Each of us has something with us which won't be dennied, even if it makes us scream aloud to die. We are what we are, that is all. Like the old Celtic legend of the bird with the thorn in its breast, singing its heart out and dying. Because it has to, it is driven to. We can know what  we do wrong even before we do it, but self-knowledge can't affect or change the outcome, can it? Everyone's singing his own little song, conviced it's the most wonderful song the world has ever heard. We creat our own thorns, and never stop to count the cost. All we can do is suffer the pain, and tell ourselves it was well worth it.

--Thorn Birds