29 quotes found
“People spoke in whispers, as if the war was listening”
“The first problem of war was that no one was any good at it yet.”
“You are a mousetrap of a friend, all soft cheese and hard springs”
“What is the good of influence if one can only use it on strangers?”
“I understand that your brain is large and perpetually at war with itself”
“This helpful war. It makes us better people and then it tries to kill us.”
“Life took longer to reassemble than it did to blow apart, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be lovely, providing that one remembered to go for country walks, and to tune the wireless to music.”
“One could always imagine that one's life, though smoldering in parts, might be undamaged in the west.”
“They spoke of small things at first, since it was best, when reattaching threads, to begin with the easiest knots.”
“She knew, now, why her father had not spoken of the last war, nor Alistair of his. It was hardly fair on the living.”
“I suppose we ought to be getting home, in any case.Oh god, is it wartime already?Look on the bright side: itll be dinner when we get back.”
“Her mother set to with the hairbrush again. But would that be so awful, darling? To be the prettiest thing in Brimscombe-and-Thrupp?I should rather die.You nearly did.Yes, but I tend to blame the G...”
“Then Im tempted to die just to spite him.Thats the spirit that will win us the war.”
“There in the sweet sacking smell of the mail bags he understood that he was dying, and it pleased him that he was going in the company of so many soft words home.”
“Everything can be restored. If one won't believe that, how does one endure all this?”
“One didn't understand, until one had seen a great many bodies, the unconscious effort that one must be making every minute simply to keep one's hands and face and clothes clean. The world's surface...”
“There was less of him now. There was less of them all. Officers and men dragged themselves around in uniforms three sizes too big, new holes punched into every belt, every collar hanging loose. The...”
“Alistair smiled. 'How long this war has been.''I'll say. One hardly remembers how we lived before. Lightly - not worrying much.''Do you suppose we shall ever live that way again?''Oh, who knows? Gi...”
“I move we get more wine,' Alistair said. 'What does the panel think?'...It was obvious that the entire war could be solved in this way. The trick would be to reach for a corkscrew instead, every ti...”
“But what good is it to teach a child to count, if you don't show him that he counts for something?”
“Sorry. But it isnt for us to change how things are. Im just an administrator. Youre just a teacher.Oh, I hope I dont teach. Because look what we did: we saved the zoo animals and the nice children ...”
