyes, disappointed in herself for crying again. Kiin simply placed a large hand on her shoulder and led her into the dining room, where the rest of the family sat around the table, even Adien.Lukel had been talking animatedly, but he cut off as he saw Sarene. "Speak the name of the lion," he said, quoting a Jindoeese proverb, "and he will come to feast."

"I believe in rendering to science the things that belong to science. I have no problem with evolution or discussions of the age of the Earth, for I don't believe that we come anywhere near comprehending the mind of God or the workings of the universe. Science can explain a lot, but it cannot give us faith, and I think we need both."

"Clothing doesn't really change a man. But it changes how others react to him."

"We got there without being spotted. I pulled her in, then shut the door, pressing my back to it and exhaling like an epileptic pilot who'd just landed a cargo plane full of dynamite."