Something, or something awful or something wonderful was certain to happen on every day in this part of Africa.

You should only read what is truly good or what is frankly bad.

The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too.

Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene beside the concrete names of villages, the numbers of roads, the names of rivers, the numbers of regiments and the dates.

A girl came in the cafe and sat by herself at a table near the window. She was very pretty with a face fresh as a newly minted coin if they minted coins in smooth flesh with rain-freshened skin, and her hair black as a crow's wing and cut sharply and diagonally across her cheek.

My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.

Never fall in love?" "Always," said the count. "I am always in love.