The fool strikes. The wise man smiles, and watches, and learns. Then strikes.

Names turned over by time, like the plough turning the soil. Bringing up the new while the old were buried in the mud.

You don’t pick your family, you take what you’re given and you make the best of it.

You should laugh every moment you live, for you'll find it decidedly difficult afterwards.

Only it’s just the same. In fact, do you know, because of all that pressure, and worry, and fear, it’s worse. There aren’t many men who think clearest when the stakes are highest. So people are even stupider in a war than the rest of the time. Thinking about how they’ll dodge the blame, or grab the glory, or save their skins, rather than about what will actually work There’s no job that forgives stupidity more than soldiering. No job that encourages it more.

Things aren't what they used to be' is the rallying cry of small minds. When men say things used to be better, they invariably mean they were better for them, because they were young, and had all their hopes intact. The world is bound to look a darker place as you slide into the grave.

Truly, life is the misery we endure between disappointments.