Bits n pieces

The World’s Desire,

• “And they who had not loved saw in her that first love whom no man has ever won, and they who had loved saw that first love whom every man has lost.”
• “A Queen’s courtesy is a command.”

Tales of the Long Bow,

• “He turned out spick and span for church as if for parade; but he was much too well dressed to be pointed out as a well-dressed man.”

Anabasis,

• “For without leaders nothing good or noble, to put it concisely, was ever wrought anywhere; and in military matters this is absolutely true; for if discipline is held to be of saving virtue, the want of it has been the ruin of many ere now.”
• “This observation, also, I have laid to heart, that they, who in matters of war seek in all ways to save their lives, are just they who, as a rule, die dishonourably; whereas they who, recognising that death is the common lot and destiny of all men, strive hard to die nobly: these more frequently, as I observe, do after all attain to old age, or, at any rate, while life lasts, they spend their days more happily. This lesson let all lay to heart this day, for we are just at such a crisis of our fate. Now is the season to be brave ourselves, and to stimulate the rest by our example."
• After him Xenophon arose; he was arrayed for war in his bravest apparel: "For," said he to himself, "if the gods grant victory, the finest attire will match with victory best; or if I must needs die, then for one who has aspired to the noblest, it is well there should be some outward correspondence between his expectation and his end."