"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"

"she was not one who enjoyed a challenge in a fight. she'd always preferred to win straight out.

some generals said that never struggling meant never being forced to improve. she figured that she and her men would do their improving on the practice field, and leave the struggling to her enemies."

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

"it was important to establish control when there was no great conflict, so that if a crisis did happen, people would know where to look."

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

"just because you were sure your opponent would react in a certain way did not mean he would."

- in robert jordan's "knife of dreams"

"their lives had changed. she didn't trust change. it couldn't be spotted or stabbed; it was more silent than any scout, more deadly than any assassin. no, she'd never trust it, but she would accept it."

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

tam al'thor: i’ve never forgiven myself for it. though it needed doing.

rand al'thor: the ones that need to be done often seem the ones that we least like to have to do.

tam: that's the truth if i've ever heard it.

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

"it was bad to give orders that would not be obeyed. it put people in the habit of disobeying."

- in robert jordan's "knife of dreams"

"have you ever been in love? horrible isn't it? it makes you so vulnerable. it opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. you build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...you give them a piece of you. they didn't ask for it. they did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. love takes hostages. it gets inside you. it eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so a simple phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. it hurts. not just in the imagination. not just in the mind. it's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. i hate love."

~ neil gaiman

"but embracing pain did not mean just giving way to it rather than fighting. you had to draw the pain inside of you and welcome it as a part of you. you must be able to smile and laugh with joy or sing while the worst of the pain still gripped you."

- in robert jordan's "knife of dreams"

"some in your place have failed not because they lacked the capacity for greatness, but because they stretched that capacity too thin, sprinting when they should have walked."

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

"the twisted iron pieces of a puzzle moved only in certain ways. move them in the right way, and the puzzle came apart. people could move in a thousand ways, sometimes in directions you never believed possible till it happened."

- in robert jordan's "knife of dreams"

"you're over-thinking... don't place some vague moral judgment on yourself based on what others might think. don't waste your energy."

- christian, in e.l. james' "fifty shades of grey"

"pretend something too long, and it could become truth."

- in robert jordan's "knife of dreams"

"you tell him there's no shame in tears. tell him to cry when tears are called for."

- faile, in robert jordan's "knife of dreams"