"He spoke no French and viewed all buildings, fields and churches as profoundly alien."

"He blamed the NCOs, who blamed the officers; they swore at the staff officers who blamed the Generals."

"He depended on the resilience of certain men to nerve himself to his unnatural life."

"Perhaps in some way he did not understand, that was what the two officers had been doing: perhaps all that talk about…"

"This is not a war. It is an exploration of how far men can be degraded."

"Although he had little idea of time, the burned images of the preceding days lived in his memory with static clarity."

"Stephen was moved by the thought of his fellow countrymen fighting this foreign war."

"I don’t value my life enough."

"But their breathing and their hearts worked as though one body."

"It is as though you stop living. Your mind goes dead"