Scott Anderson (novelist)

"I don’t care what anyone says, it affects you, it never stops affecting you."

"Elena understood that sometimes it was a terrible thing to be the one who lived, that this could be a weight in your heart that never left."

"I found my smartest patients were the most difficult, and I think Carlos was the smartest one of all. - Joaquin Morales"

"It leaves scars in my head, it leaves scars all the time. - Colin"

"Legs will always be the biggest problem. That’s always the case. Legs, legs, legs. For every arm I’ve amputated here, I’ve probably taken ten legs. Puzzling, isn’t it? . . . I think human legs * simply weren't designed for modern war. - Dr Ahmet Talzani"

"There is no pattern to who lives and who dies in war . . . In war, people die because they do. - Dr Ahmet Talzani"

"We are all animals . . . special animals, but still animals. - Joaquin Morales"

"Do you know what Pesh Merga means? It means 'those who face death'. . . I myself have never seen one face death; they all turn away at the end. - Dr Ahmet Talzani"

""If I stay too long in here, I begin killing more patients than I save." He laughed lightly. - Dr Ahmet Talzani"

"We've been losing wars forever; it's what we Kurds do best . . . We are like the little guy at the bar who wants to fight all the big men. We get beaten up by one, then get up off the floor and go for another. Over and over. A lifetime of war, can you imagine? - Dr Ahmet Talzani"

"Homeland. It doesn't matter what you do or even what you believe, you never escape the homeland. It always keeps you. They talk of free will, but we are all just homing pigeons in the end. - Dr Ahmet Talzani"

"Ah well, these little mysteries, morbid curiosities, war is full of them. - Dr Ahmet Talzani"

"Would you believe that sometimes I am so tired, or the cave is so dark, I'm not even sure of the colours I give them? Would you believe that men have been given blues, have been set aside to die, suffering from nothing more than dehydration or a broken arm? Disturbing, I know, but it's true. - Dr Ahmet Talzani"

"My little tags are for them, because they need to believe there is a system. For me, I know it is all fate . . . Some live, some die, that's all. - Dr Ahmet Talzani"

"Some live, some die. It's the only way to view it. Anything else is just self-torture and arrogance. Because we are not gods, none of us are gods. - Dr Ahmet Talzani"