“Whoso beset him roundWith dismal storiesDo but themselves confound;His strength the more is.”
“Their eyes met, and that spark of something hot and sharp ripped through her again. Awareness. It took a moment to realize, but that was it. She was utterly aware of him. Of the breadth of his shoulders, the deep even way he breathed, the force of his gaze. Bloody hell, but she we beset by the craving to touch him, testing the strength in those shoulders.”
“Whoso neglects learning in his youth, loses his past and is dead for the future.”
“There is danger for him who taketh the tiger cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.”
“But how is the artist to protect himself against the corruption of the age which besets him on all sides?”
“...in his gambling, he had one besetting weakness -- faith in a system; and this made his damnation certain. ”