“Better to be a laughing-stock than lose the fort for fear of being one.”
Source: The Eagle of the Ninth
The Eagle of the Ninth is a historical adventure novel for children written by Rosemary Sutcliff and published in 1954. The story is set in Roman Britain in the 2nd century AD, after the building of Hadrian's Wall.
“Better to be a laughing-stock than lose the fort for fear of being one.”
Source: The Eagle of the Ninth