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Patrick Rothfuss

It all began when Pat Rothfuss was born to a marvelous set of parents. Throughout his formative years they encouraged him to do his best, gave him good advice, and were no doubt appropriately dismayed when he failed to live up to his full potential.

In high-school Pat was something of a class clown. His hobbies included reading a novel or two a day and giving relationship advice to all his friends despite the fact that he had never so much as kissed a girl. He also role-played and wrote terrible stories about elves. He was pretty much a geek.

Most of Pat's adult life has been spent in the University Wisconsin Stevens Point. In 1991 he started college in order to pursue a career in chemical engineering, then he considered clinical psychology. In 1993 he quit pretending he knew what he wanted to do with his life, changed his major to "undecided," and proceeded to study whatever amused him. He also began writing a book....

For the next seven years Pat studied anthropology, philosophy, eastern religions, history, alchemy, parapsychology, literature, and writing. He studied six different martial arts, practiced improv comedy, learned how to pick locks, and became a skilled lover of women. He also began writing a satirical advice column which he continues to this day: The College Survivial Guide. Through all of this he continued to work on his novel.

In 2000 Pat went to grad school for English literature. Grad school sucked and Pat hated it. However, Pat learned that he loved to teach. He left in 2002 with his masters degree, shaking the dust from his feet and vowing never to return. During this period of time his novel was rejected by roughly every agent in the known universe.

Now Pat teaches half-time at his old school as an assistant-sub-lecturer. He is underpaid but generally left alone to do as he sees fit with his classes. He is advisor for the college feminists, the fencing club, and, oddly enough, a sorority. He still roll-plays occasionally, but now he does it in an extremely sophisticated, debonair way.

Through a series of lucky breaks, he has wound up with the best agent and editor imaginable, and the first book of his trilogy has been published under the title "The Name of the Wind."

Though it has only been out since April 2007, it has already been sold in 26 foreign countries and won several awards.

Pat has been described as "a rough, earthy iconoclast with a pipeline to the divine in everyone's subconscious." But honestly, that person was pretty drunk at the time, so you might want to take it with a grain of salt.


“Somos algo más que las partes que nos conforman.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“After an awkward pause, Bast extended his hand. Chronicler hesitated for a bare moment before reaching out quickly, as if he were sticking his hand into a fire. Nothing happened, both of them seemed moderately surprised."Amazing, isn't it?" Kvothe addressed them bitingly. "Five fingers and flesh with blood beneath. One could almost believe that on the other end of that hand lay a person of some sort.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Luego toqué la canción que se esconde en el centro de mí. Esa música sin letra que recorre los rincones secretos de mi corazón. La toqué con cuidado, desgranando las notas lenta y suvamente en el oscuro silencio nocturno. Me gustaría poder decir que es una canción alegre, que es dulce y animada, pero no lo es.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Hay dos formas infalibles de perder a un amigo: una es pedirle dinero prestado, y la otra, prestárselo”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“La reputación es como una especie de armadura, o un arma que puedes blandir en caso de necesidad”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Considerarnos meramente enemigos sería no captar el verdadero talante de nuestra relación. Era más bien como si los dos fuéramos socios de una empresa dedicada a perseguir el mutuo objetivo de odiarnos el uno al otro”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Aethe, near my heart.Without vanity, the ribbon.Without duty, the wind.Without blood, the victory.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Los nombres son importantes porque dicen mucho sobre la persona.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“A veces, la realidad es solo dolor, y para huir de ese dolor, la mente tiene que abandonar la realidad.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Esa era otra lección que había aprendido, quizá demasiado bien: la gente hacía daño.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Las emociones, por definición, no son razonables.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“In the midst of silence Lyra stood by Lanre's body and spoke his name. Her voice was a commandment. Her voice was steel and stone. Her voice told him to live again. But Lanre lay motionless and dead”“In the midst of fear Lyra knelt by Lanre's body and breathed his name. Her voice beckoning. Her voice was love and longing. Her voice called him to live again. But Lanre lay dead and cold.”“In the midst of despair Lyra fell across Lanre's body and wept his name. Her voice was a whisper. Her voice was echo and emptiness. Her voice begged him to live again. But Lanre lay breathless and dead”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“I do this so you cannot help but hear. A wise man views a moonless night with fear.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“I hate it when I have to wait the next book in a series to come out. Don't you hate it when you have to wait for the next book in a series to come out?”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Then I played the song that hides in the center of me. That wordless music that moves through the secret places in my heart. I played it carefully, strumming it slow and low into the dark stillness of the night. I would like to say it is a happy song, that it is sweet and bright, but it is not.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Teccam explains there are two types of secrets. There are secrets of the mouth and secrets of the heart.Most secrets are secrets of the mouth. Gossip shared and small scandals whispered. There secrets long to be let loose upon the world. A secret of the mouth is like a stone in your boot. At first you’re barely aware of it. Then it grows irritating, then intolerable. Secrets of the mouth grow larger the longer you keep them, swelling until they press against your lips. They fight to be let free.Secrets of the heart are different. They are private and painful, and we want nothing more than to hide them from the world. They do not swell and press against the mouth. They live in the heart, and the longer they are kept, the heavier they become.Teccam claims it is better to have a mouthful of poison than a secret of the heart. Any fool will spit out poison, he says, but we hoard these painful treasures. We swallow hard against them every day, forcing them deep inside us. They they sit, growing heavier, festering. Given enough time, they cannot help but crush the heart that holds them.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“No te creas todas las historias que te cuenten, Bast. Las historias mienten.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Mis mayores éxitos fueron producto de decisiones que tomé cuando dejé de pensar e hice sencillamente lo que me parecía correcto.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Era uno de esos días perfectos de otoño tan comunes en las historias y tan raros en el mundo real.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Miró hacia arriba y vio un millar de estrellas centelleando en el oscuro terciopelo de una noche sin luna. Las conocía todas, sus historias y sus nombres. Las conocía bien y le eran tan familiares como, por ejemplo, sus propias manos.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Había adoptado un nuevo nombre por las razones habituales, y también por algunas no tan habituales, entre las que estaba el hecho de que, para él, los nombres tenían importancia.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“There is something powerfully beguiling about the excited eyes of a young woman. They can pull all manner of nonsense out of a foolish young man, and I was no exception to this rule.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Truth is a troublesome motherfucker unless it's handled properly”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Y recuerda, hay tres cosas que todo hombre sabio debe temer: la tormenta en el mar, las noches sin luna y la ira de un hombre amable.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Me fijé en que Fela giraba la cabeza y miraba a Simmon como si le sorprendiera verlo allí sentado.O mejor dicho: fue como si hasta ese momento Simmon únicamente hubiera ocupado espacio alrededor de Fela, como un mueble. Pero esa vez, cuando ella lo miró, lo captó por entero. El cabello rubio rojizo, la línea de su mandíbula, la amplitud de los hombros bajo la camisa. Esa vez, cuándo lo miró, lo vio de verdad.Dejadme decir una cosa. Todas las horas que pasamos buscando en el Archivo, todo el fastidio y el cansancio valieron la pena solo para presenciar aquel momento. Valió la pena sangre y temer a la muerte por verla enamorarse de Sim. Solo un poco. Solo el primer hálito débil del amor, tan leve que seguramente ni siquiera ella lo percibió. No fue espectacular, como un rayo seguido del estruendo de un trueno. Fue más bien como cuando golpeas pedernal contra acero y salta una chispa que se desvanece tan deprisa que casi no la ves. Pero sabes que está allí, donde no puedes verla, prendiendo.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“La música existe para cuando nos fallan las palabras. (Kvothe)”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“She smiled like knife on a velvet, she stretched like cat on the sun.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“If I seem to wander, if I seem to stray, remember that true stories seldom take the straightest way”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Could you help me catch the moon?”“I might be able to give you some advice,” the old man said reluctantly. “But first you should think this over, boy. When you love something, you have to make sure it loves you back, or you’ll bring about no end of trouble chasing it.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“-. Todos nos contamos una historia sobre nosotros mismos. Siempre. Continuamente. Esa historia es la que nos convierte en lo que somos. Nos construimos a nosotros mismos a partir de esa historia.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“«Yo la conozco desde hace más tiempo», decía mi sonrisa. «Sí, tú has estado entre sus brazos, has probado el sabor de su boca, has sentido su calor, y eso es algo que yo nunca he tenido. Pero hay una parte de ella que es solo para mí. Tú no puedes tocarla, por mucho que te esfuerces. Y cuando te deje, yo seguiré estando aquí, haciéndola reír. Y mi luz brillará en ella. Yo seguiré estando aquí mucho después de que ella haya olvidado tu nombre.»”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“La sabiduría excluye la audacia.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“-Tú no buscas secretos insignificantes, ¿Verdad?”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Los nombres dan forma al mundo, y un hombre que puede pronunciarlos va camino del poder.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Dos partes de mí intentaron hablar al mismo tiempo. La primera parte gritaba «No le hagas nada, por favor. Otra vez no. No lo rompas. Dámelo, por favor. No lo cojas así, por el mástil». La otra mitad recitaba: «Te odio, te odio, te odio», como si escupiera sangre.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Soy Ruh hasta la médula, y cuando ha terminado la escena, sé salir del escenario.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“-Vaya a buscar lo que le he pedido -dije mirándolo a los ojos-. Y también un odre de agua. O quemaré esta posada con usted dentro y bailaré entre las cenizas y entre sus chamuscados y pegajosos huesos.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“-Me miras con esos ojos verdes como si yo significara algo. No me importa que tengas cosas mejores que hacer. Me conformo con tenerte a veces. De vez en cuando. Sé que puedo considerarme afortunada por eso, por tenerte aunque solo sea un poco.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“-Me dices siempre unas mentiras maravillosas.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“-¿Insinúas que esa cosa de ahí abajo -buscó a tientas las palabras; sus labios se movieron un momento sin articular ningún sonido- pretende tirarse a nuestra hoguera?”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Nunca estás donde te busco, y apareces cuando menos lo espero. Como el arco iris.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Se ve que yo no me enamoraré.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Existe una gran diferencia entre no tener miedo y ser valiente.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“-Cualquiera puede hacer el viaje después de recibir la noticia -dijo ella con desdén-. Hay que ser especial para presentarse cuando uno no sabe que hay un problema.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Su voz es como una tormenta, y sus manos conocen todos los secretos ocultos bajo la fría y oscura tierra.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“I want a magical horse that fits in my pocket," Wil said. "And a ring of red amber that gives me power over demons. And an endless supply of cake.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Las palabras no siempre pueden hacer el trabajo para el que las necesitamos. La música existe para cuando nos fallan las palabras”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“Es el vicio de mirar atrás. Puedes pasarte la vida mirando hacia atrás, pero no sirve de nada”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“I have been called Kvothe the Bloodless, Kvothe the Arcane, and Kvothe Kingkiller. I have earned those names. Bought and paid for them.But I was brought up as Kvothe. My father once told me it meant "to know."I have, of course, been called many other things. Most of them uncouth, although very few were unearned.I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.You may have heard of me.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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“I learned to love the feel of good words.”
Patrick Rothfuss
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