The Way of Shadows Quotes

“Do 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, The Way of Shadows

“..because the only kind of love I have to offer is stupid and blind and so deep and powerful that I feel like I'm cracking just to hold it in.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“Relationships are ropes. Love is a noose. - Durzo Blint”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“Assassination is an art, milord. And I am the city's most accomplished artist.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“king: "You're...you're shit! You shitting, shitting shit!"
"Your 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.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“A man’s greatest treasures are his illusions - Durzo Blint”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“Words were another sword for the man who wielded them well.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“The perfect killer has no friends. Only targets.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“You'd be surprised at what you'd do to stay alive.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“Life is empty. Life is worthless. When we take a life, we aren't taking anything of value.- Durzo Blint”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“Dying well is easy,it only takes a moment of courage. It’s living well that I couldn’t do. What’s death compared to that.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“I regretted that I hadn't turned myself into the kind of man that you could be with. That it wouldn't be just for me to be with you, even if you wanted me. Our lives started in the same shit hole, Elene, but somehow you've turned into you, and I've turned into this. I don't like what I've done. I don't like who I've become. You don't deserve a fairy tale? I don't deserve another chance, but I'm asking you for one. You're afraid that love is too risky? I've seen what happens when you don't risk it. [...] I'm willing to risk it to see the world through your eyes.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“A wet boy has a deader, an assassin has a target, because assassins sometimes miss.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“How can one love the light and live in darkness?”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“You will find no answers here, just choices.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“Your 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 Blint”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“You don't need to like reality, only be strong enough to face it”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“Let me make this real simple. You will not break me. The hole will not break me. I will not break. I will not be broken.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“That pain you feel," Master Blint said almost gently, "is the pain of abandoning a delusion. The delusion is meaning, Kylar. There is no higher purpose. There are no gods. No arbiters of right and wrong. I don't ask you to like reality. I only ask you to be strong enough to face it. There is nothing beyond this. There is only the perfection we attain by becoming weapons, as strong and merciless as a sword. There is no essential good in living. Life is nothing in itself. It's a place marker that proves who's winning, and we are the winners. We are always the winners. There is nothing by the winning. Even winning means nothing. We win because it's an insult to lose. The ends don't justify the means. The means don't justify the ends. There is no one to justify to. There is no justification.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“If you worry about what everyone is trying to do, you become a spectator and not a player.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“The truth was, Azoth hated Azoth. Azoth was a coward, passive, weak, afraid, disloyal. Azoth had hesitated. Master Blint didn’t know it, but the poisons on the needle had killed Azoth. He was Kylar now, and Kylar would be everything Azoth hadn’t dared to be.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“What happens if you do nothing, nothing, there's a price and a terrible freedom to that”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“I’ll spend my life training just for the moment I have my chance at you. I’ll wait until you think I’ve forgotten today. I’ll wait until you think it was just a dumb guild rat’s threat. After I’m a master, you’ll jump at shadows for a while. But after you jump a dozen times and I’m not there, you won’t jump just once, and that’s when I’ll be there. I don’t care if you kill me at the same time. I’ll trade my life for yours.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“What happens when you strip away all the masks a man wears and you find not a face beneath them but nothing at all?”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“Life is empty. Life is meaningless. When we take a life, we arn't taking anything of value. Wetboys are killers. Thats all we do. Thats all we are. There are no poets in the bitter business.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“Love is a madness. Love is Failer - Durzo Blint”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“Dad, one of my first memories is of sharing my worry with you about the space shuttle poking holes in the atmosphere and letting out all of Earth's air.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“If I tell you a secret can you keep it quiet?
“Well, I can. I’m not so sure about Doll Girl.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“Durzo pulled out a gold Gunder from his pouch. Crowns Roth wins, Castles I lose.
He flipped the coin. It bounced on the table and, impossibly, landed on edge.
There´s always another choice, Kylar said.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“It is better to suffer evil than to do evil.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows