Robert Jordan citations

Page 8

“You can never know everything, and part of what you know is always wrong. Perhaps even the most important part. A portion of wisdom lies in knowing that. A portion of courage lies in going on anyway.”

“Men always believe they are in control of everything around them. When they find out they are not, they think they have failed, instead of learning a simple truth women already know.”

“Fall in love with a man, and you end up doing laundry, even if it does belong to another man.”

“Do you know how to unite the people behind you, Child Carridin? The quickest way? Loose a lion - a rabid lion - in the streets. And when panic grips the people, once it has turned their bowels to water, calmly tell them you will deal with it. Then you kill it, and order them to hang the carcass up where everyone can see. Before they have time to think, you give another order, and it will be obeyed. And if you continue to give orders, they will continue to obey, for you will be the one who saved them, and who better to lead?”

“Never prod at a woman unless you must. She will kill you faster than a man and for less reason, even if she weeps over it after.”

“We can't go back, Mat. The Wheel has turned, for better or worse. And it will keep turning, as lights die and forests dim, storms call and skies break. Turn it will. The Wheel is not hope, and the Wheel does not care, the Wheel simply is. But so long as it turns, folk may hope, folk may care. For with light that fades, another will eventually grow, and each storm that rages must eventually die. As long as the Wheel turns. As long is it turns….”

“The louder a man tells you he’s honest, the harder you must hold onto your purse.”

“If I could find a way to escape my destiny, do I deserve to?”

“A man should never give promises in bed.”

“[Aviendha] didn't trust change. It couldn't be spotted or stabbed; it was more silent than any scout, more deadly than any assassin. No, she'd never trust it, but she would accept it.”

“I will see you tonight. Or I will see you dead.”

“When there are fish heads and blood in the water, you don’t need to see the silverpike to know they are there.”

“A ship is alive, and he is like a man, with a true man’s heart. Treat him well and care for him properly, and he will fight for you against the worst sea. He will fight to keep you alive even after the sea has long since given him his own deathstroke. Neglect him, though, ignore the small warnings he gives of danger, and he will drown you in a flat sea beneath a cloudless sky.”

“A crafty enemy will set a weak ambush you are meant to break through. Confident because you have dealt with the threat, your guard relaxed, you walk into the second, stronger ambush.”

“A slow horse does not always reach the end of the journey.”

“A gnarled old branch dulls the blade that severs a sapling.”

“I’ll not have you bleeding to death on me. That would be just like you, to die and leave me the work of burying you. You have no consideration.”

“You have to understand, child. Everyone wants someone in their life, someone who cares for them, someone they can care for. Even a queen.”

“The best way to apologize to a man is to trip him in a secluded part of the garden.”

“A jealous wife is like a hornets’ nest in your mattress.”

“"Wish" and "want" trip the feet, but "is" makes the path smoother.”

“The wheel of a man's life. No mercy. No pity.”

“Sometimes, a wife must do what her husband cannot.”

“If you don’t look for snakes, you cannot complain when one bites you.”

“A shaping stone, to make us; a testing ground to prove our worth; and a punishment for the sin.”

“It is the enemy you underestimate who kills you.”

“A weeping woman is a bucket with no bottom.”

“The more women there are about, the softer a wise man steps.”

“By the look of you, Nynaeve, I could almost think you were angry, but I know you have such a sweet disposition people ask you to dabble your fingers in their tea.”