“Tell me the news, again, whatever it is... sorrow and I are hardly strangers. I can bear the worst.”

“The good leader repeats the good news, keeps the worst to himself.”

“Invited, not inflicted; of all wounds, those that seem willful are the worst to bear.”

“So here I am, against my will and yours too, well I know-- no one wants the man who brings bad news.”

“Whatever is sought for can be caught, you know, whatever is neglected slips away.”

“To me so deep a silence portends some dread event; a clamorous sorrow wastes itself in sound.”

“Reason is God's crowning gift to man, and you are rightTo warn me against losing mine. I cannot say—I hope that I shall never want to say!— that youHave reasoned badly. Yet there are other menWho can reason, too; and their opinions might be helpful.You are not in a position to know everythingThat people say or do, or what they feel:Your temper terrifies them—everyoneWill tell you only what you like to hear.”