Gadfium found these meetings exasperating; they were supposed to keep people up to date with developments and help facilitate actions which might be … - Iain Banks

These people have successfully incorporated a belief in your martial prowess into their religion; how can you deny them?"
"Believe me, it would be easy.

I have a story to tell you. It has many beginnings, and perhaps one ending. Perhaps not. Beginnings and endings are contingent things anyway; inventions, devices. Where does any story really begin? There is always context, always an encompassingly greater epic, always something before the described events, unless we are to start every story with “BANG! Expand! Sssss…,” then itemize the whole subsequent history of the universe before settling down, at last, to the particular tale in question. Similarly, no ending is final, unless it is the end of all things…

One should never regret one's excesses, only one's failures of nerve.