Author:: Brandon Sanderson
Full Title:: The Way of Kings
Tags:#media/book
- themes::
- theme 1
- Summary::
- summary 1
* highlights from 2021-02-08
* His punishment declared that they didn’t. His honor demanded that they did. ([Location 218](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=218))
* But when weapons created to fight nightmares were turned against common soldiers, the lives of men became cheap things indeed. ([Location 308](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=308))
* The Shardblade, as always, glistened silver and clean. When one killed with a Blade, there was no blood. That seemed like a sign. The Shardblade was just a tool; it could not be blamed for the murders. ([Location 310](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=310))
* There was a certain power in that, a freedom. The freedom of not having to care. ([Location 714](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=714))
* Have you cut off a piece of the night’s cloak and tucked it away? Is it the heart of a beetle, so tiny yet powerful?” ([Location 805](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=805))
* But expectations were like fine pottery. The harder you held them, the more likely they were to crack. ([Location 923](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=923))
* **Tags**: [[orange]]
* Words aren’t meant to be kept inside, you see. They are free creatures, and if locked away will unsettle the stomach.” ([Location 969](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=969))
* The obvious choice was her art, and she did so love sketching. But it was more than just the drawing that attracted her—it was the study, the questions raised by observation. ([Location 1134](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=1134))
* The landscape to the east was as he’d heard it described in a dozen different stories detailing the king’s campaign against the Parshendi betrayers. It was an enormous riven plain of rock—so wide he couldn’t see the other side—that was split and cut by sheer chasms, crevasses twenty or thirty feet wide. They were so deep that they disappeared into darkness and formed a jagged mosaic of uneven plateaus. Some large, others tiny. The expansive plain looked like a platter that had been broken, its pieces then reassembled with small gaps between the fragments. ([Location 1347](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=1347))
* That much was true. When worked, slaves had to be paid a small wage—half what a nonslave would be paid, which was already often less than a full citizen would make for the same work. But it was something, and Alethi law required it. Only ardents—who couldn’t own anything anyway—didn’t have to be paid. Well, them and parshmen. But parshmen were more animal than anything else. ([Location 1362](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=1362))
* Each lighteyes Kaladin had known, whether as a slave or a free man, had shown himself to be corrupt to the core, for all his outward poise and beauty. They were like rotting corpses clothed in beautiful silk. ([Location 1370](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=1370))
* “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.” ([Location 1471](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=1471))
* She had read of how sculptors worked. Many would take a blank stone block and work it into a vague shape first. Then, they’d work it over again, carving more detail with each pass. It was the same for her in drawing. Broad lines first, then some details, then more, then down to the finest of lines. She had no formal training in pencils; she simply did what felt right. ([Location 2049](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=2049))
* The city took shape beneath her fingers. She coaxed it free, line by line, scratch by scratch. ([Location 2052](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=2052))
* When she drew, she didn’t feel as if she worked with only charcoal and paper. In drawing a portrait, her medium was the soul itself. There were plants from which one could remove a tiny cutting—a leaf, or a bit of stem—then plant it and grow a duplicate. When she collected a Memory of a person, she was snipping free a bud of their soul, and she cultivated and grew it on the page. Charcoal for sinew, paper pulp for bone, ink for blood, the paper’s texture for skin. She fell into a rhythm, a cadence, the scratching of her pencil like the sound of breathing from those she depicted. ([Location 2064](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=2064))
* blank page was nothing but potential, pointless until it was used. Like a fully infused sphere cloistered inside a pouch, prevented from making its light useful. ([Location 2086](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=2086))
* I myself find that respect is like manure. Use it where needed, and growth will flourish. Spread it on too thick, and things just start to smell. ([Location 2166](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=2166))
* **Tags**: [[orange]]
* Sometimes we find it hardest to accept in others that which we cling to in ourselves. ([Location 2282](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=2282))
* there are those who take lives. And there are those who save lives. ([Location 2646](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=2646))
* **Tags**: [[orange]]
* “The people who exist to be saved or to be killed. The group in the middle. The ones who can’t do anything but die or be protected. The victims. That’s all I am.” ([Location 2651](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=2651))
* It wasn’t bravery that drove him; it wasn’t even a wish that those arrows would take him and end it all. He ran. That was what he did. Like a boulder rolled down a hill, or like rain fell from the sky. They didn’t have a choice. Neither did he. He wasn’t a man; he was a thing, and things just did what they did. ([Location 2707](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=2707))
* They wrapped them around their heads, as if to block out sight, sound, and smell. To hide from the world. The world would find them anyway. It was good at these kinds of games. ([Location 2846](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=2846))
* But, oddly, his mind felt clearer now than it had in weeks. Perhaps it was the clarity of perspective. Most men spent their entire lives wondering about the future. Well, his future was empty now. So he turned backward, thinking about his father, about Tien, about decisions. ([Location 2896](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=2896))
* It was the warmth of decisions made and purpose seized. It was responsibility. ([Location 2996](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=2996))
* The means by which we achieve victory are as important as the victory itself. ([Location 4176](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=4176))
* **Tags**: [[orange]]
* 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. ([Location 4510](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=4510))
* “You all act differently and think differently. Nothing else is like that—animals act alike, and all spren are, in a sense, virtually the same individual. There’s harmony in that. But not in you—it seems that no two of you can agree on anything. All the world does as it is supposed to, except for humans. Maybe that’s why you so often want to kill each other.” ([Location 4892](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=4892))
* We remember the good times and the bad ones, forgetting that most times are neither good nor bad. They just are.” ([Location 6013](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=6013))
* Two paths. Opposites, in many ways. He could only choose one. ([Location 7032](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=7032))
* 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. ([Location 7306](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=7306))
* **Tags**: [[orange]]
* Even here, in one of the vilest pits in the city—where women walked with their hands exposed and men spoke openly of crimes—nobody risked offending the Heralds by seeking to know the future. Even predicting the highstorms made many uncomfortable. And yet they thought nothing of walking on stone or using Stormlight for everyday illumination. They ignored the spirits of things that lived around them, and they ate whatever they wanted on any day they wanted. ([Location 8660](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=8660))
* Great men create food and clothing. He who adds is to be revered. I am he who takes away. At least in the killing of men such as these I can pretend to be doing a service.” ([Location 8775](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=8775))
* “When reading these books, scholarship and ignorance feel much alike to me,” Shallan said. “Ignorance may reside in a man hiding from intelligence, but scholarship can seem ignorance hidden behind intelligence.” ([Location 8912](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=8912))
* To be young is about action. To be a scholar is about informed action.” ([Location 8963](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=8963))
* 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.” ([Location 8966](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=8966))
* But perhaps it was wise not to speak, though keep in mind that channeling your capacities and stifling them are two separate things. I’d much prefer you to think of something both clever and appropriate.” ([Location 9122](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=9122))
* When men perceive the world as being right, we are content. But if we see a hole—a deficiency—we scramble to fill it.” ([Location 9388](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=9388))
* “You are old enough to wonder, to ask, to reject what is presented to you simply because it was presented to you. But you also cling to the idealism of youth. You feel there must be some single, all-defining Truth—and you think that once you find it, all that once confused you will suddenly make sense.” ([Location 10388](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=10388))
* ‘Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination. ([Location 11873](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=11873))
* **Tags**: [[orange]]
* Sometimes he gave them hope, but what was hope except another opportunity for failure? How many times could a man fall before he no longer stood back up? ([Location 11902](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=11902))
* Death is the destination. But the journey, that is life. That is what matters. ([Location 11924](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=11924))
* **Tags**: [[orange]]
* “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. ([Location 15781](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=15781))
* **Tags**: [[orange]]
* Though there was one thing he clung to. An excuse, perhaps, like the dead emperor. It was the soul of the wretch. Apathy. The belief that nothing was his fault, the belief that he couldn’t change anything. ([Location 15824](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=15824))
* Maybe they were about something more—about giving the men commanders they could respect and rely on. About treating war with the gravity it deserved. Maybe it was about not turning a war zone into a festival. The common men had to remain on watch, vigilant. Therefore, Adolin and Dalinar did the same. ([Location 15973](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=15973))
* “ ‘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. ([Location 16016](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=16016))
* **Tags**: [[orange]]
* “ ‘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. ([Location 16019](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=16019))
* **Tags**: [[orange]]
* “The finest defense of character is correct action. Acquaint yourself with virtue, and you can expect proper treatment from those around you. ([Location 16050](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=16050))
* **Tags**: [[orange]]
* Strength does not make one capable of rule; it makes one capable of service. ([Location 16291](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=16291))
* **Tags**: [[orange]]
* 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. ([Location 16294](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=16294))
* **Tags**: [[orange]]
* But weakness can imitate strength if bound properly, just as cowardice can imitate heroism if given nowhere to flee.” ([Location 17420](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=17420))
* **Tags**: [[favorite]]
* It was power. Strength greater than Shardplate. Vitality greater than youth. Skill greater than a lifetime of practice. A fever of power. ([Location 17657](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=17657))
* Somebody has to start, son. Somebody has to step forward and do what is right, because it is right. If nobody starts, then others cannot follow. ([Location 17931](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=17931))
* **Tags**: [[orange]]
* Us and them, he thought. That was the only way a soldier could think of it. For today, Dalinar Kholin and his men were part of the “us.” ([Location 17989](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=17989))
* He was protecting. He was saving. Yet he was killing. How could something so terrible be so beautiful at the same time? ([Location 18330](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=18330))
* “I have been treating the other highprinces and their lighteyes like adults. An adult can take a principle and adapt it to his needs. But we’re not ready for that yet. We’re children. And when you’re teaching a child, you require him to do what is right until he grows old enough to make his own choices. The Silver Kingdoms didn’t begin as unified, glorious bastions of honor. They were trained that way, raised up, like youths nurtured to maturity.” ([Location 18921](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=18921))
* Is it the intellect of a genius that we revere? If it were their artistry, the beauty of their mind, would we not laud it regardless of whether we’d seen their product before? ([Location 19637](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=19637))
* **Tags**: [[orange]]
* It doesn’t matter what you create. It matters what you create before anyone else. “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. ([Location 19640](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=19640))
* **Tags**: [[orange]]
* “What is it we value?” Wit whispered. “Innovation. Originality. Novelty. But most importantly … timeliness. ([Location 19666](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003P2WO5E&location=19666))
* **Tags**: [[orange]]