“Maybe it's time to stop being a soldier and go home to be a father. And a husband for Deanna. I'm not sure how.”

“I will always hate war, but will be forever proud of mine.”

“Evan stares at me.I try to hug him. He takes a step back. I pause, my heart in my throat. Ive got to reach out to him, let myself be vulnerable. I find the courage, but he backs up again.You cant g...”

“I am a Christian, but my time in Iraq has convinced me that God doesn't want to hear from me anymore. I've done things that He can never forgive. I've done them consciously. I've made decisions I m...”

“Are you okay, man?""Yeah, I'm good."It's a lie. I wonder if I will ever be good again.”

“A cavalryman's horse should be smarter than he is. But the horse must never be alowed to know this.”

“Above all, he loathed men who beat women; for, real men didnt exercise their strength on frail creatures, they joined the army and put Shazarias enemies in their graves.”

“Dad, how do soldiers killing each other solve the world's problems?”

“Live your life. Be happy as you can be, let go of the things that don't matter, and fight.”

“He lowered his eyes to his dad's face. There was fear there. Fear. When your dad was frightened, there was something to be frightened about.”

“Mum is a perfectionist and Dad is a pedant and that was partly why their marriage didn't work so well, Elsa figures. Because a perfectionist and a pedant are two very different things.”

“Every evil starts with 15 volts.”

“My feeling about work is that it's an unnecessary evil, so I've always done my best to avoid it.”

“Neither love nor evil conquers all, but evil cheats more.”