We are not always what we seem, and hardly ever what we dream. - Peter S. Beagle

All right, all right for you, you pretentious kneecap! How would you like a punch in the eye?

"It's a rare man who is taken for what he truly is," he said. "There is much misjudgment in the world. Now, I knew you for a unicorn when I first saw you, and I know that I am your friend. Yet you take me for a clown, or a clot, or a betrayer, and so I must be if you see me so. The magic on you is only magic and will vanish as soon as you are free, but the enchantment of error that you put on me I must wear forever in your eyes. We are not always what we seem, and hardly ever what we dream."

Men have to have heroes, but no man can ever be as big as the need, and so a legend grows around a grain of truth, like a pearl.