Age brought wisdom, but it also brought a genuine gratitude for the happiness of sharing life with someone as much liked as loved. - Colleen McCullough

There was some justice in his pain

distinguished his garb from that of his sons, Sextus and Gaius, who wore ordinary shoes,

We can know what we do wrong even before we do it, but self-knowledge can't affect or change the outcome, can it? Everyone singing his own little song, convinced it's the most wonderful song the world has ever heard. Don't you see? We create our own thorns, and never stop to count the cost. All we can do is suffer the pain, and tell ourselves it was well worth it.