Wizard's Rules by Terry Goodkind
"Wizard's First Rule: "People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People's heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool."
Because of Wizards First Rule, the old wizards created Confessors, and Seekers, as a means of helping find the truth, when the truth is important enough. Darken Rahl knows the Wizard's Rules. He is using the first one. People need an enemy to feel a sense of purpose. It's easy to lead people when they have a sense of purpose. Sense of purpose is more important by far than the truth. In fact, truth has no bearing in this. Darken Rahl is providing them with an enemy, other than himself, a sense of purpose. People are stupid; they want to believe, so they do."
Chapter 36, p.560, U.S. paperback edition
Stone of Tears reveals the Wizard's Second Rule:
The greatest harm can result from the best intentions.
Chapter 63, p. 634, U.S. hardcover edition
It is explained in the book as follows: "It sounds a paradox, but kindness and good intentions can be an insidious path to destruction. Sometimes doing what seems right is wrong, and can cause harm. The only counter to it is knowledge, wisdom, forethought, and understanding the First Rule. Even then, that is not always enough. [...] Violation can cause anything from discomfort, to disaster, to death."
()
Blood of the Fold reveals the Wizard's Third Rule:
Passion rules reason.
Chapter 43, pg number varies, U.S. hardcover edition
It is explained in the novel as follows: "Letting your emotions control your reason may cause trouble for yourself and those around you."
Temple of the Winds gives the Wizard's Fourth Rule:
There is magic in sincere forgiveness, the magic to heal. In forgiveness you grant, but more so, in forgiveness you receive.
Chapter 41, p. 318, U.S. hardcover edition
It is explained in the novel as follows: "Forgiving and being forgiven are powerful elements of healing for the soul. Forgiving others grants by the giving of forgiveness but more so one receives self healing by the necessity of letting go of bitterness through forgiveness of others."
The Wizard's Fifth Rule, revealed in Soul of the Fire, is:
Mind what people do, not only what they say, for deeds will betray a lie.
Chapter 28, p. 205, U.S. hardcover edition
It is explained in the novel as follows: "People will lie to deceive you from what they truly mean to do. Watching the actions they take will prove their true intentions."
Faith of the Fallen, the Wizard's Sixth Rule is revealed to be:
The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason.
Chapter 41, p. 319, U.S. hardcover edition
It is explained in the novel as follows: "The Sixth Rule is the hub upon which all rules turn. It is not only the most important rule, but the simplest. Nonetheless, it is the one most often ignored and violated, and by far the most despised. It must be wielded in spite of the ceaseless, howling protests of the wicked. Misery, iniquity, and utter destruction lurk in the shadows outside its full light, where half-truths snare the faithful disciples, the deeply feeling believers, the selfless followers. Faith and feelings are the warm marrow of evil. Unlike reason, faith and feelings provide no boundary to limit any delusion, any whim. They are a virulent poison, giving the numbing illusion of moral sanction to every depravity ever hatched. Faith and feelings are the darkness to reasons light. Reason is the very substance of truth itself. The glory that is life is wholly embraced through reason, through this rule. In rejecting it, in rejecting reason, one embraces death."
The Wizard's Seventh Rule, revealed in The Pillars of Creation, is:
Life is the future, not the past.
Chapter 60, p. 549, U.S. hardcover edition
It is explained in the novel as follows: "The past can teach us, through experience, how to accomplish things in the future, comfort us with cherished memories, and provide the foundation of what has already been accomplished. But only the future holds life. To live in the past is to embrace what is dead. To live life to its fullest, each day must be created anew. As rational, thinking beings we must use our intellect, not a blind devotion to what has come before, to make rational choices."
The Wizard's Eighth Rule, revealed in Naked Empire, is:
Deserve victory. (Translated from "Talga Vassternich" in High D'Haran, a literary fictional language)
Chapter 61, p.626, U.S. hardcover edition
It is explained in the novel as follows: "Be justified in your convictions. Be completely committed. Earn what you want and need rather than waiting for others to give you what you desire."
The Wizard's Ninth Rule, revealed in Chainfire, is:
A contradiction cannot exist in reality. Not in part, nor in whole.
Chapter 48, p. 489, U.S. hardcover edition
It is explained in the novel as follows: "To believe in a contradiction is to abdicate your belief in the existence of the world around you and the nature of the things in it, to instead embrace any random impulse that strikes your fancy - to imagine something is real simply because you wish it were. A thing is what it is, it is itself. There can be no contradictions. In reality, contradictions cannot exist. To believe in them you must abandon the most important thing you possess: your rational mind. The wager for such a bargain is your life. In such an exchange, you always lose what you have at stake."
The Wizard's Tenth Rule, revealed in Phantom, is:
Wilfully turning aside from the truth is treason to one's self.
Chapter 12, p. 134, U.S. hardcover edition
It is explained in the novel as follows: "People who for whatever reason don't want to see the truth can be acutely hostile to it and shrill in their denunciation of it. They frequently turn their venomous antagonism on whoever dares to point out that truth ... To those seeking the truth, it's a matter of simple, rational, self interest to always keep reality in view. Truth is rooted in reality, after all, not the imagination."
The eleventh and final rule that appears in The Sword of Truth series is revealed in Confessor to be an unwritten rule. The reason is explained through the character Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander:
The rule of all rules. The rule unwritten. The rule unspoken since the dawn of history... But Barracus wanted you to know that it's the secret to using a war wizard's power. The only way to express it, to make sure that you would grasp what he was intending to tell you, was to give you a book unwritten to signify the rule unwritten.
Chapter 65, p. 592, U.S. hardcover edition
Quotes
"Truth has advocates who seek understanding. Corrupt ideas have miserable little fanatics who attempt to enforce their beliefs through intimidation and brutality through faith. Savage force is faiths obedient servant. Violence on an apocalyptic scale can only be born of faith because reason, by its very nature, disarms senseless cruelty. Only faith thinks to justify it....Justice is not the exercise of hatred, it is the celebration of civilization."
-p. 576, U.S. hardcover edition
"Every person makes choices as to how they will live. Evil does not exist independent of man. Men do evil by choice. Choice involves the requirement to think, even if ineffectually. The most basic choice you can make is to think or not to think, to let others do the thinking and tell you what to do, even if they tell you to do evil. Wise choices require more, they require rational thinking. Refusal to think rationally affords one the ability to maintain the illusion of knowledge, wisdom, even sanctity while committing evil. If you follow the teaching of others who do your thinking for you and who have you do evil, the innocent victims are harmed just the same as if you choose to harm them yourself. Dead is dead. Their life is over. Teachings that defy reason defy reality; what defies reality defies life. Defying life is embracing death. Celebrating faith over reason is merely a way of denying what is, in favor of embracing any whim that strikes your fancy."
-p. 579, U.S. hardcover edition
"To exist in this vast universe for a speck of time is the great gift of life. Our tiny sliver of time is our gift of life. It is our only life. The universe will go on, indifferent to our brief existence, but while we are here we touch not just part of that vastness, but also the lives around us. Life is the gift each of us has been given. Each life is our own and no one elses. It is precious beyond all counting. It is the greatest value we can have. Cherish it for what it truly is... Your life is yours alone. Rise up and live it."
-p. 603, U.S. hardcover edition
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