Top 500 Brandon Sanderson Quotes (2026 Update)
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251. “You can’t put a price on a person’s life,” Kaladin.”

— Brandon Sanderson

252. “You must love him enough to trust his wishes, even if you disagree with them. You must respect him – no matter how wrong you think he may be, no matter how poor you think his decisions, you must respect his desire to make them. Even if one of them includes loving you.”

— Brandon Sanderson

253. “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

254. “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

255. “Harmony protect us from small-minded men with too much power.”

— Brandon Sanderson

256. “But still, my ‘freedom’ is that of a leaf. Dropped from the tree, I just blow on the wind and pretend I’m in charge of my destiny.”

— Brandon Sanderson

257. “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

258. “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

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

— Brandon Sanderson

260. “Truth can never be defeated, Sarene. Even if people do forget about it occasionally.”

— Brandon Sanderson

261. “Oh, but I’m a scholar. I enjoy things with curious properties, and stupidity is most interesting. The more you study it, the further it flees – and yet the more of it you obtain, the less you understand about it!”

— Brandon Sanderson

262. “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

263. “What was a prayer, if not creation? Making something where nothing existed. Creating a wish out of despair, a plea out of anguish. Bowing one’s back before the Almighty, and forming humility from the empty pride of a human life.”

— Brandon Sanderson

264. “So, there I was, tied to an altar made from outdated encyclopedias, about to get sacrificed to the dark powers by a cult of evil Librarians.”

— Brandon Sanderson

265. “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

266. “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

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

— Brandon Sanderson

268. “All people are musicians” Wit countered. “The question is whether or not they share their songs.”

— Brandon Sanderson

269. “What do you think makes a man a good king, Tindwyl of Terris?” “Trust,” Tindwyl said, looking him in the eyes. “A good king is one who is trusted by his people – and one who deserves that trust.”

— Brandon Sanderson

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

— Brandon Sanderson

271. “Now, it’s finally time to reveal some secrets.”

— Brandon Sanderson

272. “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

273. “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

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

— Brandon Sanderson

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

— Brandon Sanderson

276. “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

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

— Brandon Sanderson

278. “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

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

— Brandon Sanderson

280. “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

281. “Shallan had found that no matter how bad things got, someone would be making tea.”

— Brandon Sanderson

282. “Empathy is an emotional loss leader. It pays for itself eventually.”

— Brandon Sanderson

283. “Holding your brain hostage against your own stupidity – that was how to get stuff done.”

— Brandon Sanderson

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

— Brandon Sanderson

285. “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

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

— Brandon Sanderson

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

— Brandon Sanderson

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

— Brandon Sanderson

289. “Unapplied knowledge benefited no one.”

— Brandon Sanderson

290. “A hero does not choose her trials.”

— Brandon Sanderson

291. “Ain’t no fellow who regretted giving it one extra shake, but you can bet every guy has regretted giving one too few.”

— Brandon Sanderson

292. “Everyone is either happy or dead.”

— Brandon Sanderson

293. “I was grown-up. I’d packed my own backpack and had left Bloodletter, my stuffed bear, at home. Stuffed bears were for babies, even if you’d fashioned your own mock power armor for yours out of string and broken ceramics.”

— Brandon Sanderson

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

— Brandon Sanderson

295. “It’s not imitating anything; it has become a better version of itself.”

— Brandon Sanderson

296. “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

297. “That girl never did have the decency to be wrong an appropriate amount of the time.”

— Brandon Sanderson

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

— Brandon Sanderson

299. “When men fought, they connected. You became brothers as you traded blows.”

— Brandon Sanderson

300. “Despair, hate, loss, frustration, horror. How could any man live this way? To be a surgeon, to live knowing that you would be too weak to save some? When other men failed, a field of crops got worms in them. When a surgeon failed, someone died.”

— Brandon Sanderson