“The most important questions are the ones we can't hope to answer with words. Words are like toys : they amuse and educate us for a time, but when we come to manhood, we should give them up.'Sunmer...”

“Oh, the others will talk and plan and make oaths and promises, but there are precious few fuckers who will do.”

“The pain of the flesh is naught to that of the heart”

“Its something of a clich, at least among war correspondents, that war makes people unusually horny; what it actually does is make you want to touch as much flesh as you can get your hands on.”

“People who live in society have learnt how to see themselves, in mirrors, as they appear to their friends. I have no friends: is that why my flesh is so naked?”

“I was aware of something stable in his nature. Ha game me a feeling of security, as if nothing I said or did would change his opinion of me. I never found his pleasantries irksome, partly, no doubt...”

“But when we sit together, close, said Bernard, we melt into each other with phrases. We are edged with mist. We make an unsubstantial territory.”

“You praise man who has the ability to perform great actions.I admire man who can deal with great pain and knows no despair.”