Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times begins to seem like a message to be ignored at one’s peril. - Lois McMaster Bujold

[Ivan: ] ”... you haven't let the lack of half-marks stop you. Or the rules. Or respect for reality, as afar as I can tell.”

[Miles:] ”I never let anything stop me. That's how you get what you want, Ivan. No one's going to just hand it to you.

“I’m afraid of power…” Gregor’s voice went low, contemplative.
“You aren’t afraid of power, you’re afraid of hurting people. If you wield that power,” Miles deduced suddenly.
“Huh. Close guess.”
“Not dead-on?”
“I’m afraid I might enjoy it. The hurting.”

Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.... The friction tends to arise when the two are not the same....There is no more hollow feeling than to stand with your honor shattered at your feet while soaring public reputation wraps you in rewards. That's soul destroying. The other way around is merely very, very irritating.