Brandon Sanderson

Being a human was about making sense of chaos, finding meaning among the random elements of the world.

His mother would probably lament how little Kaladin care for religious observance. The way Kaladin figured it, the Almighty didn’t show much concern for him, so why care back?

Funny, isn't it, how so many of our stories start the same way, but have opposing endings? In half, the child ignores her parents, wanders out into the woods, and gets eaten. In the other half she discovers great wonders. There aren't many stories about the kids who say, 'Yes, I shall not go into the forest. I'm glad my parents explained that is where the monsters live.'

The motivations of men. They never make sense. And they always make sense.

The purpose of youth is to experience variety while it is still interesting.

To be human was often to be forced to choose between distasteful options.

I have spent too much of my time worrying about what people think, Navani. When I thought my time had arrived, I realized that all my worrying had been wasted. In the end, I was pleased with how I had lived my life.

'The question,' she replied, 'is not whether you will love, hurt, dream, and die. It is what' you will love, why you will hurt, when you will dream, and "how you will die. This is your choice. You cannot pick the destination, only the path.'

You don't know that for certain

Shallan smiled at the wonderful surroundings, the light rainfall, the beautiful plant life. A little dampness was a small price to pay for the melodious sound of sprinkling rain, for fresh clean air and a beautiful sky full of clouds that varied in every shade of grey.

But expectations were like fine pottery. The harder you help them, the more likely they were to crack.

Most cities lived on the very edge of civilization. Everyone talked about towns and villages out in the middle of nowhere as if they were uncivilized, but she’d found people in those places pleasant, even-tempered, and comfortable with their quieter way of life.
Not in cities. Cities balanced on the edge of sustainability, always one step from starvation. When you pressed so may people together, their cultures, ideas, and stenches rubbed off on one another. The results wasn’t civilization. It was contained chaos, pressurized, bottled up so it couldn’t escape.

Why, Jasnah? Why have you always denied me?

His sincerity was so unexpected. Dalinar had been around Alethi politicians so much that he found honesty an obscure thing, like a language he no longer spoke.

Kabsal sighed. “Brightness Jasnah, I realize that you are not fond of me. But I am working very hard to be pleasant. Could you at least pretend to do likewise?”