The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2)

by Brandon Sanderson

Love must be allowed to flow both ways—if it does not, then it is not truly love, I think. It is something else. Infatuation, perhaps? In any case, there are some of us who are far too quick to make martyrs of ourselves. We stand at the side, watching, thinking that we do the right thing by inaction. We fear pain—our own or that of another.”