Author:: Patrick Rothfuss
Full Title:: The Wise Man’s Fear
Tags:#media/book
- themes::
- theme 1
- Summary::
- summary 1
* highlights from 2021-02-08
* “And you wonder why people talk about you.” “I don’t wonder why they talk,” I said. “I wonder what they say.” ([Location 718](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=718))
* “Fault isn’t the issue. A tree doesn’t make a thunderstorm, but any fool knows where lightning’s going to strike.” ([Location 920](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=920))
* So yes. It had flaws, but what does that matter when it comes to matters of the heart? We love what we love. Reason does not enter into it. In many ways, unwise love is the truest love. Anyone can love a thing because. That’s as easy as putting a penny in your pocket. But to love something despite. To know the flaws and love them too. That is rare and pure and perfect. ([Location 1189](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=1189))
* It’s like telling a joke. Anyone can remember the words. Anyone can repeat it. But making someone laugh requires more than that. Telling a joke faster doesn’t make it funnier. As with many things, hesitation is better than hurry. ([Location 2072](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=2072))
* But there is another mind as well, a sleeping mind. It is so powerful that the sleeping mind of an eight-year-old can accomplish in one second what the waking minds of seven members of the Arcanum could not in fifteen minutes.” ([Location 2577](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=2577))
* Clothes do not make the man, but you need the proper costume if you want to play the part. ([Location 3874](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=3874))
* never talked about my parents, and referring to them in the past tense felt uncomfortable. Disloyal. Wil and Sim weren’t surprised by my revelation. Anyone who knew me could tell I had no family. I’d never said anything, but they were good friends. They knew. ([Location 5791](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=5791))
* “You get things done. Not always the best way, or the most sensible way, but it gets done nonetheless. You’re a rare creature.” ([Location 6414](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=6414))
* Things are more easily seen from edges. Danger rouses the sleeping mind. It makes some things clear. ([Location 7440](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=7440))
* “Remember: there are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.” ([Location 7565](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=7565))
* the Commonwealth, the gentry are people with power and money. In Vintas, the gentry have power and money and privilege. Many rules simply do not apply to them. ([Location 7651](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=7651))
* As I’d said, it was a good smile: gracious, polite, and more patronizing than if I’d reached out and patted the man on the head like a dog. ([Location 7670](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=7670))
* “Inherent power is an obvious thing. Strength of body.” He patted my supporting arm. “Strength of mind. Strength of personality. All these things lie within a person. They define us. They determine our limits.” ([Location 7833](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=7833))
* “Here is a great secret. Even my title, my riches, my control over people and the land. They are only granted power. It all belongs to me no more than does the strength of your arm.” He patted my hand and smiled at me. “But I know the difference, and that is why I am always in control.” ([Location 7870](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=7870))
* Rumor forces us to act before we are ready, or ruins a situation before it becomes fully ripe.” ([Location 8161](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=8161))
* Caution is always wisdom’s tool.” ([Location 8359](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=8359))
* Pride is always a better lever against the nobility than reason. ([Location 8539](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=8539))
* “Any man that’s half awake can spot a trap that’s laid for him. But to stride in boldly with a plan to turn it on its ear, that is a marvelous thing.” He smiled without any of the grimness leaving his face. “To set a trap and know someone will come in wary, ready with a trick of their own, then beat them. That is twice marvelous.” ([Location 9194](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=9194))
* “Tak reflects the subtle turning of the world. It is a mirror we hold to life. No one wins a dance, boy. The point of dancing is the motion that a body makes. ([Location 9197](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=9197))
* Most secrets are secrets of the mouth. Gossip shared and small scandals whispered. These secrets long to be let loose upon the world. A secret of the mouth is like a stone in your boot. At first you’re barely aware of it. Then it grows irritating, then intolerable. Secrets of the mouth grow larger the longer you keep them, swelling until they press against your lips. They fight to be let free. Secrets of the heart are different. They are private and painful, and we want nothing more than to hide them from the world. They do not swell and press against the mouth. They live in the heart, and the longer they are kept, the heavier they become. ([Location 10011](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=10011))
* nothing in the world is harder than convincing someone of an unfamiliar truth. ([Location 10979](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=10979))
* “Attractive as some things are, you have to weigh your risks. How badly do you want it, how badly are you willing to be burned?” ([Location 11176](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=11176))
* “It’s the questions we can’t answer that teach us the most. They teach us how to think. If you give a man an answer, all he gains is a little fact. But give him a question and he’ll look for his own answers.” ([Location 11430](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=11430))
* I hate nothing so much as doing a thing badly. ([Location 11452](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=11452))
* Stories don’t need to be new to bring you joy. Some stories are like familiar friends. Some are dependable as bread. ([Location 11620](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=11620))
* like a knife in velvet ([Location 12939](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=12939))
* notes like raindrops licking the leaves of trees. ([Location 13174](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=13174))
* That thread of truth wove through the story, gave it strength. ([Location 13251](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=13251))
* Half of seeming clever is keeping your mouth shut at the right times. ([Location 13462](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=13462))
* Each woman is like an instrument, waiting to be learned, loved, and finely played, to have at last her own true music made. ([Location 14281](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=14281))
* But in most things, important things, delicate is better. Small is better.” ([Location 14531](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=14531))
* Heart of Stone was practical: it stripped away emotion and focused my mind. It made it easier to break my mind into separate pieces or maintain the all-important Alar. On the other hand, Spinning Leaf seemed largely useless. It was relaxing to let my mind grow clear and empty, then float and tumble lightly from one thing to the next. But aside from helping me draw answers to Tempi’s questions out of thin air, it seemed to have no practical value. It was the mental equivalent of a card trick. ([Location 14542](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=14542))
* “A story is like a nut,” Vashet said. “A fool will swallow it whole and choke. A fool will throw it away, thinking it of little worth.” She smiled. “But a wise woman finds a way to crack the shell and eat the meat inside.” ([Location 15491](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=15491))
* suddenly wondered how I ever could have thought of these people as restless or fidgety. Every motion was to a purpose. Every shifting of the feet implied a change in attitude. Every gesture spoke volumes. ([Location 15506](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=15506))
* had an audience. I was onstage. And there is nowhere in the world I am more comfortable than on a stage. ([Location 16366](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=16366))
* Even fighting is intimate. But we are not strange about our sex. We do not feel shame about it. We do not feel it important to keep someone else’s sex all to ourselves, like a miser hoarding gold.” She shook her head. “More than any other, this strangeness in your thinking sets you barbarians apart.” ([Location 16608](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=16608))
* there is a great deal of difference between a penis and a heart.” ([Location 16614](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=16614))
* “And if the pursuit of truth was my goal, that would concern me.” She gave a long yawn, stretching like a happy cat. “Instead I will focus on the joy in my heart, the prosperity of the school, and understanding the Lethani. If I have time left after that, I will put it toward worrying on the truth.” ([Location 17100](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=17100))
* “Teccam said the same thing: no man is brave that has never walked a hundred miles. If you want to know the truth of who you are, walk until not a person knows your name. Travel is the great leveler, the great teacher, bitter as medicine, crueler than mirror-glass. A long stretch of road will teach you more about yourself than a hundred years of quiet introspection.” ([Location 17225](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=17225))
* no man is brave that has never walked a hundred miles. If you want to know the truth of who you are, walk until not a person knows your name. Travel is the great leveler, the great teacher, bitter as medicine, crueler than mirror-glass. A long stretch of road will teach you more about yourself than a hundred years of quiet introspection.” ([Location 17225](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=17225))
* We stepped away from each other, knowing propriety would only allow so much. “Don’t sell yourself short and marry some fool,” I said, feeling as if I should say something. ([Location 18001](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=18001))
* I was more like a curious stone that is picked up, carried a while, and finally dropped again with the realization that for all its interesting ([Location 19339](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=19339))
* look, it is nothing more than hardened earth. ([Location 19340](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=19340))
* lowered the bottle and licked his lips. He gave a dry, humorless chuckle. “You got the right bottle,” he said. ([Location 20135](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00475AYJQ&location=20135))