“Every war is ironic because every war is worse than expected. Every war constitutes an irony of situation because its means are so melodramatically disproportionate to its presumed ends.”

“If I didn't have writing, I'd be running down the street hurling grenades in people's faces.”

“i find nothing more depressing than optimism.”

“The implicit optimism of the [field service post card] is worth notingthe way it offers no provision for transmitting news like I have lost my left leg or I have been admitted into hospital wounded...”

“The past, which as always did not know the future, acted in ways that ask tobe imagined before they are condemned. Or even simplified.”

“Irony is the attendant of hope and the fuel of hope is innocence.”

“If you can't experience the humanity of people who don't look like you, you're not civilized enough to be an officer of the peace.”

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”

“My centre is giving way, my right is in retreat, situation excellent. I attack.”