'It is very unlucky to interfere with a marriage of long standing. If the man doesn't kill you, you'll certainly get an earful from the woman.'
Chief Superintendent Stanislaus Oates in a Lecture to Young Constables

'But who,' said Florizel at last, 'who is this lady who is for ever beckoning?'
'That,' replied he, 'is beyond my knowledge. Some aver that she is Love, or Dame Fortune. Some, honour in the field. Some, the Muse herself. And the old have an unpleasant idea that she is Death. But all I can tell you about her for certain is that her eyes are laughing, and that she is without mercy.'
CONTES DES FEES
(from the translation by Anthony Greene, 1929)