Top 500 Brandon Sanderson Quotes (2024 Update)
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201. “In all the history of mankind, has any conqueror decided they had enough? Has any man just said, ‘This is good. This is what I wanted,’ and gone home?”

— Brandon Sanderson

202. “So, when people try to give you some book with a shiny round award on the cover, be kind and gracious, but tell them you don’t read “fantasy,” because you prefer stories that are real. Then come back here and continue your research on the cult of evil Librarians who secretly rule the world.”

— Brandon Sanderson

203. “What they do not realize – and what you must realize – is that manipulating others is something that all people do. In fact, manipulation is at the core of our social interaction.”

— Brandon Sanderson

204. “There will be people like this in any culture, for every society is made of individuals. You must learn this. Do not let your assumptions about a culture block your ability to perceive the individual, or you will fail.”

— Brandon Sanderson

205. “Failure is refusing to fight. Failure is remaining quiet and hoping someone else will fix the problem.”

— Brandon Sanderson

206. “The world ends tomorrow, but the day after that, people are going to ask what’s for breakfast.”

— Brandon Sanderson

207. “Like a highstorm, regular in their coming, yet always unexpected.”

— Brandon Sanderson

208. “So much evil, Nightblood said, like a woman tisking as she cleaned cobwebs from her ceiling.”

— Brandon Sanderson

209. “Not all librarians are evil cultists. Some librarians are instead vengeful undead who want to suck your soul.”

— Brandon Sanderson

210. “That’s where we belong, not in those caverns. The kids who make fun of you, they’re trapped on this rock. Their heads are heads of rock, their hearts set upon rock. Set your sights on something higher. Something more grand.”

— Brandon Sanderson

211. “There isn’t much time for a plan. This is more of a hunch with scaffolding.”

— Brandon Sanderson

212. “Joel, lad, school is about learning to learn. If you don’t practice studying things you don’t like, then you’ll have a very hard time in life.”

— Brandon Sanderson

213. “A person knows when they’re in darkness, even when they can’t see. -Nightblood.”

— Brandon Sanderson

214. “Thievery was the most authentic form of flattery. What could be more satisfying than knowing the things you possessed were intriguing, captivating, or valuable enough to provoke another man to risk everything to obtain them? This was Kelsier’s purpose in life, to remind people of the value of the things they loved. By taking them away.”

— Brandon Sanderson

215. “Pity can be a powerful tool. Anytime you can make someone else feel something, you’ve got power over them.”

— Brandon Sanderson

216. “Jasnah raised an eyebrow. “You will find wise men in any religion, Shallan, and good men in every nation. Those who truly seek wisdom are those who will acknowledge the virtue in their adversaries and who will learn from those who disabuse them of error. All others – heretic, Vorin, Ysperist, or Maakian – are equally closed-minded.”

— Brandon Sanderson

217. “I am what the universe made me to be, my dear.”

— Brandon Sanderson

218. “He felt good lots of days. Trouble was, on the bad days, that was hard to remember. At those times, for some reason, he felt like he had always been in that darkness, and always would be.”

— Brandon Sanderson

219. “You make it sound like having the power to change the world is a bad thing.” “Bad? No. Abhorrent, depressing, ghastly. Having power is a terrible burden, the worst thing imaginable, except for every other alternative.”

— Brandon Sanderson

220. “Conversations with some people remind me of a broken sword. Sharp as hell, but lacking a point.”

— Brandon Sanderson

221. “I’ll do what I can, make the decisions as I see they must be made, Elend thought. Then accept the consequences.”

— Brandon Sanderson

222. “Sometimes, the answers we need don’t match the questions we’re asking.”

— Brandon Sanderson

223. “He could accept people with failings – even forgive them – but if he glossed over the problems, then they would never change.”

— Brandon Sanderson

224. “The body needs many different foods to remain healthy. And the mind needs many different ideas to remain sharp.”

— Brandon Sanderson

225. “I like words. And I always learn a few new ones when Father gets angry. I shouldn’t neglect my education, now should I?”

— Brandon Sanderson

226. “Passionate, with an intense, smoldering resolve. A leashed anger that he used, because he had dominated it. And a certain tempting arrogance. Not the haughty pride of a highlord. Instead, the secure, stable sense of determination that whispered that no matter who you were – or what you did – you could not hurt him. Could not change him. He was. Like the wind and rocks were.”

— Brandon Sanderson

227. “I don’t talk to myself because I’m crazy.” “No?” “I do it because I’m awesome.”

— Brandon Sanderson

228. “Put two men together, and they will find something to argue about. Gather them into groups, and one group will find reason to oppress or attack another.”

— Brandon Sanderson

229. “But merely being tradition does not make something worthy, Kadash. We can’t just assume that because something is old it is right.”

— Brandon Sanderson

230. “Joy was more than just an absence of discomfort.”

— Brandon Sanderson

231. “Death is the destination. But the journey, that is life. That is what matters.”

— Brandon Sanderson

232. “Oh, Wax has always been solemn, but when he’s at his best, there’s a smirk underneath.”

— Brandon Sanderson

233. “It’s not a lie,” Shallan said, “if everyone understands and knows what it means.” “Mm. Those are some of the best lies.”

— Brandon Sanderson

234. “You should never debate an idiot, Shallan. No more than you’d use your best sword to spread butter.”

— Brandon Sanderson

235. “But it’s not a matter of morality, is it? It’s a matter of thresholds. How many guilty may be punished before you’d accept one innocent casualty? A thousand? Ten thousand? A hundred? When you consider, all calculations are meaningless except one. Has more good been done than evil? If so, then the law has done its job.”

— Brandon Sanderson

236. “Oh, hell,” Kelsier said. “There’s actually a God?” “Yes.” Kelsier decked him.”

— Brandon Sanderson

237. “We are not creatures of destinations. It is the journey that shapes us.”

— Brandon Sanderson

238. “Once the soul grows accustomed to the wound, it’s much harder to fix.”

— Brandon Sanderson

239. “You could even scan to the end and read the last page. Know that by doing so, however, you would violate every holy and honorable story-telling principle known to man, thereby throwing the universe into chaos and causing grief to untold millions.”

— Brandon Sanderson

240. “Unapplied knowledge benefited no one.”

— Brandon Sanderson

241. “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.”

— Brandon Sanderson

242. “The sun peeked over the horizon like the head of a giant radioactive manatee.”

— Brandon Sanderson

243. “Everyone is either happy or dead.”

— Brandon Sanderson

244. “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

245. “I was thinking that work is like fertilizer in that I’m glad it exists; I just don’t ever want to get stuck in it.”

— Brandon Sanderson

246. “It’s interesting that the woman who wrote that treatise – the one you all practically worship in Alethkar –decided that all of the feminine tasks involve sitting around having fun while all the masculine ones involve finding someone to stick a spear in you. Telling, eh?”

— Brandon Sanderson

247. “Dalinar said. “You’ve grown, soldier. Few men have the wisdom to realize when they need help. Fewer still have the strength to go get it. Well done. Very well done.”

— Brandon Sanderson

248. “That isn’t greatness. That’s just foolishness.”

— Brandon Sanderson

249. “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

250. “Wherever it may be, whoever may hold it. That’s who I am.”

— Brandon Sanderson