At first glance, the key and the lock it fits may seem very different,” Sazed said. “Different in shape, different in function, different in design. The man who looks at them without knowledge of their true nature might think them opposites, for one is meant to open, and the other to keep closed. Yet, upon closer examination he might see that without one, the other becomes useless. The wise man then sees that both lock and key were created for the same purpose.
I will take responsibility for what I have done,” Dalinar whispered. “If I must fall, I will rise each time a better man.
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.
The question,’ she replied, ’is not whether you will love, hurt, dream, and die. It is what you will love, why you will hurt, when you will dream, and how you will die. This is your choice. You cannot pick the destination, only the path.
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.
You tried to help the people of the market. You mostly failed. This is life. The longer you live, the more you fail. Failure is the mark of a life well lived. In turn, the only way to live without failure is to be of no use to anyone. Trust me, I’ve practiced.
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.
People need stories, child. They bring us hope, and that hope is real. If that’s the case, what does it matter whether people in them actually lived?
Definitely not – you optimists just can’t understand that a depressed person doesn’t want you to try and cheer them up. It makes us sick.
The trick to happiness wasn’t in freezing every momentary pleasure and clinging to each one, but in ensuring one’s life would produce many future moments to anticipate.
One can believe in a story without believing it happened.
Life breaks us, Teft. Then we fill the cracks with something stronger.
It has always seemed to me that a coward is a person who cares more about what people say than about what is right. Bravery isn’t about what people call you, Spensa. It’s about who you know yourself to be.
Aim for the sun. That way if you miss, at least your arrow will fall far away, and the person it kills will likely be someone you don’t know.
I hadn’t been a nerd, mind you. I’d just been the type of guy who spent a lot of time by himself, focused entirely on a single consuming interest.
The most important word a man can say are, “I will do better.
We want what we can’t have, even when we have no right to demand it.
Power was an illusion of perception, as Jasnah had said. The first step to being in control was to see yourself as capable of being in control.
Sometimes, the answers we need don’t match the questions we’re asking.” He looked up at me. “And sometimes, the coward makes fools of wiser men.
As long as you keep trying, there’s a chance. When you give up? That’s when the dream dies.