01c. 2008 ADI'm not dreaming this, am I?" he asked.Dehvi lifted an eyebrow. "There's only one way to know for sure," he said.What's that?"Go piss in the woods. If you feel wet and warm afterward, wake up.Brent Weeks / quote ↗
02c. 2008 ADDo you know what punishments I've endured for my crimes, my sins? None. I am proof of the absurdity of men's most treasured abstractions. A just universe wouldn't tolerate my existence.Brent Weeks / quote ↗
03c. 2008 ADThe truth is, everyone likes to look down on someone. If your favorites are all avant-garde writers who throw in Sanskrit and German, you can look down on everyone. If your favorites are all Oprah Book Club books, you can at least look down on mystery readers. Mystery readers have sci-fi readers. Sci-fi can look down on fantasy. And yes, fantasy readers have their own snobbishness. I’ll bet this, though: in a hundred years, people will be writing a lot more dissertations on Harry Potter than on John Updike. Look, Charles Dickens wrote popular fiction. Shakespeare wrote popular fiction—until he wrote his sonnets, desperate to show the literati of his day that he was real artist. Edgar Allan Poe tied himself in knots because no one realized he was a genius. The core of the problem is how we want to define “literature”. The Latin root simply means “letters”. Those letters are either delivered—they connect with an audience—or they don’t. For some, that audience is a few thousand college professors and some critics. For others, its twenty million women desperate for romance in their lives. Those connections happen because the books successfully communicate something real about the human experience. Sure, there are trashy books that do really well, but that’s because there are trashy facets of humanity. What people value in their books—and thus what they count as literature—really tells you more about them than it does about the book.Brent Weeks / quote ↗
07c. 2008 ADHope is the great deceiver. Hope is the piper who leads us sleepy to our slaughter.Brent Weeks / quote ↗
08c. 2008 ADI think of rounds of editing as hammer time. Then, when they interrupt my writing, I can say... *shakes head* Nah, I just can't do it. Although when I come across a brilliant line, I do think, Can't touch this. And when I'm worried I'm overwriting a scene, I think, Hammer, don't hurt 'em.Brent Weeks / quote ↗
09c. 2008 ADWhy is it, my shadow-striding friend, that we don't fear dreams? We lose consciousness, lose control, things happen with no apparent logic and abiding by no apparent rules.... We don't fear dreams, but we do fear madness, and death terrifies us.Brent Weeks / quote ↗
12c. 2008 ADAssassination is an art, milord. And I am the city's most accomplished artist.Brent Weeks / quote ↗
15c. 2008 ADYour Majesty,” Durzo said gravely. “A man of your stature’s cursing vocabulary ought to extend beyond a tedious reiteration of the excreta that fills the void between his ears.” - Durzo BlintBrent Weeks / quote ↗
16c. 2008 ADAssassination is an art, milord, and I am the city’s most accomplished artist - Durzo BlintBrent Weeks / quote ↗
18c. 2008 ADI'm afraid we were so eager to avoid war, we've made it all but certain.Brent Weeks / quote ↗
19c. 2008 ADThis world has only two kinds of people: villains and smiling villains.Brent Weeks / quote ↗
20c. 2008 AD...Many shadows hide behind light, and the best lies are those seasoned liberally with truth: salt covering the flavor of rotten meat.Brent Weeks / quote ↗
21c. 2008 ADThe truth is so dear to me that if Orholam stood on one side and truth on the other, I would turn my back on my creator himself.Brent Weeks / quote ↗
22c. 2008 ADWhat people value in their books—and thus what they count as literature—really tells you more about them than it does about the book.Brent Weeks / quote ↗
23c. 2008 ADLogan folded his arms. His voice was granite."My word stands.""Can you love an idea more than you love a man and not become a monster? How many friends will you sacrifice on the altar of Justice, Logan?""If you force my hand, at least one."They were standing on a precipice. Socially, Logan had always been Kylar's superior. Morally, Kylar had always felt inferior, too. But they'd never been placed in a direct hierarchical relation. Now Logan was giving an order. He would not be moved.Kylar could only accept his order and accept all his orders henceforth, or reject it and them forever. There was a part of him that yearned to obey. He was convinced that killing Terah was the right thing, but Logan's moral compass was a more accurate instrument than Kylar's. What was it about submission that was so hard? Kylar wasn't being asked for blind servility. He was being asked to obey a man he knew and loved and respected, who in turn respected him.'The wolfhound is pampered by the fire. The wolf is hunted in the cold.'"Do you know how much I love you, Logan?" Kylar asked. Logan opened his mouth, but before he could say a word, Kylar said, "This much." And left.Brent Weeks / quote ↗
24c. 2008 ADDo you know why you feel destined for something greater?” “Why?” Kip asked, quiet, hopeful. “Because you’re an arrogant little shit.Brent Weeks / quote ↗
