The Way of Kings

“So it’s not the beauty itself we admire. It’s not the force of intellect. It’s not invention, aesthetics, or capacity itself. The greatest talent that we think a man can have?” He plucked one final string. “Seems to me that it must be nothing more than novelty.”

“Sometimes,” Taravangian said, “you must tear down a structure to build a new one with stronger walls.”

“Sometimes,” Taravangian said, “you must tear down a structure to build a new one with stronger walls.”

But weakness can imitate strength if bound properly, just as cowardice can imitate heroism if given nowhere to flee

Unite them…. The visions. But the man who spoke to Dalinar in them had been dead wrong. Acting with honor hadn’t won Sadeas’s loyalty. It had just opened Dalinar up to betrayal.

The end was peace, but living… that is a tempest.

I never did deliver that Shardplate I promised him, Dalinar thought. He will have to make his way without it. Honor of our ancestors protect you, son.

Stay strong—and learn wisdom more quickly than your father did.

Farewell.

At times, it seems to me that to be human is to want that which we cannot have.

“Life before death,” Teft said, wagging a finger at Kaladin. “The Radiant seeks to defend life, always. He never kills unnecessarily, and never risks his own life for frivolous reasons. Living is harder than dying. The Radiant’s duty is to live.

“Strength before weakness. All men are weak at some time in their lives. The Radiant protects those who are weak, and uses his strength for others. Strength does not make one capable of rule; it makes one capable of service.”

Teft picked up spheres, putting them in his pouch. He held the last one for a second, then tucked it away too. “Journey before destination. There are always several ways to achieve a goal. Failure is preferable to winning through unjust means. Protecting ten innocents is not worth killing one. In the end, all men die. How you lived will be far more important to the Almighty than what you accomplished.”

We are not creatures of destinations. It is the journey that shapes us.