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Patrick Rothfuss Quotes
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Patrick James Rothfuss is an American writer of epic fantasy. He is best known for his ongoing trilogy The Kingkiller Chronicle, which won him several awards, including the 2007 Quill Award for his debut novel, The Name of the Wind. Its sequel, The Wise Man's Fear, topped The New York Times Best Seller list. Wikipedia  

✵ 6. June 1973
Patrick Rothfuss photo
Patrick Rothfuss: 236 quotes25 likes

Patrick Rothfuss Quotes

“I decided to dub the room with the good chairs my lutery. Or perhaps my performatory. I would need a while to come up with something suitably pretentious.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“Sometimes leaving is the only thing you can do.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“Secrets of the heart. We swallow hard against them every day, forcing them deep inside us. There they sit, growing heavier, festering. Given enough time, they cannot help but crush the heart that holds them.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“A tinker’s debt is always paid:
Once for any simple trade.
Twice for freely given aid.
Thrice for any insult made.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind (2007), Chapter 1, “A Place for Demons” (p. 5)

“How odd to watch a mortal kindle / Then to dwindle day by day / Knowing their bright souls are tinder / And the wind will have its way”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“Some days simply lay on you like stones. Some were fickle as cats, sliding away when you needed comfort, then coming back later when you didn’t want them, jostling at you, stealing your breath.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Slow Regard of Silent Things

Source: The Slow Regard of Silent Things

“Words cannot always do the work we need them to. Music is there for when words fail us.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“Small facts lead to great knowing.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“I scowled as loudly as I could.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“All stories are true.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

The Name of the Wind

“Soon. She knew. Soon he would come visiting. Incarnadine and sweet and sad and broken. Just like her.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Slow Regard of Silent Things

Source: The Slow Regard of Silent Things

“Damn chicken. Come eat your dinner. I'm cold.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind

“One of them had a large wooden sign nailed to its door proclaiming, NO SYMPATHY! I wondered what non-arcane visitors might think of the warning.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind

“The air was heavy with the smell of leather and dust, of old parchment and binding glue. It smelled of secrets.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“She felt… less. She felt tamped down. Dim. More faint. Feint. Feigned. Fain.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Slow Regard of Silent Things

Source: The Slow Regard of Silent Things

“I want a magical horse that fits in my pocket," Wil said. "And a ring of red amber that gives me power over demons. And an endless supply of cake.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“She knew the true shape of the world. All else was shadow and the sound of distant drums.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Slow Regard of Silent Things

Source: The Slow Regard of Silent Things

“But even this piece of flattery couldn't distract me from the fact that I was in the center of the Fae realm, blind, stark naked, and without the slightest idea of what was going on.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“There is something powerfully beguiling about the excited eyes of a young woman. They can pull all manner of nonsense out of a foolish young man, and I was no exception to this rule.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“Love is blind, and a deaf-mute too.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“We are the Edema Ruh, and the thing we value most every man possesses. You can tell us your story.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“A tree doesn't make a thunderstorm, but any fool knows where lightning's going to strike.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“I don't speak fluent bumpkin…”

Patrick Rothfuss

“… hear rumors and go digging for the painful truth beneath the lovely lies. You believe you have a right to these things, but you don't. When someone tells you a piece of their life, they're giving you a gift, not granting you your due.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“I spoke it soft, but close enough to brush against her lips. I spoke it quiet, but near enough so that the sound of it went twining through her hair. I spoke it hard and firm and dark and sweet.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“I do this so you cannot help but hear. A wise man views a moonless night with fear.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“But no. It didn't suit him. She should have known. He was not a one for fastening. For holding closed. Neither was he dark. Oh no. He was emberant. Incarnadine. He was bright with better bright beneath, like copper-gilded gold.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Slow Regard of Silent Things

Source: The Slow Regard of Silent Things

“Absence feeds affection.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“When left to its own devices it tends to make me look as if I’ve been set afire.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind

“Why? Because pride is a strange thing, and because generosity deserves generosity in return. But mostly because it felt like the right thing to do, and that is reason enough.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind

“Just because I tread heavily on propriety's toes doesn't mean I can't play the game when it's of use to me.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“We love what we love. Reason does not enter into it.”

Patrick Rothfuss

“But it isn’t a rough draft either. The one I turned in several months ago was rough. There were some bad plot holes, some logical inconsistencies, pacing problems, and not nearly enough lesbian unicorns.”

Patrick Rothfuss

“Maple. Maypole
Catch and carry.
Ash and Ember.
Elderberry.
Woolen. Woman.
Moon at night.
Willow. Window.
Candlelight.
Fallow farrow.
Ash and oak.
Bide and borrow.
Chimney smoke.
Barrel. Barley.
Stone and stave.
Wind and water.
Misbehave.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“You can´t prove nonexistence".”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

The Wise Man's Fear

““You don’t seem the superstitious type.”
“I’m not,” Ben said. “I’m careful. There’s a difference.””

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind (2007), Chapter 12, “Puzzle Pieces Fitting” (p. 93)

“My father had a dark glimmer in his eye as he moved behind her. “Old?” He spoke in a low voice as he began to rub her shoulders again. “Woman, I have a mind to prove you wrong.”
She smiled a wry smile. “Sir, I have a mind to let you.””

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind (2007), Chapter 14, “The Name of the Wind” (p. 113)

““Why do we stop for the greystones?”
“Tradition, my boy,” he said grandly, throwing his arms wide. “And superstition. They are one and the same, anyway.””

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind (2007), Chapter 14, “The Name of the Wind” (p. 112)

“I mean seriously. If the book had a solid pub date, don't you think I'd mention it? Do you think I'd sit here at home, rubbing my hands together and chortling: "Yes! If I withhold this information another week, I'm sure to get another 100 e-mails asking me about the book!"
Yup. That's exactly what I'd do. Because obviously I am some sort of alien life form that lives on snarky fanmail and bitchy blog comments. Since I became stranded on your strange world years ago, they have been my only means of sustenance.”

Patrick Rothfuss

A sign of things to come… (18 February 2010) http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2010/02/signs-of-things-to-come/comment-page-3/ <br class="br">Official site

““I’ll admit, I was disappointed to learn that dragons didn’t exist. That’s a hard lesson for a boy to learn.”
Chronicler smiled. “Honestly, I was a little disappointed myself. I went looking for a legend and found a lizard. A fascinating lizard, but a lizard just the same.””

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind (2007), Chapter 6, “The Price of Remembering” (p. 46)

“Trouble,” he chuckled. “What does a boy like you know about trouble? I was in trouble afore you were born. I been in trouble you don’t even got words for.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind (2007), Chapter 61, “Jackass, Jackass” (p. 454)

“So you went looking for a myth and found a man.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind (2007), Chapter 6, “The Price of Remembering” (p. 50)

“I was heavily influenced by my first attempt at a novel. I started a fantasy novel back in high school, and…. well… it really sucked. It was a plotless, clichéd mess. When I sat down to write this book, I wanted to make something much, much better. I wanted to write something that was pretty much the opposite of that first novel.
Also, I read Cyrano De Bergerac, right before I started writing the book. Cyrano's character reminded me of some important things, namely, what it really means to be a tragic hero. You don't need a lot of the cliché fantasy trappings to have that cool character.
I also read Giacomo Casanova's memoirs soon after starting this project. That opened my eyes to how interesting an autobiography could be, provided the person telling it has a way with words and has lived a sufficiently adventurous life….”

Patrick Rothfuss

Interview with Fantasy Book Critic (25 May 2007) http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2007/03/interview-with-patrick-rothfuss.html

“Nothing makes a man feel older than a young woman.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind (2007), Chapter 69, “Wind or Women’s Fancy” (p. 512)

“It was one of those perfect autumn days so common in stories and so rare in the real world.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind (2007), Chapter 2, “A Beautiful Day” (p. 19)

““Music is a fine thing, but metal lasts.” He struck the table with two huge fingers to emphasize his point….
As I left, I thought about what Kilvin had said. It was the first thing he had said to me that I did not agree with wholeheartedly. Metal rusts, I thought, music lasts forever.
Time will eventually prove one of us right.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind (2007), Chapter 60, “Fortune” (pp. 443-444; ellipsis represents minor elision of description)