zerogravitas

“Bah! Do you know,' the Devil confided, 'not even the best mathematicians on other planets - all far ahead than yours - have solved it? Why, there's a chap on Saturn - he looks something like a mushroom on stilts - who solves partial differential equations mentally; and even he's given up.”
― Arthur Porges, The Devil and Simon Flagg

“Ideas are never original," Kelsier said. "Only one thing is."
"And what is that?
"Style," Kelsier said.
Then he punched Ruin across the face.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Secret History

“All things have a value. Sometimes the value is paid in coin. Other times, it is paid in time and sweat. And finally, sometimes it is paid in blood.

Humanity seems most eager to use this latter currency. And we never note how much of it we’re spending, unless it happens to be our own.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“Thievery was the most authentic form of flattery. What could be more satisfying than knowing the things you possessed were intriguing, captivating, or valuable enough to provoke another man to risk everything to obtain them? This was Kelsier’s purpose in life, to remind people of the value of the things they loved. By taking them away.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Secret History