“I could have slapped his face. I could have slapped that god-damned handsome, eagle-beakered, strong-boned, rubignious-hided high old face, in which the eyes weren't old but hard and bright without any depth to them and were an insult to look into. And the Boss laughed, and I could have slapped his goddamned face. I could have walked right out and left the two of them alone there, alone in that cheese-smelling room until hell froze over, and just kept walking.

But I didn't, and perhaps it was just as well, for maybe you cannot ever really walk away from the things you most want to walk away from.”

All The King's Men, Robert Penn Warren