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Words Have To Find A Man's Mind Before They Can Touch His Heart, And Some Men's Minds Are Woefully Small Targets.
-Patrick Rothfuss
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Words Have To Find

Patrick Rothfuss
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Words Have To Find A Man's Mind Before They Can Touch His Heart, And Some Men's Minds Are Woefully Small Targets.

Understanding the Quote: "words have to find a man's mind before they can touch his..."

This quote by Patrick Rothfuss reflects deeply on the theme of heart. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Heart, Men, Mind, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Patrick Rothfuss interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Patrick Rothfuss

Patrick Rothfuss is celebrated for insightful thoughts on heart and men. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Heart
Men
Mind
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Knows
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Novel
Needed
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Reading
Emotional
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Marketing
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Dark
Class
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Men
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Giving
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May
Heard
Everyone Knew What He Was Thinking. Certainly There Were Demons In The World. But They Were Like Tehlu’s Angels. They Were Like Heroes And Kings. They Belonged In Stories. They Belonged Out There. Taborlin The Great Called Up Fire And Lightning To Destroy Demons. Tehlu Broke Them In His Hands And Sent Them Howling Into The Nameless Void. Your Childhood Friend Didn’t Stomp One To Death On The Road To Baedn-bryt. It Was Ridiculous.
Kings
Hero
Angel
So Yes. It Had Flaws, But What Does That Matter When It Comes To Matters Of The Heart? We Love What We Love. Reason Does Not Enter Into It. In Many Ways, Unwise Love Is The Truest Love. Anyone Can Love A Thing Because. That's As Easy As Putting A Penny In Your Pocket. But To Love Something Despite. To Know The Flaws And Love Them Too. That Is Rare And Pure And Perfect.
Love
Heart
Perfect
There Are Few Things As Nauseating As Pure Obedience.
Obedience
Pure
Don't Get Me Wrong, Hard And Soft Fantasy Stories Can Both Be Good. But You Need To Know Which Camp You're In. I'm Into Realism. I'm A Hard Fantasy Guy.
Guy
Needs
Fantasy Stories
After A Certain Point Is Reached The Numbers Cease To Matter, And All That Remains Is The Faceless Mass Of A Crowd.
Numbers
Crowds
Matter
My Only Real Daydreamy Casting Over The Years Has Been Natalie Portman For Denna. She's An Amazing Actress, And Denna Is Going To Be One Of The Hardest Characters To Pull Off.
Real
Character
Years
I Think The Best Part Of Being An Author Is That I Get To Learn About Anything I Want And Explain It Away As Research.
Thinking
Research
Want
Then I Felt Something Inside Me Break And Music Began To Pour Out Into The Quiet. My Fingers Danced; Intricate And Quick They Spun Something Gossamer And Tremulous Into The Circle Of Light Our Fire Had Made. The Music Moved Like A Spiderweb Stirred By A Gentle Breath, It Changed Like A Leaf Twisting As It Falls To The Ground, And It Felt Like Three Years Waterside In Tarbean, With A Hollowness Inside You And Hands That Ached From The Bitter Cold.
Fall
Fire
Light
A Lot Of New Writers Assume You Have To Know The Where The Story Is Going And That It Flows Out As Molten Gold. But Really, Sometimes You Think You Are Going To One Place, But Then You Decide That Is Dumb Idea. Then You Go Somewhere Else And It Is A Worse Idea. But Then You Switch Again And You Might Have A Beautiful Accident.
Beautiful
Thinking
Somewhere Else
Do You Just Want To Get By? Or Do You Want To Make Me Proud?
Want
Proud
So Stapes Conducted A Dinner For Just The Two Of Us, Then Informed Me Of A Dozen Small But Important Mistakes I Had Made. Setting Down A Dirty Utensil Was Considered Crude, For Example. That Meant It Was Perfectly Acceptable To Lick One's Knife Clean. In Fact, If You Didn't Want To Dirty Your Napkin It Was The Only Seemly Thing To Do.
Mistake
Dirty
Knives
I Have, Of Course, Been Called Many Other Things. Most Of Them Uncouth, Although Very Few Were Unearned
Name Of The Wind
Uncouth
Courses
The Boy Grows Upward, But The Girl Grows Up.
Girl
Growing Up
Boys
If I'd Been Whoring Before Class And Waved A Corset At Him, No One Would Have Thought Twice About It!
Class
Corsets
Ifs
What Were You Thinking?" Bast Said With An Odd Mixture Of Confusion And Concern. Coat Was A Long While In Answering. "i Tend To Think Too Much Bast. My Greatest Successes Tended To Come When I Stopped Thinking And Simply Did What Felt Right, Even If There Was No Explantion For What I Did.
Thinking
Long
Confusion
If You Fall, You Fall," Elodin Shrugged. "sometimes Falling Teaches Us Things Too." In Dreams You Often Fall Before You Wake.
Dream
Fall
Sometimes
...if I Have Ever Met Someone Without A Single Shadow On Their Heart, It Was Surely A Child Too Young For Speaking.
Children
Heart
Shadow
Nobody Cooks Using Just One Ingredient. Why Would You Write Using Just One Flavor Of Story?
Writing
Stories
Flavor
Only A Fool Worries Over What He Can’t Control.
Worry
Fool
Isn't That The Way Of The World? We Want The Sweet Things, But We Need The Unpleasant Ones.
Sweet
Needs
World
...nothing In The World Is Harder Than Convincing Someone Of An Unfamiliar Truth.
World
Harder
Convincing
When Someone Writes Something Dazzlingly Brilliant, People Want To Imitate It. The Result Is A Lot Of Less-than-brilliant Knock-offs. Elves, Dwarves, Goblin Army, Cursed Ring, Evil Sorcerer. Tolkien Did It. It Rocked. Let's Move On. Let's Do Something New.
Moving
Writing
Army
Congratulations. That Was The Stupidest Thing I've Ever Seen. Ever.
Congratulations
Stupidest
Name Of The Wind
But Even This Piece Of Flattery Couldn't Distract Me From The Fact That I Was In The Center Of The Fae Realm, Blind, Stark Naked, And Without The Slightest Idea Of What Was Going On.
Ideas
Naked
Fae
I'd Like To Do An Anthology. Maybe A Collection Of Songs Set In My World, Or Based On My World. I Think That Would Be A Lot Of Fun.
Song
Fun
Thinking
If You Are Going To Impose Your Will On The World, You Must Have Control Over What You Believe.
Believe
World
Ifs
It's Like Everyone Tells A Story About Themselves Inside Their Own Head. Always. All The Time. That Story Makes You What You Are. We Build Ourselves Out Of That Story.
Life
Healing
Identity
I Needed To Let Them Know They Couldn't Hurt Me. I've Learned That The Best Way To Stay Safe Is To Make Your Enemies Think You Can't Be Hurt.
Hurt
Thinking
Enemy
My Parents Danced Together, Her Head On His Chest. Both Had Their Eyes Closed. They Seemed So Perfectly Content. If You Can Find Someone Like That, Someone Who You Can Hold And Close Your Eyes To The World With, Then You're Lucky. Even If It Only Lasts For A Minute Or A Day. The Image Of Them Gently Swaying To The Music Is How I Picture Love In My Mind Even After All These Years.
Love Picture
Eye
Years
All Explicit Knowledge Is Translated Knowledge, And All Translation Is Imperfect.
Imperfect
Explicit
Translations
I Don't Feel Beholden To Follow The Real World At All. The Important Thing Is To Know Why Things Turned Out The Way They Did. You Need To Understand The Reasons For Events, Or At Least Be Able To Make Reasonable Guesses About Them.
Real
Important
Able
She Reached Up And Lay Her Hand On My Cheek. "you Have The Sweetest Face," She Said, Looking At Me Dreamily. "it's Like The Perfect Kitchen." I Fought Not To Smile. This Was The Delirium. She'd Fade In And Out Of It Before The Profound Exhaustion Dragged Her Down Into Unconsciousness. If You See Someone Spouting Nonsense To Themselves In An Alleyway In Tarbean, Odds Are They're Not Actually Crazy, Just A Sweet-eater Deranged By Too Much Denner. "a Kitchen?" "yes," She Said. "everything Matches And The Sugar Bowl Is Right Where It Should Be.
Sweet
Crazy
Odds
If You're Going To Have A Book Full Of Clever People And Nobody Ever Jokes, It's Just Not Going To Ring True To The Reader. That Said, Humor Writing Is The Hardest Kind Of Writing There Is.
Clever
Book
Writing
On His First Hand He Wore Rings Of Stone, Iron, Amber, Wood And Bone. There Were Rings Unseen On His Second Hand, One Was Blood In A Flowing Band, One Was Air All Whisper Thin, And The Ring Of Ice Had A Flaw Within. Full Faintly Shone The Ring Of Flame, And The Final Ring Was Without Name.
Iron
Air
Flames
He Hesitated, Then Lifted His Head And Sniffed. “have You Been Drinking?” The Question Was More Curious Than Accusatory. “no,” Bast Said. The Innkeeper Raised An Eyebrow. “i’ve Been Tasting,” Bast Said, Emphasizing The Word. “tasting Comes Before Drinking.
Drinking
Eyebrows
Curious
Language Is Inexorably Tied To Power And Understanding. And Power And Understanding Are The Roots Of Magic. Just The Act Of Writing Something Down Is A Magical Act.
Writing
Roots
Understanding
It Doesn't Eat Meat." I Said. "it's A Herbivore. It's Like A Big Cow." Denna Looked At Me And Started To Laugh. Not Hysterical Laughter, But The Helpless Laughter Of Someone Who's Just Heard Something So Funny They Can't Help But Bubble Over With It. She Put Her Hands Over Her Mouth And Shook With It, The Only Sound Was A Low Huffing That Escaped Through Her Fingers. There Was Another Flash Of Blue Fire From Below. Denna Froze Midlaugh, Then Took Her Hands Away From Her Mouth. She Looked At Me, Her Eyes Wide, And Spoke Softly With A Slight Quaver In Her Voice, "mooooo.
Laughter
Eye
Fire
I'm Kind Of Balanced Between Excited About The Potential Of The Project, And The Knowledge That I Shouldn't Get My Hopes Up. I Like To Be Practical, And The Truth Is, These Deals Fall Apart All The Time.
Fall
Kind
Excited
I'm Just Very Careful With My Words When I Write. Obsessively Careful. I'm The Sort Of Person Who Worries About The Difference Between "slim" And "slender."
Writing
Differences
Worry
Knowing Your Own Ignorance Is The First Step To Enlightenment.
Ignorance
Knowing
Enlightenment
Character Is Half The Reason We Read. We're Excited Because Of The Plot, But We Care Because Of The Characters.
Character
Plot
Half
I Walked Across The Polished Marble Floor And Sat On A Red Velvet Lounging Couch. I Idly Wondered How Exactly One Was Supposed To Lounge. I Couldn't Remember Ever Doing It Myself. After A Moment's Consideration, I Decided Lounging Was Probably Similar To Relaxing, But With More Money In Your Pocket.
Red
Pockets
Velvet
When You Love Something, You Have To Make Sure It Loves You Back, Or You'll Bring About No End Of Trouble Chasing It.
Love You
Trouble
Ends
Frequently, An Author Gets "orphaned" At A Publisher. What This Means Is That An Editor Buys Their Book, Then Ends Up Getting Fired, Promoted, Or Transferred To A Different Job Somewhere Else. It Sucks For The Author Because Suddenly The Person Who Liked Your Book Enough To Buy It Isn't Around To Help You Edit And Promote It.
Jobs
Book
Mean
Thieves, Heretics, And Whores
Thieves
Heretic
Someone's Parents Have Been Singing Entirely The Wrong Sort Of Songs.
Song
Parent
Singing
No Hard Feelings About That Time In The Crucible When You Mixed My Salts And I Was Nearly Blind For A Day. No. No, Really, Drink Up!
Feelings
Crucible
Salt
I Was Heavily Influenced By My First Attempt At A Novel. I Started A Fantasy Novel Back In High School, And... Well... It Really Sucked. It Was A Plotless, Clichéd Mess.
School
Fantasy Novels
Firsts
When We Are Children We Seldom Think Of The Future. This Innocence Leaves Us Free To Enjoy Ourselves As Few Adults Can. The Day We Fret About The Future Is The Day We Leave Our Childhood Behind.
Children
Growing Up
Thinking
Now That I Understand How Publishing Schedules Work, I Can Understand Why Many Authors Have The Sophomore Slump. A Year Is A Long Time To Wait For A Sequel, But It's A Short, Short Time To Write A Sequel.
Writing
Years
Long
There Is Nothing I Can't Do Writing In Fantasy. I Can Have Romance, I Can Have Mystery, I Can Have Drama, I Can Have Good Characters - I Can Have Everything You Can Do In Any Other Genre... Plus A Dragon.
Drama
Character
Writing
I Also Felt Guilty About The Three Pens I'd Stolen, But Only For A Second. And Since There Was No Convenient Way To Give Them Back, I Stole A Bottle Of Ink Before I Left.
Giving
Three
Bottles
Humor Is Important. If You're Going To Tell Any Sort Of Realistic Story, You're Going To Have To Have Humor In It, Because People Are Funny. Clever People Especially.
Clever
People
Important
My Bad Luck Got Tangled Up With My Bad Decisions, And I'm Paying For It.
Tangled
Decision
Luck
I Believe It, Chronicler Found Himself Thinking. Before It Was Just A Story, But Now I Can Believe It. This Is The Face Of A Man Who Has Killed An Angel.
Believe
Angel
Men
Reading Aloud Sounds Like A Good Idea, But Honestly, It Doesn't Work Very Well. Good Dialogue In A Book Doesn't Actually Bear Much Resemblance To Real-life Dialogue. For Example, If You've Ever Seen A Word-for-word Transcript Of People Talking, It Doesn't Read Off The Page Very Well. The Trick Is To Make It *seem* Like It's Being Spoken, Not To Make It Speakable.
Real
Book
Reading
There Is Some Conflict Between Religion And Science In My World, But That's Nothing New. Science, At Its Root, Is A Rational Discipline. Religion, On The Other Hand, Is Fundamentally Trans-rational. Both Of Them Attempt To Solve Problems, But Since Their Methodology Is Vastly Different, They Can't Help But Come Into Conflict.
Roots
Hands
Discipline
The Chancellor Looked Down At The Empty Table For A Minute. Then He Shrugged, Looked Up, And Gave A Surprisingly Jaunty Smile. "all In Favor Of Admitting First-term Kvothe's Reckless Use Of Sympathy As Proof Of Mastery Of Basic Principles Of Sympathy Vote By Show Of Hands.
Hands
Principles
Mastery
You Know, I Could Have Carried You.
Knows
Whenever You Write A Character, You Want To Make Them Themselves, You Want To Make Them Unique. You Don't Want Fifty Characters In Your Book And They All Pretty Much Act And Think The Same Except They Have Different Colored Hair.
Book
Writing
Character
For People Who Don't Know, The Fundraiser Works Like This: People Donate To Worldbuilders And They're Automatically Entered To Win Geeky Swag In The Lottery. We're Just Starting Week Two And We're Already Giving Away More Than $40,000 Of Books And Games.
Book
Winning
Swag
Just Pity Him, My Boy. Tomorrow We'll Be On Our Way, But He'll Have To Keep His Own Disagreeable Company Until The Day He Dies.
Boys
Way
Tomorrow
Each Book Needs A Good Beginning And A Good Ending. People Get Pissed Off When You Don't Close Things Off Properly At The End.
Book
People
Pissed Off
You Are Not Wise Enough To Fear Me As I Should Be Feared.
Wise
Enough
Should
The Truth Is I've Worked A Lot Of Things People Would Consider Shitty Jobs But I've Never Really Hated Any Of Them.
Jobs
People
Truth Is
Now The Truth Is, Writing Is A Great Way To Deal With A Lot Of Difficult Emotional Issues. It Can Be Very Therapeutic, But That's Best Done In Your Journal, Or On Your Blog If You're An Exhibitionist. Trying To Put A Bunch Of *specific* Stuff From Your Personal Life Into Your Story Usually Just Isn't Appropriate Unless You're Writing A Memoir Or A Personal Essay Or Something Of The Sort.
Writing
Emotional
Issues
I Firmly Believe That We're All Good People, But Sometimes It's Hard To Understand How To Do Good.
Believe
People
Sometimes
With His Eyes And Those Hands There Won't Be A Woman Safe In All The World When He Starts Hunting After The Ladies.' 'courting, Dear,' My Father Corrected Gently. 'semantics,' She Shrugged.
Father
Eye
Hunting
One Of Them Had A Large Wooden Sign Nailed To Its Door Proclaiming, No Sympathy! I Wondered What Non-arcane Visitors Might Think Of The Warning.
Thinking
Doors
Warning
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