We do not abandon ship. I say, as corny as it may sound, through the strength and spirit and fire and dare and gamble of a few men in a few ways we can save the carcass of humanity from drowning. No light goes out until it goes out. Let's fight as men, not rats. Period. No further addition.

To experience real agony is something hard to write about, impossible to understand while it grips you; you're frightened out of your wits, can’t sit still, move, or even go decently insane.

If you want to know who your friends are, get yourself a jail sentence.

the tigers have found me and I do not care.

They swallow God without thinking, they swallow country without thinking. Soon they forget how to think, they let others think for them.

and getting dressed we talk about what else there might be to do, but being together solves most of it, in fact, solves all of it

The blankets had fallen off and I stared down at her white back, the shoulder blades sticking out as if they wanted to grow into wings, poke through that skin. Little blades. She was helpless.