“It wasn't as if they had a choice. They were soldiers whose choices had ended when they had signed contracts and taken their oaths. Whether they had joined for reasons of patriotism, of romantic no...”

“He is a true casualty of battle. There's not a physical scar, but look at the man's heart, and his head, and there are scars galore.”

“To hear them laugh was to hear that everything was all right, but to see them laugh was to see otherwise”

“I can see the little girl, the face of the little girl. And as much as people say that they don't care about these people and all that, I don't care about these people - but I do, at the same time,...”

“Peace is not so much a political mandate as it is a shared state of consciousness that remains elevated and intact only to the degree that those who value it volunteer their existence as living exa...”

“War is life multiplied by some number that no one has ever heard of.”

“First Afghanistan, now Iraq. So who's next? Syria? North Korea? Iran? Where will it all end?' If these illegal interventions are permitted to continue, the implication seems to be, pretty soon, hor...”

“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?”

“It's easier to bleed than sweat, Mr. Motes.”

“So I make no effort to hide my pain. I dont ever put it all on display like thisbut for today and all the rest of the days of the trial, I must. My every flinch, every flicker of pain, will bemagni...”

“Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings.”