Those candle flames were like the lives of men. So fragile. So deadly. Left alone, they lit and warmed. Let run rampant, they would destroy the very things they were meant to illuminate. Embryonic bonfires, each bearing a seed of destruction so potent it could tumble cities and dash kings to their knees.

I know, better than anyone else, that there are no heroes coming to save us. There are no good Epics. None of them protect us. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The world isn't fair? What a huge revelation! Some people in power abuse those they have power over? Amazing! When did this start happening?

Kelsier smiled. 'It means that you, Vin, are a very special person. You have a power that most high noblemen envy. It is a power that, had you been born an aristocrat, would have made you one of the most deadly and influential people in all of the final empire.'Kelsier leaned forward again. 'But, you weren't born an aristocrat. You're not noble, Vin. You don't have to play by their rules--and that makes you even more powerful.

There was a certain power in that, a freedom. The freedom of not having to care.

He was running through mists again. Walls, people, buildings faded. Nothing but dark, swirling mists. But the mists had never been his enemy.

They're scared of you." Zahel's voice, drifting again above the crowd. "Do you see it in them? Show them why.

Control is the basis of all true power. Authority and strength are matters of perception

If men should read these words, let them know that power is a heavy burden. Seek not to be bound by its chains.