“The world could bring you poison in a jewelled cup, or surprising gifts. Sometimes you didn't know which of them it was.”

“Don't be so thirsty for oppurtunity that you drink for every cup handed to you. That's how you get poisoned.”

“Sometimes, you get no second chance and that its best to accept the gifts the world offers you.”

“Life's harder, the deeper you feel things, was all I could think as I put the books away. Feelings, who needs them? Sometimes they're like a gift, when you feel love or happiness. Sometimes they're a curse.”

“People surprise you sometimes.”

“Yet do not bring up against me the sweet favours of golden Aphrodite.
Never to be cast away are the gifts of the gods, magnificent,
which they give of their own will, no man could have them for wanting them.”

“Rings and jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of thyself. Thou must bleed for me.”

“That minister of ministers,
Imagination, gathers up
The undiscovered Universe,
Like jewels in a jasper cup.”

“Pieces and parts were always easier to process. The full picture, the entire story, was another thing entirely. But you just never knew. Sometimes, people could surprise you.”

“The gifts of a bad man bring no good with them.”