# Quote — Mary Renault, The Persian Boy

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

- Author: [Mary Renault](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-renault.md)
- Book: [The Persian Boy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-renault/the-persian-boy.md)
- Page: 29
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mary_Renault#The_Persian_Boy_(1972)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-renault/the-persian-boy/but-it-is-not

## More from this book

> 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.

p. 269 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-renault/the-persian-boy/so-now-for.md)

> To hate excellence is to hate the gods.

p. 400 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-renault/the-persian-boy/to-hate-excellence.md)

> When we serve the great, they are our destiny.

p. 26 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-renault/the-persian-boy/when-we-serve.md)