But it is not for the perfect vase or the polished gem to choose their owners. — Mary Renault

So now, for mercy and honor shown to my people, my lord is barbarous; a tyrant, because he punished his would-be murderers, the right of their meanest citizen; a mere vaunting soldier, though wherever he went he brought Greece with him, the Greece he honored, of which these liars are the unworthy heirs.

To hate excellence is to hate the gods.

When we serve the great, they are our destiny.