“It’s considered impolite to have more than four, greedy to go past five, and barbaric to have more than six.” – Speaker for the Dead
“I try to avoid having thoughts. They lead to other thoughts, and—if you’re not careful—those lead to actions.” – Warbreaker
“…it was one thing to not want someone to die; it was another thing entirely to want to talk to them once they were alive.” – Magisterium: The Golden Tower
“Pride is a virtue in those who make it one.” – Skyward
“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war.” – Skyward
“When you are broken and mourning your fall from grace, I will consume your shadow in my own, and laugh at your misery.” – Skyward
“…the hereditary prince has less cause and less necessity to offend; hence it happens that he will be more loved;” – The Prince
“…men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge.” – The Prince
“There are roads which must not be followed, armies which must not be attacked, towns which must not be besieged, positions which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed” – The Art of War
“With god-like knowledge came god-like irritation when doubted.” – Age of Swords: Book Two of The Legends of the First Empire
“Troublemakers in times of peace become heroes in times of trouble.” – Age of Swords: Book Two of The Legends of the First Empire
“It was terrifying to love someone who was forbidden to you. Terrifying to feel something you could never speak of, something that was horrible to almost everyone you knew, something that could destroy your life.” - Lord of Shadows
“Oft have I heard that grief softens the mind, and makes it fearful and degenerate; think therefore on revenge and cease to weep.” – Henry VI
“Wine was the great assassin of both tradition and propriety” – The Way of Kings: The Stormlight Archive Book One
“Ignorance is hardly unusual” – The Way of Kings: The Stormlight Archive Book One
“Bitterness is repaid more often than kindness” – The Way of Kings: The Stormlight Archive Book One
“Need. That word had strange effects on men. Some ran when you used it. Others grew nervous. Teft seemed to long for it.” – The Way of Kings: The Stormlight Archive Book One
“I do not understand objections to ‘cruel and unusual’ punishment. While a judge should be benevolent in purpose, his awards should cause the criminal to suffer, else there is no punishment—and pain is the basic mechanism built into us by millions of years of evolution which safeguards us by warning when something threatens our survival. Why should society refuse to use such a highly perfected survival mechanism?” – Starship Troopers
“Sometimes one must choose whether to be kind or honorable” – The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Princess
“You lie so sweetly it’s almost a pleasure to be deceived by you.” – The Last Four Things
“…truth depends on where you start the story.” – The Last Four Things
“Duty is the death of love; love is the death of duty” – Game of Thrones: a Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1
“To age truly was to suffer the ultimate treason, that of one’s body against oneself.” – Words of Radiance: The Stormlight Archive Book Two
“…but in the breast of one of us at least had been born that which is ever oldest, yet ever new.” – John Carter
