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Title: Rhythm of War Authors: Brandon Sanderson Category:supplementals Number of Highlights: 38 Date: 2025-09-27 Last Highlighted: **
Highlights
Some people charged toward the goal, running for all they had. Others stumbled. But it wasnât the speed that mattered. It was the direction they were going.
Tags:direction
âIt will,â Wit said, âbut then it will get better. Then it will get worse again. Then better. This is life, and I will not lie by saying every day will be sunshine. But there will be sunshine again, and that is a very different thing to say. That is truth. I promise you, Kaladin: You will be warm again.â
Tags:perseverance,perspective
âSince we all go to the same place in the end, the moments we spent with each other are the only things that do matter. The times we helped each other.â
âI talk to my sword too,â Adolin told them. âFunny thing is, she eventually talked back. Never be afraid to show a little respect to those you depend upon, friends.â
âIf we slow down,â Jasnah said, âthe past catches up to us. History is like that, always gobbling up the present.â
Tags:history
âYour abilities are what made the original Oathpact,â she said. âAnd they existedâand were namedâlong before the Knights Radiant were founded. A Bondsmith Connected the Heralds to Braize, made them immortal, and locked our enemies away. A Bondsmith bound other Surges and brought humans to Roshar, fleeing their dying world. A Bondsmith createdâor at least discoveredâthe Nahel bond: the ability of spren and humans to join together into something better. You Connect things, Dalinar.
âIntegrity doesnât stop men from killing, Brightness,â Sebarial said. âIt just makes them use different justifications.â
âWar is the last option of the state that has failed,â â Adolin said, tapping the side with the divine robed figure. He pushed it to spin it in Kaladinâs fingers, showing the other side. â âBut it is better than having no options.â
âWe donât always see strength the right way,â Adolin said. âLike, who is the better swimmer? The sailor who drownsâgiving in at long last to the current after hours of fightingâor the scribe who has never stepped into the water?â
Tags:perspective,strength
âThere are no fair fights, Jasnah,â Wit said. âThereâs never been such a thing. The term is a lie used to impose imaginary order on something chaotic. Two men of the same height, age, and weapon will not fight one another fairly, for one will always have the advantage in training, talent, or simple luck.â
Tags:fighting,perspective,war
No army, no matter how clean its reputation, walked away from war untainted. And no leader, no matter how noble, could help but sink into the crem when he stepped into the game of conquest.
Tags:honor,reputation,war
âWe need both heart and mind,â Lirin said. âThe heart might provide the purpose, but the head provides the method, the path. Passion is nothing without a plan. Wanting something doesnât make it happen.
Tags:planning,problem_solving,strategy
Eventually Dalinar had done what any good commander did when faced by such persistent mass insubordination: He backed down. When good men disobeyed, it was time to look at your orders.
Tags:leadership
Adolin might claim he was different from his father, but in fact they were two shades of the same paint. Often, two similar colors clashed worse than wildly different ones would.
Tags:perception
You never got half of Dalinar Kholin. When he put his mind to something, you got the whole manâand had to simply pray to the Almighty that you could handle him.
Tags:present
We must not let our desires for a specific result cloud our perceptions.
Tags:perception
âWe canât storming see the future, like Renarin can. Weâve gotta do what we think is best, and be fine with that. Itâs all a man can do.â
Tags:problem_solving
When a hundred items indicated a pattern, then one broke that pattern, it showcased how remarkable the pattern was in the first place. Deviation highlighted natural variety.
Tags:art,patterns,perspective
The best and truest duty of a person is to add to the world. To create, and not destroy.
Tags:creativity,duty
âI am an artist,â Wit said. âI should thank you not to demean me by insisting my art must be trying to accomplish something. In fact, you shouldnât enjoy art. You should simply admit that it exists, then move on. Anything else is patronizing.â
Tags:art
Sometimes ignorance was an advantage, as you werenât limited by the expectations of the past.
No man can judge another manâs heart or trials, for no man can truly know them.â
Tags:judgment
âI donât have to believe,â the voice drifted back. âI know gods exist. I simply hate them.â
Never underestimate the simple intimidating force of a man who wonât back down.
Never be unwilling to do something you might ask another to do for you.â
Tags:virtues
âNo one ever accomplished anything by being content with who they were, Shallan,â Adolin said. âWe accomplish great things by reaching toward who we could become.â âAs long as itâs what you want to become. Not what someone else thinks you should become.â
Like everyone, deep down he wanted to be useful. Humans were orderly beings. They liked to see lots of straight lines, if only soâin some casesâthey could be the one drawing curves. And if a tool seemed broken at first glance, perhaps you were simply applying it to the wrong task.
Tags:tools
Jasnah took comfort in the idea that there was no plan, that everything was random. She said that a chaotic universe meant the only actions of actual importance were the ones they decided were important. That gave people autonomy.
Tags:autonomy,chaos,perspective,problem_solving
In her lifetime studying history, Jasnah had been guided by two principles. First, that she must cut through the biases of the historians in order to understand the past. Second, that only in understanding the past could she properly prepare for the future.
â âHope,â â she said, spreading her papers out on the table. âHave I ever told you how much I dislike that word? Think of what it means, what it implies. You have hope when youâre outnumbered. You have hope when you lack options. Hope is always irrational, Uncle.â
âExtinction is the natural escalation of this war,â Leshwi whispered. âIf you forget why you are fighting, then victory itself becomes the goal. The longer we fight, the more detached we become. Both from our own minds, and from our original Passions.â She hummed softly to Abashment.
Was he happy? He wasnât sad. For now, heâd accept ânot sad.â
Another section of the book contained Ialaiâs conjectures and information about the leader of the Ghostbloods, the mysterious Thaidakar. Whoever this was, Radiant thoughtâfrom the context of what was writtenâthat he must be someone from one of those far-off worlds.
âIf there is a god, then I think we could find him in the way we care about one another. Humans thinking about the wind, and honor, might have given you shape from formless powerâbut youâre your own person now. As Iâm my own person, though my parents gave me shape.â
Panic on the battlefield kills more men than enemy spears. Always retreat.
It wasnât much, but Mil grinned ear to ear. Often people just wanted to know they werenât fools or weaklings for coming in. They wanted to know their pains were real, and that there was somethingâeven something smallâthey could do about the problem. Simple affirmation could be worth more than medication.
Dalinar sighed. âDonât go down this road, son. Do not let my failings drive you to rebel against what you know is right, merely because itâs what I wish of you.â âIâm notââ Adolin made fists, trying to squeeze out his frustration. âIâm not simply rebelling, Father. Iâm not fourteen anymore.â
âConfusion can mean you have realized your weaknesses.