"When Icelanders were worthy of the name, it was considered an accepted duty to avenge with the sword the sort of crime you have committed against my family. It's a bitter thing to be living at a time when one may not challenge to single combat the man who has disgraced one's family, and carve a blood-eagle on his back!"
January 1, 1970
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Halld%C3%B3r_Laxness