You don’t need to use your hand to Push,” Gemmel grumbled at him. “Wastes time.
Life as a human being is about posturing and influence.
This is life. The longer you live, the more you fail. Failure is the mark of a life well lived.
What was the purpose, then, of everything they taught in here? If it couldn’t prevent men from acting like monsters?
But, what is money? A physical representation of the abstract concept of effort.
What was a prayer, if not creation? Making something where nothing existed. Creating a wish out of despair, a plea out of anguish. Bowing one’s back before the Almighty, and forming humility from the empty pride of a human life.
That made her valuable – and Reen had always said that the surest way to stay alive in the underworld was to make yourself indispensable.
What! That’s a tragedy.” “Melody, everything is a tragedy to you.” “Not having ice cream,” she proclaimed, “is the culmination of all disasters! That’s it. No more discussion. We’re going. Follow.
Spook stood up as nonchalantly as he could, then fled into the night.
Could a man both believe, and not believe, at the same time?
People,” Shai said, rising to fetch another seal, “by nature attempt to exercise power over what is around them. We build walls to shelter us from the wind, roofs to stop the rain. We tame the elements, bend nature to our wills. It makes us feel as if we’re in control.
You’ll find God in the same place you’re going to find salvation from this mess,” Wit said. “Inside the hearts of men.
That is good. I should not like to be maintained by one who lacks brain functions.
Logic doesn’t work on Wayne.” “I bought a ward against it off a traveling fortune-teller,” Wayne explained. “It lets me add two ’n’ two and get a pickle.
Elend smiled, recognizing the reference. Trentison’s Supplying in Scale. A few years earlier, he would have agreed with Yomen, and the two would probably have spent the afternoon discussing the philosophy of leadership in Yomen’s palace. However, Elend had learned things in the last few years that he simply hadn’t been able to get form his studies.
Danger, sweet like a forbidden perfume. I will know thee.
This time, when she’d pointed it at me, she’d flicked the safety on. If that wasn’t true love, I don’t know what was.
They claimed that each person was born with a certain finite amount of ill luck. And so, when an unfortunate event happened, they thought themselves blessed – thereafter, their lives could only get better.
What is the good of faith if this is the result? A city full of people misinterpreting their god’s commands? A world of ash and pain and death and sorrow?
Emotion. It is what defines men – though ironically you are poor vessels for it. It fills you up and breaks you, unless you find someone to share the burden.