Explore Quotes by Brandon Sanderson

Normally, I have a lot of alpha readers on my books. These are people that, once I finish a novel, I let them look at it and give me a reader response.

You know, I was a nerdy kid going through high school, and then I got to college and that all vanished. I mean, a lot of my good friends - when we were in high school, we would never have been able to hang out together because we were in such different cliques or whatever. Now, who cares?

Fantasy has had some problems with being too repetitive, in my opinion. I try to read what other people are doing - and say, 'How can I add to this rather than just recycle it? How can I stand on Tolkien's shoulders rather than stand tied to his kneecaps?'

My job is not to save 'The Wheel of Time', to fix 'The Wheel of Time', or anything like that. My job is not to screw it up.

I am a writer who works from an outline. What I generally do when I build an outline is I find focal, important scenes, and I build them in my head and I don't write them yet, but I build towards them.

I take two hours off for my family every day. And then I write fourteen hours.

When I do research, I cast my net very widely and then snatch what feels right out of that. Occasionally I'll read a specific book for a specific book, but usually I'm trying to increase my general understanding.

The more limitations you put on a character, often times the better a character you'll make them, the more interesting the story becomes because the character can't simply wave a hand and make something happen. They have to work within the framework.

When I write my books, actually, I'm known for very logical rule-based magic systems. I write with one foot in fantasy and one foot in science fiction.

The sudden and abrupt removal of my all-consuming goal ... well, it was like I was a donut, and somebody had sucked all the jelly out of me. But I could stuff new jelly in there. It would just get my hands a little sticky in the process.

The finest defense of character is correct action. Acquaint yourself with virtue, and you can expect proper treatment from those around you.

Ruin still used Reen's voice-it was familiar, something that had always seemed a part of her. Discovering that it belonged to that thing...it was like finding out that her reflection really belonged to someone else, and that she'd never actually seen herself.

You could be writing the book that changes your life.

It is a writer's greatest pleasure to hear that someone was kept up until the unholy hours of the morning reading one of their books

People see in stories what they’re looking for, my young friend.

To age truly was to suffer the ultimate treason, that of one's body against oneself.

The motivations of men. They never make sense. And they always make sense.

Act with honor, and Honor will aid you

Strength does not make one capable of rule; it makes one capable of service.

You cannot tempt the hearts of men who are pure.

You are nothing if not exhaustive in your self-congratulatory made-up logic.