Key Insights & Memorable Quotes
Below are the most popular and impactful highlights and quotes from Words of Radiance:
“Honor is dead. But I'll see what I can do.”
“He saw it in her eyes. The anguish, the frustration. The terrible nothing that clawed inside and sought to smother her. She knew. It was there, inside. She had been broken. Then she smiled. Oh, storms. She smiled anyway. It was the single most beautiful thing he’d seen in his entire life.”
“Why hasn't anyone killed him yet?”“Dumb luck,” Wit said. “In that I’m lucky you’re all so dumb.”
“Do not let your assumptions about a culture block your ability to perceive the individual, or you will fail.”
“What is a woman's place in this modern world? Jasnah Kholin's words read. I rebel against this question, though so many of my peers ask it. The inherent bias in the inquiry seems invisible to so many of them. They consider themselves progressive because they are willing to challenge many of the assumptions of the past.They ignore the greater assumption--that a 'place' for women must be defined and set forth to begin with. Half of the population must somehow be reduced to the role arrived at by a single conversation. No matter how broad that role is, it will be--by-nature--a reduction from the infinite variety that is womanhood.I say that there is no role for women--there is, instead, a role for each woman, and she must make it for herself. For some, it will be the role of scholar; for others, it will be the role of wife. For others, it will be both. For yet others, it will be neither.Do not mistake me in assuming I value one woman's role above another. My point is not to stratify our society--we have done that far to well already--my point is to diversify our discourse.A woman's strength should not be in her role, whatever she chooses it to be, but in the power to choose that role. It is amazing to me that I even have to make this point, as I see it as the very foundation of our conversation.”
“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.”
“The only time you seem honest is when you’re insulting someone!”“The only honest things I can say to you are insults.”
“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.”
“I ain't grouchy,” Teft snapped. “I just have a low threshold for stupidity.”
“Jasnah had once defined a fool as a person who ignored information because it disagreed with desired results.”
“A woman's strength should not be in her role, whatever she chooses to be, but in the power to choose that role.”
“Words are where most change begins.”
“I don't talk to myself because I'm crazy.""No?""I do it because I'm awesome.”
“Kaladin frowned. “Wait. Are you wearing cologne? In prison?”“Well, there was no need to be barbaric, just because I was incarcerated.”“Storms, you’re spoiled,” Kaladin said, smiling.“I’m refined, you insolent farmer,” Adolin said. Then he grinned. “Besides, I’ll have you know that I had to use cold water for my baths while here.”“Poor boy.”
“Hello, a cheerful voice said in his mind. Would you like to destroy some evil today?”
“Onward, then! To glory and some such nonsense.”
“Power is an illusion of perception.”
“All stories told have been told before. We tell them to ourselves, as did all men who ever were. And all men who ever will be. The only things new are the names.”
“Two blind men waited at the end of an era, contemplating beauty.”
“I will protect even those I hate,” Kaladin whispered through bloody lips. “So long as it is right.”
“I’m so storming pure I practically belch rainbows.”
“How . . .” Dalinar said. “You fell into a chasm!”“I fell face-first, sir,” Kaladin said, “and fortunately, I’m particularly hard-headed.”
“I can see what you’re up to.”“Five foot six inches,” Shallan said. “I suspect that’s all I will ever be up to, unfortunately.”
“Fleet kept running,” Kaladin growled, getting back under Elhokar’s arm.“What?”“He couldn't win, but he kept running. And when the storm caught him, it didn't matter that he’d died, because he’d run for all he had.”“Sure. All right.” The king sounded groggy, though Kaladin couldn't tell if it was the alcohol or the blood loss.“We all die in the end, you see,” Kaladin said. “So I guess what truly matters is just how well you've run. And Elhokar, you've kept running since your father was killed, even if you screw up all the storming time.”“Thank you?” the king said, drowsy.”
“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.”
“I like visiting people in prison. I can say whatever I want to them, and they can’t do anything about it.”
“The world isn't fair? What a huge revelation! Some people in power abuse those they have power over? Amazing! When did this start happening?”
“When did you get so peppy?” she shouted.“Ever since I assumed I was dead, then I suddenly wasn't.”“Then remind me to try to kill you once in a while,” she snapped. “If I succeed, it will make me feel better, and if I fail, it will make you feel better. Everyone wins!”
“Expectation wasn't just about what people expected of you. It was about what you expected of yourself.”
“Expectation. That 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.”
