There is a level of cowardice lower than that of the conformist: the fashionable non-conformist.

He walked, groping for a sentence that hung in his mind as an empty shape. He could neither fill it or dismiss it.

The fight we are in here, make no mistake about it, is a fight of individualism versus collectivism.

A leash is a rope with a noose at both ends.

and he said her name to fill the space of five years.

It only stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master.

Everything has strings leading to everything else. We're all so tied together. We're all in a net, the net is waiting, and we're pushed into it by one single desire. You want a thing and it's precious to you. Do you know who is standing ready to tear it out of your hands? You can't know, it may be so involved and so far away, but someone is ready, and you're afraid of them all. And you cringe and you crawl and you beg and you accept them--just so they'll let you keep it. And look at whom you come to accept.