"Somewhere between half a mile and a quarter of a mile from what the officers were calling ground zero, there was no sidewalk or even rubble under foot. Everything has been fused to what looked like rough, crude glass. It felt like hard, unyielding glass under Flora’s feet, too. “My God,” she said over and over. She wasn’t the only one, either. She watched a Catholic Congressman cross himself, and another take out a rosary and move his lips in prayer. When you saw something like this, what could you do but pray? But wasn’t a God Who allowed such things deaf to mere blandishments?"

"He could speak clear English when he wanted to. Why didn’t he want to more often?"

"They smelled of old sweat and leather and tobacco and mud: like soldiers, in other words."

"I think this is called peace. We used to have it all the time."

"“Do you see things in black and white, or are there shades of gray for you?” “I hope there’s gray, Menefee said. “Black and white make things easier, but only if you don’t want to think.”"

"“Got any rations you don’t need?” one of them asked, stretching out his hands imploringly to Cassius. “You feed me if I was in there?” Cassius asked. “Well, I hope so,” the man answered after a perceptible pause for thought. “I’m a Christian, or I try to be.” “Reckon Jake Featherston’s a Christian, too?” “Sure he is,” the POW said, this time without hesitation. “He loves Jesus, same as you’n me. Jesus loves him, too. “Fuck you, you ofay asshole.” Cassius turned away. “You can starve.” “You ain’t no Christian,” the Confederate called after him. “If Jake Featherston is, I don’t want to be.”"

"Was that savage cynicism or sage common sense? When it came to gauging the chances of peace and war, how much difference was there?"

"Yes, they’d learned plenty of lessons from the enemy, but so what? Where you learned your lessons didn’t matter. That you learned them did."

"“We can beat the enemy,” he said to nobody in particular, “but God help us against our own side.” “Headquarters being stupid again?” Scullard asked sympathetically. “They’d have to wise up to get to stupid.” Warming to his theme, Pound added, “They’ve got their headquarters in the their hindquarters.”"

"“Half of being smart is knowing what you’re not smart at,” Jake said. “Plenty of folks reckon that ’cause they know something, they know everything. And that ain’t the way it works.” “I never said it was,” Goldman answered primly. “Yeah, I know,” Jake said. “You make one.”"

"Quantity had a quality of its own."

"“Did anybody know what a nasty war this would be before they went and started it?” “Does anybody ever?”"

"A rocket can’t be that accurate…can it? But that’s only a wild-ass guess—excuse the technical term."

"I’ve always tried to be a rational man. I don’t have much use for the idea of miracles. Things are what they are, that’s all."

"What did he do for fun? Anything? Poor bastard, Sam thought. Zwilling probably got his kicks telling other people what to do. If that wasn’t a dead-end street, Sam had never seen one."

"Patton stared at him. “Then why doesn’t he throw you in irons, the way you deserve?” “Because he knows I think with my head, not with my heart or my balls,” Potter answered. “It’s really a useful technique. You ought to try it one of these days…sir.”"

"Spend all your time thinkin’ ’bout tomorrow, you ain’t gonna live to git there."

"In war, proving the other guy was wrong often meant proving he had no business breathing."

"Well, what was life but the difference between what you planned and what you got?"

"That was true, but, like a lot of true things, didn’t tell the whole story or even most of it."

"Order did not want to be born; chaos wasn’t ready to die."

"Had optimism run that far ahead of common sense?"

"“Is it better to get shot in a war your side wins than in one where you lose?” O’Doull persisted. “Better not to get shot at all,” McDougald said, a great and obvious truth to which too many people who went down in history as statesmen were blind."

"Only thing worse than fighting a war and winning is fighting a war and losing."

"The difference between what you counted on and what you got explained why so many people had unhappy marriages."

"You volunteered for this, Cincinnatus reminded himself. Were you born stupid, or did you have to study?"

"“Shit!” Pound said, without originality, but with great sincerity."

"The landing craft was as graceful as a fat man waddling along with an anvil. But a fat man lugging an anvil would sink like a stone if he went into the water. The landing craft didn’t. God and the engineers who designed it no doubt knew why it didn’t. Irving Morrell had no idea. He took the notion on faith. Somehow, believing in the landing craft was easier than his Sunday-school lessons had been."

"“I’m not afraid,” Edith said. “God will watch over all of us. I know He’s on our side.” Everybody in every war since the world began was convinced God was on his side. Half the people in every war since the world began ended up being wrong."

"“We’re in a race, and we’d better win.” Eight words. As far as Flora could see, they said everything that needed saying."

"“I’ve given up having suspicions. They end up getting confirmed, and then I’m unhappy,” the medic said. “I don’t like being unhappy. It makes me sad when I am.”"

"“Sinner!” Selfe said again. “Even the Devil can quote Scripture for his purposes.” “No doubt,” Dowling said. “Which of us do you suppose he’s speaking through? And how do you aim to prove it one way or the other?”"

"Reverend Selfe glowered. He was good at glowering. His physiognomy gave him a head start, but he had talent, too."

"“We sure is crazy,” someone would say. “If you ain’t crazy in dis here place, you gots to be nuts.”"

"Cincinnatus Driver hadn’t been under fire for more than twenty-five years. He’d forgotten how much fun it wasn’t."

"Potter knew perfectly well that it was true. He also knew that what was true and what made good propaganda often had not even a nodding acquaintance with each other."

"“Oderint dum metuant,” O’Doull murmured…. “But it means, ‘let them hate, as long as they fear.’” “Three words,” McDougald said admiringly. “Boy, that packs more into three words than anything this side of ‘I love you.’”"

"The difference between bad and worse is a lot bigger than the difference between good and better."

"“You make me wonder about my own country, Spartacus, not just yours.” “Good,” the black man rumbled. “Wonderin’s good. Ain’t nothin’ gonna change till you wonder if it oughta.”"

"The Negro wasn’t wrong. And he understood the difference between deaths and effective deaths. A lot of Great War generals hadn’t—their method for smothering fires was burying them in bodies."

"Life was what you got, not what you expected."

"Chester wasn’t about to commit the sin of optimism. Justifiably or not, he feared it would jinx everything."

"When three men plot, one is a fool and two are government spies."

"When you got past fifty, you had to take care of yourself the way you took care of a motorcar. You’d break down if you didn’t, and replacement parts for your carcass were mighty hard to come by."

"“People keep coming up with new ways to maim their fellow man. I don’t know why I don’t despair of the human race.” “Somebody once said people were the missing link between apes and human beings,” McDougald said wistfully. “Damned if he didn’t hit that one on the button.”"

"Salt Lake City wasn’t hell, but you could see it from there."

"Will anything be left of either side when this war is over? Potter wondered. More and more, it reminded him of a duel of submachine guns at two paces. Both countries could strike better than they could defend."

"Anyone who used a word like obstructions in a sentence was bound to have other things wrong with him, too."

"“We are going to drive the enemy out of Pennsylvania,” the lieutenant said grandly. “What? All by ourselves?” Pound said. Don Griffiths wagged a finger in his face. “I’ve heard about you, Sergeant—don’t think I haven’t,” he said. “You haven’t got the right attitude.” “Probably not, sir,” Pound agreed politely. “I do object to being killed for no good reason.”"

"Second Lieutenant Don Griffiths was typical of the breed. He was young, he didn’t know much, and one of the things he didn’t know was how much he didn’t know."