“Breeze chuckled. "He was completely insane, you know. The worse things got, the more he'd joke. Iremember how chipper he was the very day after one of our worst defeats, when we lost most of ourskaa army to that fool Yeden. Kell walked in, a spring in his step, making one of his inane jokes.""Sounds insensitive," Allrianne said.Ham shook his head. "No. He was just determined. He always said that laughter was something theLord Ruler couldn't take from him. He planned and executed the overthrow of a thousand-yearempire—and he did it as a kind of . . . penance for letting his wife die thinking that he hated her. But, hedid it all with a smirk on his lips. Like every joke was his way of slapping fate in the face.""We need what he had," Elend said.”

“I want you to tell meabout the Survivor," he finally said."He was lord of the mists," Demoux said immediately."Not the rhetoric," Elend said. "Someone tell me about the man, Kelsier. I never met him, you know. Isaw him once, right before he died, but I never knew him.""What's the point?" Cett asked. "We've all heard the stories. He's practically a god, if you listen to theskaa.""Just do as I ask," Elend said.The tent was still for a few moments. Finally, Ham spoke. "Kell was . . . grand. He wasn't just a man,he was bigger than that. Everything he did was large—his dreams, the way he spoke, the way he thought.. . .""And it wasn't false," Breeze added. "I can tell when a man is being a fake. That's why I started myfirst job with Kelsier, actually. Amidst all the pretenders and posturers, he was genuine. Everyone wantedto be the best. Kelsier really was.""He was a man," Vin said quietly. "Just a man. Yet, you always knew he'd succeed. He made you bewhat he wanted you to be.""So he could use you," Breeze said."But you were better when he was done with you," Ham added”

“Breeze raised his dueling cane, pointing it at Ham. "I see my period of intellectual respite has come to an end." Ham smiled. "I thought up a couple of beastly questions while I was gone, and I've been saving them just for you, Breeze.""I'm dying of anticipation," Breeze said. He turned his cane toward Lestibournes. "Spook, drink."Spook rushed over and fetched Breeze a cup of wine."He's such a fine lad," Breeze noted, accepting the drink. "I barely even have to nudge him Allomantically. If only the rest of you ruffians were so accommodating."Spook frowned "Niceing the not on the playing without.""I have no idea what you just said, child," Breeze said. "So I'm simply going to pretend it was coherent, then move on."Kelsier rolled his eyes. "Losing the stress on the nip," he said. "Notting without the needing of care.""Riding the rile of the rids to the right," Spook said with a nod."What are you two babbling about?" Breeze said testily."Wasing the was of brightness," Spook said. "Nip the having of wishing of this.""Ever wasing the doing of this," Kelsier agreed.Breeze turned to Dockson with exasperation. "I believe our companions have finally lost their minds, dear friend."Dockson shrugged. Then, with a perfectly straight face, he said, "Wasing not of wasing is."Breeze sat, dumbfounded, and the room burst into laughter. Breeze rolled his eyes indignantly, shaking his head and muttering about the crew's gross childishness.Vin nearly choked on her wine as she laughed. "What did you even say?" she asked of Dockson as he sat down beside her."I'm not sure," he confessed. "It just sounded right.""I don't think you said anything, Dox," Kelsier said.”

“He smiled despite the grief he felt at the deaths of his men; he smiled because that was what he did. That was how he proved to the Lord Ruler-and to himself-that he wasn't beaten.”

“Once there was a bunny. This bunny had a birthday party. It was the bestest birthday party ever. Because that was the day the bunny got a bazooka. THe bunny loved his bazooka. He blew up all sorts of things on the farm. He blew up the stable of Henrietta the Horse. He blew up the pen of Pugsly the Pig. He blew up the coop of Chuck the Chicken. "I have the bestest bazooka ever," the bunny said. Then the farm friends proceeded to beat him senseless and steal his bazooka. It was the happiest day of his life. The end. Epilogue: Pugsly the Pig, now without a pen, was quite annoyed. When none of the others were looking, he stole the bazooka. He tied a bandana on his head and swore vengeance for what had been done to him. "From this day on," he whispered, raising the bazooka, "I shall be known as Hambo.”

“What responsibility are you avoiding...He wasn't avoiding responsibility...Though there was one thing he clung to. An excuse, perhaps, like the dead emperor. It was the soul of the wretch. Apathy. The belief that nothing was his fault, the belief that he couldn't change anything. If a man was cursed, or if he believed he didn't have to care, then he didn't need to hurt when he failed. Those failures couldn't have been prevented. Someone or something else had ordained them.”

“The man had come looking for a magical solution to his woes, but he had found an answer much more simple. Pain lost its power when other things became more important. Kahar didn't need a potion or an Aon to save him—he just needed something to do.”