Sounds like power as embodied by the One Ring in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Everyone has a use for it, but it's those who have greatest need for it who desire it most, and once one has had a taste of it, one hankers after it for the rest of one's life. Except that Tolkien fleshed it out better - one can argue about his literary merits, but one can't deny he was very, very good at exploring his ideas, and very, very thorough.