Things that try to look like things often do look more like things than things. - Terry Pratchett

Noble dragons don't have friends. The nearest they can get to the idea is an enemy who is still alive.

The duke had a mind that ticked like a clock and, like a clock, it regularly went cuckoo.

He'd noticed that sex bore some resemblance to cookery: it fascinated people, they sometimes bought books full of complicated recipes and interesting pictures, and sometimes when they were really hungry they created vast banquets in their imagination - but at the end of the day they'd settle quite happily for egg and chips. If it was well done and maybe had a slice of tomato.