If power was an illusion, wasn’t weakness necessarily one also? - Lois McMaster Bujold

If you could go back in time and change things…
The only moment in time you could change things was the elusive now, which slipped through your fingers as fast as you could think about it.

“He told Mark he’s courting her in secret,” Martya put in to the Vorbrettens. “It’s a secret from her. We’re all still trying to figure that one out.”
“Is the entire city party to my private conversations?” Miles snarled. “I’m going to strangle Mark.”
Martya blinked at him with manufactured innocence. “Kareen had it from Mark. I had it from Ivan. Mama had it from Gregor. And Da had it from Pym. If you’re trying to keep a secret, Miles, why are you going around telling everyone?”

Power is better than revenge. Power is a live thing, by which you reach out to grasp the future. Revenge is a dead thing, reaching out from the past to grasp you.