Quotes from book

Words of Radiance

“This is insanity!"
"No, this is scholarship!”

“Shallan, weren't you supposed to be reading?”
“I… had trouble concentrating.”
“So you came up on deck,” Jasnah said, “to sketch pictures of young men working without their shirts on. You expected this toyour concentration?”

“Do not let your assumptions about a culture block your ability to perceive the individual, or you will fail.”

“Expectation. is the true soul of art. If you can give a man more than he expects, then he will laud you his entire life. If you can create an air of anticipation and feed it properly, you will succeed.”

“a cheerful voice said in his mind.”

“You sent him to the sky to die, assassin," Kaladin said, Stormlight puffing from his lips, "but the sky and the winds are mine. I claim them, as I now claim your life.”

“Control is the basis of all true power. Authority and strength are matters of perception”

“A woman's strength should not be in her role, whatever she chooses to be, but in the power to choose that role.”

“How…” Dalinar said. “You fell into a chasm!”
“I fell face-first, sir,” Kaladin said, “and fortunately, I’m particularly hard-headed.”

“To age truly was to suffer the ultimate treason, that of one’s body against oneself.”

“Expectation wasn't just about what people expected of you. It was about what you expected of yourself.”

“As I fear not a child with a weapon he cannot lift, I will never fear the mind of a man who does not think.”

“Jasnah had once defined a fool as a person who ignored information because it disagreed with desired results.”

“Onward, then! To glory and some such nonsense.”

“You promised me I could measure your… particular abilities."
"Promised?" Kaladin asked. "I don't remember a promise."
"You grunted”

“If the afterlife really is a big war,” Kaladin said, “then I hope I end up in Damnation. At least there I might be able to get a wink or two of sleep.”

“What do you know?”
“Almost everything. That almost part can be a real kick in the teeth sometimes.”
“What do you want, then?”
“What I can’t have.” Wit turned to him, eyes solemn. “Same as everyone else, Kaladin Stormblessed.”

“Using a fetching face to make men do as you wish is no different from a man using muscle to force a woman to his will. Both are base, and both will fail a person as they age.”

“To live was to be a fragment of the cosmere that was experiencing itself.”