The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2)

by Brandon Sanderson

A man can only lead when others accept him as their leader, and he has only as much authority as his subjects give to him. All of the brilliant ideas in the world cannot save your kingdom if no one will listen to them.”

Vin acknowledged a distasteful fact. She was going to have to take notes.

found insanity no excuse for irrational behavior. Some men were blind, others had poor tempers. Still others heard voices. It was all the same in the end. A man was defined not by his flaws, but by how he overcame them.

“Kandra aren’t the only ones that humans treat poorly,” Vin said quietly. “We’re pretty good at abusing each other too.”

“No, not me. I’m not a good person or a bad person. I’m only here to kill things.”

Every scholar knew that one of the greatest dangers in research was the desire to find a specific answer.

But they had never fought Vin.

“At first glance, the key and the lock it fits may seem very different,” Sazed said. “Different in shape, different in function, different in design. The man who looks at them without knowledge of their true nature might think them opposites, for one is meant to open, and the other to keep closed. Yet upon closer examination, he might see that without one, the other becomes useless. The wise man then knows that both lock and key were created for the same purpose.”

Those who take lightly promises they make to those they love are people who find little lasting satisfaction in life.