Key Insights & Memorable Quotes
Below are the most popular and impactful highlights and quotes from The Way of Kings:
“The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.”
“Life before Death.Strength before Weakness.Journey before Destination.”
“And so, does the destination matter? Or is it the path we take? I declare that no accomplishment has substance nearly as great as the road used to achieve it. We are not creatures of destinations. It is the journey that shapes us. Our callused feet, our backs strong from carrying the weight of our travels, our eyes open with the fresh delight of experiences lived.”
“Sometimes the prize is not worth the costs. The means by which we achieve victory are as important as the victory itself.”
“To lack feeling is to be dead, but to act on every feeling is to be a child.”
“Expectations were like fine pottery. The harder you held them, the more likely they were to crack.”
“Somebody has to start. Somebody has to step forward and do what is right, because it is right.”
“Just because I do not accept the teachings of the devotaries does not mean I've discarded a belief in right and wrong.""But the Almighty determines what is right!""Must someone, some unseen thing, declare what is right for it to be right? I believe that my own morality -- which answers only to my heart -- is more sure and true than the morality of those who do right only because they fear retribution.”
“Strength does not make one capable of rule; it makes one capable of service.”
“In the end, all men die. How you lived will be far more important to the Almighty than what you accomplished.”
“Ah, the outdoors,' Shallan said. 'I visited that mythical place once.”
“We follow the codes not because they bring gain, but because we loathe the people we would otherwise become.”
“Authority doesn't come from a rank.," Kaladin said, fingering the spheres in his pocket."Where does it come from?""From the men who give it to you. That's the only way to get it.”
“This world, it is a tempest sometimes. But remember, the sun always rises again.”
“What did you put in the fire?" Kaladin said. "To make that special smoke?""Nothing. It was just and ordinary fire.""But, I saw-""What you saw belongs to you. A story doesn't live until it is imagined in someone's mind.""What does the story mean, then?""It means what you want it to mean," Hoid said. "The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think , but to give you questions to think upon. Too often, we forget that.”
“I once saw a spindly man carrying a stone larger than his head upon his back. He stumbled beneath the weight, shirtless under the sun, wearing only a loincloth. He tottered down a busy thoroughfare. People made way for him. Not because they sympathized with him, but because they feared the momentum of his steps. You dare not impede one such as this. The monarch is like this man, stumbling along, the weight of a kingdom on his shoulders. Many give way before him, but so few are willing to step in and help carry the stone. They do not wish to attach themselves to the work, lest they condemn themselves to a life full of extra burdens. I left my carriage that day and took up the stone, lifting it for the man. I believe my guards were embarrassed. One can ignore a poor shirtless wretch doing such labor, but none ignore a king sharing the load. Perhaps we should switch places more often. If a king is seen to assume the burden of the poorest of men, perhaps there will be those who will help him with his own load, so invisible, yet so daunting.”
“Too many of us take great pains with what we ingest through our mouths, and far less with what we partake of through our ears and eyes.”
“The hallmark of insecurity is bravado.”
“Brightness...I believe you stray into sarcasm.""Funny.I thought I'd run straight into it,screaming at the top of my lungs.”
“Overcome your guilt. Care, but not too much. Take responsibility, but don't blame yourself. Protect, save, help- but know when to give up. They're precarious ledges to walk. How do I do it?”
“Ignorance is hardly unusual, Miss Davar. The longer I live, the more I come to realize that it is the natural state of the human mind. There are many who will strive to defend its sanctity and then expect you to be impressed with their efforts.”
“What is a man’s life worth?” Dalinar asked softly.“The slavemasters say one is worth about two emerald broams,” Kaladin said, frowning. “And what do you say?”“A life is priceless,” he said immediately, quoting his father. Dalinar smiled, wrinkle lines extending from the corners of his eyes. “Coincidentally, that is the exact value of a Shardblade. So today, you and your men sacrificed to buy me twenty-six hundred priceless lives. And all I had to repay you with was a single priceless sword. I call that a bargain.”
“An excuse is what you make after the deed is done, while a justification is what you offer before.”
“There are two kinds of people in this world, son. Those who save lives, and those who take lives.""And what of those who protect and defend? Those who save lives by taking lives?""That's like trying to stop a storm by blowing harder. Ridiculous. You can't protect by killing.”
“Those candle flames were like the lives of men. So fragile. So deadly. Left alone, they lit and warmed. Let run rampant, they would destroy the very things they were meant to illuminate. Embryonic bonfires, each bearing a seed of destruction so potent it could tumble cities and dash kings to their knees.”
“A man’s emotions are what define him, and control is the hallmark of true strength. To lack feeling is to be dead, but to act on every feeling is to be a child.”
“In the end, I must proclaim that no good can be achieved of false means. For the substance of our existence is not in the achievement, but in the method.”
“Too many scholars think of research as purely a cerebral pursuit. If we do nothing with the knowledge we gain, then we have wasted our study. Books can store information better than we can--what we do that books cannot is interpret. So if one is not going to draw conclusions, then one might as well just leave the information in the texts.”
“Szeth-son-son-Vallano, Truthless of Shinovar, wore white on the day he was to kill a king […] White to be bold. White to not blend into the night. White to give warning. For if you were going to assassinate a man, he was entitled to see you coming.”
“If I should die,” Dalinar said, “then I would do so having lived my life right. It is not the destination that matters, but how one arrives there.”“The Codes?”“No. The Way of Kings.”“That storming book.”
