Christopher Paolini

“Give men your ear, but not your heart. Show respect for those in power, but don't follow them blindly. Judge with logic and reason, but comment not.”

“The real courage is in living and suffering for what you believe.”

“No, he said, we are not alone. I have you, and you have me. And there is Arya and Nasuada and Orik, and many others besides who will help us along our way.”

“Farming is backbreaking work, but at least it is honest labor. This killing isn’t honest. It is thievery… the thievery of men’s lives, and no right-minded person should aspire to it.”

“A true warrior,” she said, “does not fight because he wishes to but because he has to. A man who yearns for war, a man who enjoys his killing, he is a brute and a monster. No matter how much glory he wins on the battlefield, that cannot erase the fact that he is no better than a rabid wolf who will turn on his friends and family as soon as his foes.”

“Brom bowed his head. "Those who love the pain and suffering of others. They wear many faces and go by many disguises, but there is only one name for them: evil. There is no understanding it. All we can do is pity and honor the victims.”

“Cheep, Cheep.”

“Die Lieder der Toten sind die Wehklagen der Lebenden.”

“Lebe in der Gegenwart und hab keine Angst vor der Zukunft, denn sie existiert nicht und wird es auch nie tun. Es gibt nur das Jetzt.”

“Things that change and are lost, that is what's worth preserving.”

“He had reached his goal. He had climbed the unclimbable mountain”

“I warn you, Eragon, beware of whom you fall in love with, for fate seems to have a morbid interest in our family.”

“It is easy to be calm when there is nothing to worry about, Eragon. The true test of your self-control, however, is whether you can remain calm in a trying situation. You cannot allow anger or frustration to cloud your thoughts, not at the moment. Right now, you need your mind to be clear.Have you always been able to remain calm at times like this?The old dragon seemed to chuckle. No. I used to growl and bite and knock down trees and tear up the ground. Once, I broke the top off of a mountain in the Spine; the other dragons were rather upset with me for that. But I have had many years to learn that losing my temper rarely helps. You have not, I know, but allow my experience to guide you in this. Let go of your worries and focus on the task at hand. The future will be what is will, and fretting about it will only make your fears more likely to come true.I know, Eragon sighed, but it's not easy.Of course not. Few things of worth are. Then Glaedr withdrew and left him to the silence of his own mind.”

“let no one rule your mind or body. Take special care that your thoughts remain unfettered. One may be a free man and yet be bound tighter than a slave. Give men your ear, but not your heart. Show respect for those in power, but don’t follow them blindly. Judge with logic and reason, but comment not”

“I agree that it's important to be of a virtuous nature, but I would also contend that if you had to choose between giving a man a noble disposition or teaching him to think clearly, you'd do better to teach him to think clearly. Too many problems in this world are caused by men with noble dispositions and clouded minds.”

“It is an overactive imagination that turns men into cowards, not a surfeit of fear, as many believe”

“He who stands like a pilar dies in battle. He who bends like a reed is triumphant!”

“Dünya yuvarlak," dedi mırıldanarak. "Gökyüzünün içi boş ve dünya yuvarlak."bu bilgi aklındaki herşeyi yeniden değerlendirmesine ve yeniden sınıflandırmasına neden olmuştu... hemen herşeyi. Dünyanın gerçek ölçüleriyle karşılaştırınca bir çok acıların ve insaanları üzen dertlerin ne kadar ıvır zıvır şeyler olduğunu farketmişti.Çünkü gökyüzü bir boşluktu ve dünya yuvarlaktı.”

“We only give credence to that which we can prove exists. Since we cannot find evidence that gods, miracles, and other supernatural things are real, we do not trouble ourselves about them. If that were to change, if Helzvog were to reveal himself to us, then we would accept the new information and revise our position.""It seems a cold world without something . . . more.""On the contrary," said Oromis, "it is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our own actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do, instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment. I won't tell you what to believe, Eragon. It is far better to be taught to think critically and then be allowed to make your own decisions than to have someone else's notions thrust upon you. You asked after our religion, and I have answered you true. Make of it what you will.”

“Hay que ser valiente para admitir que te equivocabas.”

“Hagas lo que hagas, básalo en lo que sea más importante para ti. Sólo entonces tendrá profundidad y significado, y hallará eco en los demás.”

“¿Hemos de ceder anuestros impulsos de herir o matar a cualquiera que nos moleste, de tomar cuantoqueremos de quienes son más débiles y, en general, de despreciar los sentimientos de losdemás? Somos imperfectos por nacimiento y debemos vigilar nuestros defectos para queno nos destruyan.”

“Y, a pesar de todo, una parte de sí mismo se resistía, no le permitía confiarse a los dioses de los enanos y reprimir, así, su identidad y su sentido de bienestar por algo que no comprendía. También tenía dificultades en aceptar que, si los dioses existían realmente, fueran los dioses de los enanos. Eragon estaba seguro de que si preguntaba a Nar Garzhvog o a un miembro de las tribus nómadas, o incluso al sacerdote de Helgrind, si sus dioses eran reales, todos ellos defenderían la supremacía de sus deidades con la misma energía con que Glumra había defendido la de los suyos. <<¿Cómo se supone que voy a saber cuál de las religiones es la verdadera?- se preguntó-. Sólo porque alguien siga una fe en concreto, eso no significa que sea el camino correcto… Quizá ninguna religión contenga toda la verdad del mundo. Quizá cada religión contenga fragmentos de la verdad y nosotros tengamos la responsabilidad de identificar esos fragmentos y volver a unirlos. O quizá los elfos tengan razón y no exista ningún dios. Pero, ¿cómo puedo estar seguro?>>”

“La ignorancia, el miedoy el odio: ésos son nuestros enemigos. Niégalos con todas tus fuerzas, Eragon,porque si no, fracasaremos.”

“Nunca peques de excesode confianza, Eragon. Nunca te vuelvas arrogante, porque en ese momento tedescuidarás y tus enemigos se aprovecharán de tu debilidad.”

“Vive el presente, recuerda el pasado y no temas el futuro, porque no existe, ni existirá jamás. Sólo existe el ahora.”

“—¿No es la flor más perfecta y adorable? —preguntó Arya.Eragon la miró, con una exquisita conciencia de lo cerca que estaban enaquel momento, y dijo:—Sí... Lo es. —Sin dar tiempo a que lo abandonara el coraje, añadió—:Como tú.”

“No olvides, Eragon, quenadie se ve a sí mismo como un villano y son pocos los que toman decisionessabiendo que se equivocan.”

“Unlike the majority of people, he did not hate or fear the wilderness; as harsh as the empty lands were, they possessed a grace and a beauty that no artifice could compete with and that he found restorative.”

“Death, he had come to believe, was a corrosive thing, and the more he was around it , the more it gnawed away at who he was.”

“Anger has its place, but it will not serve you here, the way of the warrior is the way of knowing. Of that knowledge requires you to use anger, then you use anger, but you cannot wrest forth knowledge by losing your temper.”

“Learn to see what you are looking at.”

“He began to write his thoughts and observations concerning the day's events [...] It helped him better understand everything he had seen and done over the course of the day.”

“He inclined his head ever so slightly, displaying with his bearing the supreme confidence, even arrogance, that is the sole providence of cats, dragons, and certain highborn women.”

“A person must earn enlightenment, Eragon. It is not handed down to you by others, regardless of how revered they be.”

“As far as I am concerned, philosophic questioning is just as likely to make you confused and depressed as it is to improve your condition.”

“Moderation is a wiser policy than zealotry”

“They shared a laugh, and then the silence that so often intruded on their discussion asserted itself once again, a gap born of equal parts weariness, familiarity and--conversely--the many differences that fate had created between those who had once gone about lives that were but variations on a single melody.”

“—Eragon, sólo estás lisiado si tú mismo lo consideras así.”

“Hay muchas penurias en el mundo, y una de lasmayores es no ser capaz de ayudar a los que sufren.”

“By the hurts we accumulate, we measure both our follies and our accomplishments..”

“He was rarely happy throughout his life but he was a good Rider and a good man.”

“When I saw Fäolin fall, I understood then that the true agony of war isn't being wounded yourself, it's having to watch those you care about being hurt.”

“But the constant motion of the flames soon lulled him into a passive state where unrelated fragments of thoughts, sounds, images, and emotions drifted through him like snowflakes falling from a calm winter's sky.”

“For my love, I will wade through an ocean of blood, even if it destroys me”

“I cannot prove that gods do not exist. Nor can I prove that the world and everything in it was not created by an entity or entities in the distant past. But I can tell you that in the millennia we elves have studied nature, we have never witnessed an instance where the rules that govern the world have been broken. That is, we have never seen a miracle. Many events have defied our ability to explain, but we are convinced that we failed because we are still woefully ignorant about the universe and not because a deity altered the workings of nature.”

“Haven't had your fill of interesting events?""Never. They are the spice of life." She held up her half-finished hat. "How do you like it?""It's nice. The blue is pretty. But what do the runes say?""Raxacori-Oh, never mind. It wouldn't mean a thing to you anyway. Safe travels to you and Saphira, Eragon. And remember to watch out for earwigs and wild hamsters.  Ferocious things, wild hamsters." ”

“Eragon! I never want to hear you use that excuse again, that because someone else has done--or would do--something means that you should too. It's lazy, repugnant, and indicative of an inferior mind. Am I clear?”

“Oromis - What is the most important mental tool a person can possess?Eragon - Detrrmination.Oromis - [...] no. I meant the tool most necessary to choose the best course of action in any given situation. Determination is as common among men who are dull and foolish as it is among those who are brilliant intellects [...]Eragon - Wisdom, wisdom is the most important for a person to possess.Oromis- A fair guess, but, again, no. the answer is logic. Or, to put it another way, the ability to reason analytically.Applied properly it can overcome any lack of wisdom, which one only gains through age and experience.Eragon - yes but isn't having a good heart more important than logic. pure logic can lead you to conclusions that are ethically wrong, whereas if you are moral and righteous, that will ensure you don't act shamefully.Oromis - you confuse the issue. All I wanted to know isq what is the most useful 'tool'ma person can have [...] I agree that it is important to be of a virtous nature, but I would also conted that if you had to choose between giving a man a noble disposition or teaching him to think clearly, you'd do better to teach him to think clearly. Too many problems in this world are caused by men with noble dispositions and clouded minds.”

“Understanding begets empathy and compassion even for the meanest beggar - Oromis”