Elend Quotes & Sayings

Ham smiled. "Cett's going to be furious."
Elend shrugged. "He's a paraplegic. What's he going to do? Bite us? — Brandon Sanderson

Because if I accept that Elend bears no guilt for what his people did to mine, then I must admit to being a monster for the things that I did to them. — Brandon Sanderson

Elend sat still in a room full of men who trusted him, even as they rejected him. — Brandon Sanderson

My apologies, but it is not youe duty to do what the people want."
Elend blinked. "You sound like Tindwyl."
"I have known few people as wise as she, Your Majesty," Sazed said, glancing at her.
"Well, I disagree with both of you," Elend said. "A ruler should only lead by the consent of the people he rules."
"I do not disagree with that, Your Majesty," Sazed said. "Or, at least, I do believe in the theory of it. Regardless, I still do not believe that your duty is to do as the people wish. Your duty is to lead as best you can, following the dictates of your conscience. You must be true, Your Majesty, to the man you wish to become. If that man is not whom the people wish to have lead them, then they will choose somebody else."
[...]
"Trying to guess what people wish of you will only lead to chaos, I think," Sazed said. "You cannot please them all, Elend Venture. — Brandon Sanderson

Vin," he said flatly, "did you just suggest that we attend a ball being held in the middle of a city we're besieging?"
"You think it's a good idea," Vin said, smiling impishly.
"It's a crazy idea," Elend said. "I'm emperor - I shouldn't be sneaking into the enemy city so I can go to a party."
Vin narrowed her eyes, staring at him.
"I will admit, however," Elend said, "that the concept does have considerable charm. — Brandon Sanderson

Ham turned back, still smiling. "You make it sound so desperate, El."
Elend looked over at him. "The Assembly is a mess, a half-dozen warlords with superior armies are breathing down my neck, barely a month passes without someone sending assassins to kill me, and the woman I love is slowly driving me insane."
Vin snorted at this last part.
"Oh is that all?" Ham said. "See? It's not so bad after all. I mean, we could be facing an immortal god and his all-powerful priests instead. — Brandon Sanderson

Why, Elend! That's almost romantic - in a twisted 'I'm going to make my wife want to kill me' sort of way. — Brandon Sanderson

Great, Elend thought. I've filled my inner council with a bunch of thrill-seeking masochists. Even worse, I've decided to join them. — Brandon Sanderson

How did a man like you ever end up at a table of negotiation?" "I was trained by a surly Mistborn, a sarcastic Terrisman, and a group of disrespectful thieves," Elend said, sighing. "Plus, on top of that, I was a fairly insufferable person to begin with. But, kindly continue with your insult - I didn't mean to interrupt. — Brandon Sanderson

Breeze chuckled. "He was completely insane, you know. The worse things got, the more he'd joke. I
remember how chipper he was the very day after one of our worst defeats, when we lost most of our
skaa army to that fool Yeden. Kell walked in, a spring in his step, making one of his inane jokes."
"Sounds insensitive," Allrianne said.
Ham shook his head. "No. He was just determined. He always said that laughter was something the
Lord Ruler couldn't take from him. He planned and executed the overthrow of a thousand-year
empire - and he did it as a kind of ... penance for letting his wife die thinking that he hated her. But, he
did it all with a smirk on his lips. Like every joke was his way of slapping fate in the face."
"We need what he had," Elend said. — Brandon Sanderson

Majesty," Dockson said, "we've already worked on that problem for a bit." "Oh?" Elend asked, — Brandon Sanderson

When you can't have both freedom and safety, boy, which do you choose?" Elend was silent. "I make my own choice," he finally said. "And I leave the others to make their own as well. — Brandon Sanderson

How easily Elend spoke of hope and humor, as if being happy were simply a decision one made. Some people assumed that it was. Once, Sazed might have agreed with them. Now, his stomach simply twisted, and he felt sick at the thought of taking pretty much any action. His thoughts were constantly invaded by doubts. — Brandon Sanderson

Somehow, she had grown into a woman in between the fall of kings and collapse of worlds. Once she had been terrified of change. Then she had been terrified of losing Elend. Now her fears were more nebulous - worries of what would come after she was gone, worries of what would happen to the people of the empire if she failed. — Brandon Sanderson

I ask of you your lives," Elend said, voice echoing, "and your courage. I ask of you your faith, and your honor - your strength, and your compassion. For today, I lead you to die. I will not ask you to welcome this event. I will not insult you by calling it well, or just, or even glorious. But I will say this.
"Each moment you fight is a gift to those in this cavern. Each second we fight is a second longer that thousands of people can draw breath. Each stroke of the sword, each koloss felled, each breath earned is a victory! It is a person protected for a moment longer, a life extended, an enemy frustrated!"
There was a brief pause.
"In the end, they will kill us," Elend said, voice loud, ringing in the cavern. "But first, they shall fear us! — Brandon Sanderson

I kind of lost track of time ... "
"For two hours?"
Elend nodded sheepishly. "There were books involved. — Brandon Sanderson

Elend shook his head. We can survive this. But, the only way that will happen is if our people don't give up. They need leaders who laugh, leaders who feel that this fight can be won. So, this is what I ask of you. I don't care if you're an optimist or a pessimist - I don't care if secretly, you think we'll all be dead before the month ends. On the outside, I want to see you smiling. Do it in defiance, if you have to. If the end does come, I want this group to meet that end smiling. As the Survivor taught us. — Brandon Sanderson

Personally, Vin didn't find the library's location nearly as asuming as its contents. Or, rather, lack thereof. Though the romm was lined with shelves, nearly all of them showed signs of having been pillaged by Elend. The rows of books lay pocked by forlorn empty spots, their companions taken away one by one, as if Elend were a predator, slowly whittling down a herd. — Brandon Sanderson

Elend Venture," she said, standing up. "There is something I've been meaning to tell you for some time." She paused, blinking away her
tears. "You read too much. Especially in the presence of ladies. — Brandon Sanderson

You just told me you liked me how I am." "I do," Elend said. "But I'd like you however you were, Vin. I love you. The question is, how do you like yourself?" That gave her pause. "Clothing doesn't really change a man," Elend said. "But it changes how others react to him. Tindwyl's words. I think ... I think the trick is convincing yourself that you deserve the reactions you get. You can wear the court's dresses, Vin, but make them your own. Don't worry that you aren't giving people what they want. Give them who you are, and let that be enough." He paused, smiling. "It was for me. — Brandon Sanderson

Elend: I kind of lost track of time ...
Breeze: For two hours?
Elend: There were books involved. — Brandon Sanderson

Well, then," he said. "Let's do it."
"What?" Vin asked.
"Save the world." Elend said. "Stop the ash. — Brandon Sanderson

I will kill you, the words said. Death, death, death. "Well . . . that's pleasant," Elend said, feeling an eerie chill. — Brandon Sanderson

I can't worry about everything at once, Elend thought with determination. I just have to trust. Trust in myself and keep going. — Brandon Sanderson

The koloss he'd attacked did not rise. Its companions stood, looking unconcerned, though their eyes were focused on him. They seemed to want something.
"He ate my horse," Elend said, saying the first thing that came to his clouded mind.
The group of koloss nodded. — Brandon Sanderson

Suddenly, Vin grew pale. Elend paused, glancing at her, sensing that something was wrong. Not with what he'd said, something else. What is it? Assassins? Mist spirits? Koloss?
"I just realized something," Vin said, looking at him with those intense eyes of hers. "I can't go to a ball - I didn't bring a gown! — Brandon Sanderson

Elend smiled, recognizing the reference. Trentison's Supplying in Scale. A few years earlier, he would have agreed with Yomen, and the two would probably have spent the afternoon discussing the philosophy of leadership in Yomen's palace. However, Elend had learned things in the last few years that he simply hadn't been able to get form his studies. — Brandon Sanderson

She no longer fought out of fear for the man she loved. Instead, she fought with an understanding. She was a knife - Elend's knife, the Final Empire's knife. — Brandon Sanderson

The study's small ventilation window bumped open, and Vin squeezed through, pulling in a puff of mist behind her. She closed the window, then surveyed the room.

"More?" she asked incredulously. "You found more books?"

"Of course," Elend said.

"How many of those things have people written?" she asked with exasperation. — Brandon Sanderson

He didn't recruit me," Cett pointed out. "I got pulled by my balls into this little fiasco."
"I wish I cared enough to apologize," Elend said, staring at them. — Brandon Sanderson

Elend started. "Vin!" Then, he smiled. "What took you so long?"
"I got delayed by an Inquistor and a dark god," she said. "Now hustle. — Brandon Sanderson

It's a mystery," Vin said, narrowing her eyes and smiling. "We Mistborn are incredibly mysterious."
Elend paused." Um ... I'm Mistborn too, Vin. That doesn't make any sense."
"We Mistborn need not make sense," Vin said." It's beneath us. Come on-the sun's already down. We need to get moving. — Brandon Sanderson

I don't want a chance, Wayne. He's made his decision."
"Now, what kinda talk is that?" he demanded. "You've given up? Is that how the Ascendant Warrior was? Huh?"
"No, in fact," Marasi said. "She walked up to the man she wanted, slapped the book out of his hand, and kissed him."
"See, there's how it is!"
"Though the Ascendant Warrior also went on and murdered the woman Elend was planning to marry."
"What, really?"
"Yeah. — Brandon Sanderson

What if they take you captive?" Goradel asked.
"My dear man," Breeze said, leaning forward to look out at Goradel. "That's why kings send ambassadors. This way, if someone gets captured, the king is still safe. We, my friend, are something Elend can never be: expendable."
Goradel frowned at that. "I don't feel very expendable. — Brandon Sanderson

Spook smiled. Elend is a forgetful scholar - twice as bad as Sazed ever was. He gets lost in his books and forgets about meeting he himself called. He only dresses with any sense of fashion because a Terriswoman bought him a new wardrobe. War has change him some, but on the inside, I think he's still just a dreamer caught in a world with too much violence. — Brandon Sanderson

But I'd like you however you were, Vin. I love you. The question is, how do you like yourself? — Brandon Sanderson