yarrr, ye scurvy boy-king, halt ye whinin'

Since he was quite a young man, Gideon Somerville had grown used to the role of bystander. Other men - less intelligent, shallower men - plunged into a tidal race of action, conflict, argument and sinewy bravado. But within Gideon something shrank from pressing his intangible opinions, his doubt-ridden intellect and humane heart on the destinies of others as helpless as himself. He knew the ache of indecision too well.

from The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett