# Quote — Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer

> Most cities lived on the very edge of civilization. Everyone talked about towns and villages out in the middle of nowhere as if they were uncivilized, but she’d found people in those places pleasant, even-tempered, and comfortable with their quieter way of life.
>
> Not in cities. Cities balanced on the edge of sustainability, always one step from starvation. When you pressed so may people together, their cultures, ideas, and stenches rubbed off on one another. The results wasn’t civilization. It was contained chaos, pressurized, bottled up so it couldn’t escape.

- Author: [Brandon Sanderson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson.md)
- Book: [Oathbringer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/oathbringer.md)
- Page: 629
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#Oathbringer_(2017)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/oathbringer/most-cities-lived

## More from this book

> “You’re not a monster, Shallan,” Wit whispered. “Oh, child. The world is monstrous at times, and there are those who would have you believe that you are terrible by association.”
>
> “I am.”
>
> “No. For you see, it flows the other direction. You are not worse for your association with the world, but it is better for its association with you.”

p. 791 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/oathbringer/youre-not-a-monster.md)

> “When has any tyrant ever said to himself, ‘This is enough’?”

p. 1051 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/oathbringer/when-has-any.md)

> Sometimes, a hypocrite is nothing more than a man who is in the process of changing.

p. 967 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/oathbringer/sometimes-a-hypocrite.md)