"you are fighting shadows when you should be fighting the men who cast them."

- daario, in george r.r. martin's "a dance with dragons"

"our gods gave us legs to run with, noses to smell with, hands to touch and feel. what mad cruel god would give a man eyes and tell him he must forever keep them shut, and never look at all the beauty in the world?"

- kojja, in george r.r. martin's "a feast for crows"

"the past was past; what was now, was, and must be accepted."

- robert jordan's "a crown of thorns"

"for all her brains, she saw what she wanted to see, would try to make true what she wanted to be true."

- in robert jordan's "a crown of swords"

"learn that simple civility sometimes won what honesty would surely lose."

- in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"...when it seemed hope was gone but you went on fighting because the cost of giving up was too great."

- in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"noblewomen never had enough sense to come in out of the rain. and then they were indignant when they got wet."

- in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"have you ever thought of helping them do what they want instead of what you want?"

- thom merilin, in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"unity is better than division, peace better than war, patience better than death."

- rafela, in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"we are always more afraid than we wish to be, but we can always be braver than we expect."

- sorilea, in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"all was not lost, of course. all was never lost as long as you were alive."

- in robert jordan's "lord if chaos"

"we are all fools sometimes, child, yet a wise woman learns to limit how often."

- lelaine, in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"you shouldn’t think you know the whole story when you’ve heard part."

- thom merilin, in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"if a woman is stronger than her husband, she comes to despise him. she has the choice of either tyrannizing him or else making herself less in order not to make him less. if the husband is strong enough, she can be as strong as she is, as strong as she can grow to be."

- deira bashere, in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"few easy decisions to make, and fewer where one can be sure. do what you must, and pay the price if you're wrong. sometimes if you are right, too."

- siuan sanche, in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"he did not think he was particularly brave—doing what you had to do was not bravery—but he had never really thought he might be a coward until now."

- in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"she was going away, but before she did, she had to put matters right. it was possible... you did what you had to do, then paid the cost."

- in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"four rules concerning action and information.

never make a plan without knowing as much as you can of the enemy.

never be afraid to change your plans when you receive new information.

never believe you know everything.

and never wait to know everything.

the man who waited to know everything was still sitting in his tent when the enemy burned it over his head."

- in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"absurdities are never laughed at there; only listened to. what is too absurd to believe is believed because it is too absurd to be a lie."

- balwer, in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"a fool moans when fortune takes him down, and it takes a true fool to moan when fortune takes him up. what i want to know about you isn't what you were, or even so much what you are, as what you are inside."

- davram bashere, in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"'duty is heavier than a mountain, death lighter than a feather.' once you had that mountain firmly on your shoulders, there was no way to put it down. there was no one else to carry it anyway, and no use whining about it."

- in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"if anyone could break any rule they chose, do whatever they chose, and escape punishment merely by doing some good to balance it, the world would be chaos."

- sheriam, in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"sometimes knowing gives no advantage whatsoever. sometimes it only means sharing the danger."

- siuan sanche, in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"attack on ground where your enemy believes you will not, from an unexpected direction at an unexpected time. defend where your enemy believes you are not, and when he believes you will run. Surprise is the key to victory, and speed is the key to surprise."

- mat cauthon, in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"first things first; take care of what can be done now before worrying too long over what might never be."

- in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"if you took risks, sometimes the bill came due when you least expected, in the last way you expected."

- in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"he was no hero, and did not want to be one. heroes had a bad habit of getting killed. when you were a hero, it was toss the dog a bone and shove him into a corner out of the way, unless it was promise the dog a bone and send him out to hunt again."

- in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"it is always harder to abandon an alliance the world thinks you entered freely than one you can prove you were forced into. reckless haste leads to ruin."

- pedron niall, in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"there were always five things that needed doing immediately and ten that should have been done yesterday."

- in robert jordan's "lord of chaos"

"to be near the mighty, you must stand in their shade." - in robert jordan's "the fires of heaven"

"i will not allow you to make me less, to make my decisions less, by claiming responsibility for them." - birgitte, in robert jordan's "the fires of heaven"

"a king or queen must dispense justice without fear of enemies or favor for friends." - elayne trakand, in robert jordan's "the fires of heaven"

"a pebble in your shoe was small compared to having your head cut off, but if the pebble was there and the chopping block might never be..." - in robert jordan's "the fires of heaven"

"there was no such thing as fairness in war. you took your enemy from behind, when he least expected it, when and where he was weakest." - in robert jordan's "the fires of heaven"

"do we fight? if we do, then know that in battle there is only winning and losing. rules against hurting are for games." - melaine, in robert jordan's "the fires of heaven"

"i think perhaps i've always felt i was masquerading as someone else, building up a mask until it became second nature. there was serious work to be done... and by the time i realized there was another way i could have gone, i had the mask on too firmly to take off." - leane, in robert jordan's "the fires of heaven"

"people who claimed they were collecting money to help others often had a way of letting a good bit stick in their own pockets, or else they liked the power that spreading it about gave them, liked it far too much." - in robert jordan's "the fires of heaven"

"one way to find money for the poor... simply rob anyone who was not poor. of course, that would just make everyone poor in the end, but it might work for a time." - in robert jordan's "the fires of heaven"

"how long now had he been doing what was necessary instead of what was right? in a fair world, they would be one and the same." - in robert jordan's "the fires of heaven"

"it seems to me that kings—and queens—can be fools when they forget what they are and act like who they are, but they're worse when they only remember what they are and forget who. most could do with someone whose only job is to remind them that they eat and sweat and cry the same as any farmer." - nynaeve, in robert jordan's "the fires of heaven"

"men and maidens struggle against fate even when it is clear the Pattern weaves on despite their struggles. you must learn to ride fate. only by surrendering to the Pattern can you begin to have some control over the course of your own life. if you fight, the Pattern will still force you, and you will find only misery where you might have found contentment instead." - bair, in robert jordan's "the fires of heaven"

"letting emotions go clouds judgment for a moment, but holding them in clouds it always. just be sure you do not release them too often, or when it is best to keep control of them." - amys, in robert jordan's "the fires of heaven"

"the present is much clearer than the future... what is happening or beginning is more easily seen than what will happen, or may." - melaine, in robert jordan's "the shadow rising"

"do not trouble trouble till trouble troubles you." - siuan sanche, in robert jordan's "the shadow rising"

"life is uncertainty and struggle, choice and change; one who knew how her life was woven would have the life of an animal. if she did not go mad. humankind is made for uncertainty, struggle, choice and change." - amys, in robert jordan's "the shadow rising"