"a flower in a field of weeds was always a sight, but if you passed cultivated flower beds every day, none of them drew your notice."

- in robert jordan's/brandon sanderson's "the gathering storm"

"and would you really want to run?

i could have left. but, at the same time, i couldn't have. not without betraying who i was.

does it matter if you can run, when you know that you’re not going to?"

- tam al'thor, in robert jordan's/brandon sanderson's "the gathering storm"

"you always have a choice. maybe you can't pick where you are forced to go, but you still have a choice. the choice isn't always about what you do, but why you do it.

when i was a soldier, there were some men who fought simply for the money. there were others who fought for loyalty--loyalty to their comrades, or to the crown, or to whatever. the soldier who dies for money and the soldier who dies for loyalty are both dead, but there's a difference between them. one death meant something. the other didn't."

- tam al'thor, in robert jordan's/brandon sanderson's "the gathering storm"

"frustration is pointless. anger is pointless. neither emotion will change facts, and the fact is that I have no more time to waste."

- rand al'thor, in robert jordan's/brandon sanderson's "the gathering storm"

gawyn: we came all this way for an opportunity. and now that i've inspected that opportunity, we're not going to take it. only a fool looses his arrow just because he's got a bird in front of him.

jisao: why wouldn't you loose it if it's right there in front of you?

gawyn: because sometimes the prize isn't worth the arrow.

- in robert jordan's/brandon sanderson's "the gathering storm"

"Honor didn't come from being punished, but accepting a punishment and bearing it restored honor. that was the soul of Obligation -- the willing lowering of oneself in order to recover that which had been lost."

- in robert jordan's/brandon sanderson's "the gathering storm"

"all religions lead to the same God, and all deserve the same respect."

- paulo coelho's "like the flowing river"