It is very easy to shun someone who is deliberately cruel, and everyone loathes a man who is brutal and vicious. Such people have a hard time winning followers. But an individual who is gracious, who is attractive, who smiles and flatters and praises - that is a person who can lead whole nations to disaster. Who would not want to follow such a man or woman? Everyone is drawn to beauty and wit.

I thought it would not hurt to remind you that love is a powerful force in this world, invisible though it seems.

Manufactured--synthetic--even virtual, if that is what you turned out to be--I would love you.

Yet the world is the same as it always was. It is merely that you see it with new eyes.

Only the strongest are put through the fire,' Josiah said. 'And the forge creates things of great strength and beauty.' 'Then I shall be truly glorious by the time my tenure ends.

And might I live long enough to see the world yet again as a place completely different, through eyes that see another truth not yet revealed?

Love is a popular romantic notion that leads to nothing but its own brand of misery.