" When a thing's happened to you it's no good shoving it away and pretending it hasn't. You can go off your head that way.'
'Battles?'
'Not just battles,' said Bill with a snort. 'Most of us don't get mixed up with battles, do we? Anything. Everything.'
Everything?
'It's what you do about things that makes you the kind of bloke you are,' said Bill. "

― Penelope Lively , The Driftway