I wanted someone to follow, I wanted him to be brave. But he wants to be brave for me; and no one can do that. - Mary Renault

It is bitter to lose a friend to evil, before one loses him to death.

He had come back a man, and faithless like a man. He knew that he had longed for her; that true friends share everything, except the past before they met. If only she would weep, even that, and let him comfort her; but she would not humble herself before a man. if only he would run to her side and cling to her; but his manhood was hard-won, no mortal should make him a child again.

There is truth and truth,’ said the priest of Delos. ‘It is true after its kind.