# Quote — Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

> “I do think that you ignored, or at least minimized, one vital part of the discussion.”
>
> “Which is?”
>
> Shallan tapped at her breast. “Our hearts, Brightness. I believe because I feel something, a closeness to the Almighty, a peace that comes when I live my faith.”
>
> “The mind is capable of projecting expected emotional responses.”
>
> “But didn’t you yourself argue that the way we act—the way we feel about right and wrong—was a defining attribute of our humanity? You used our innate morality to prove your point. So how can you discard my feelings?”
>
> “Discard them? No. Regard them with skepticism? Perhaps. Your feelings, Shallan--however powerful—are your own. Not mine. And what I feel is that spending my life trying to earn the favor of an unseen, unknown, and unknowable being who watches me from the sky is an exercise in sheer futility.”

- Author: [Brandon Sanderson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson.md)
- Book: [The Way of Kings](https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings.md)
- Page: 470
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#The_Way_of_Kings_(2010)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings/i-do-think

## More from this book

> “And so,” he said, “in the end, what must we determine? Is it the intellect of a genius that we revere? If it were their artistry, the beauty of their mind, would we not laud it regardless of whether we’d seen their product before?
>
> “But we don’t. Given two works of artistic majesty, otherwise weighted equally, we will give greater acclaim to the one who did it first. It doesn’t matter what you create. It matters what you create before anyone else.
>
> “So it’s not the beauty itself we admire. It’s not the force of intellect. It’s not invention, aesthetics, or capacity itself. The greatest talent that we think a man can have?” He plucked one final string. “Seems to me that it must be nothing more than novelty.”

p. 1000 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings/and-so-he-said.md)

> People see in stories what they’re looking for.

p. 807 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings/people-see-in-stories.md)

> That man’s so incompetent he might as well be fighting for the other side.

p. 667 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings/that-mans-so-incompetent.md)