Noblest. Bravest. What rot. There was no bravery in buying oneself out of difficulty.

I guess it really had been brave . . . because it was so bugger-all stupid, and if there was one thing I'd come to realize, ti was that bravery and bugger-all stupidity went hand in hand.

There are some for whom the good of mankind is their primary concern, and others who basically put their own considerations before everyone else. I was among the latter.

It seemed to me that, no matter what endeavor I was involved in, I was to be something of a sham.

Some time later, I sat in the wine cellar, staring at the walls while cradling a wineskin in my lap like a child, murmuring over and over as if lulling the child to sleep, 'I am shat upon. I am shat upon'.

Unfortunately, the world does not always act in a manner consistent with one's plans for it.