‘What about me? What am I supposed to have learned? I didn’t go out of my way to look for trouble; troubles came to look for me…Unless you’d like to say,’ she added with her sweet and gentle smile, ‘that I did make a mistake after all - the mistake of being fond of you, and promising to marry you.’

Renzo did not know what to say for a moment. But after a long debate, and much heart-searching they came to the conclusion that troubles very often come because we have asked for them; but that the most prudent and innocent of conduct is not necessarily enough to keep them away; also that when they come, through our fault or otherwise, trust in God goes far to take away their sting, and makes them a useful preparation for a better life.

Alessandro Manzoni, The Betrothed