“When I was sixteen, I won a great victory. At that moment I felt I would live to be a hundred. Now I know I shall not see thirty.

“None of us know our end, or what hand will guide us there. A king may move a man, a father may claim a son. But that man can also move himself, and only then does that man truly begin his own game. Remember that howsoever you are played, or by whom, your soul is in your keeping alone. Even though those who presume to play you be kings or men of power. When you stand before God, you cannot say, ‘But I was told by others to do thus,’ or ‘that virtue was not convenient at the time.’ This will not suffice. Remember that.” King Baldwin IV (Note 1), Kingdom of Heaven, Director’s Cut.

Note 1: King Baldwin (1161 – 1185) suffered from leprosy, plaguing him from a young age. Despite his illness, he would fight wars and rule Jerusalem, before his death at the age of 24.

From the #forwhomthebelltolls series