And I have tried to forget him, I have tried to convince myself that it was just one of those things, but it’s difficult to do that when my body is standing here, eight feet deep in the earth of northern France, while my heart remains by a stream in a clearing in England where I left it weeks ago.

(J)ust because your version of normal isn't the same as someone else's version doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with you.

War today is such a more visible thing. We see it on television, on CNN. In 1914, war was a concept.

I like the idea of standalone novels. I always found with series of books, it's something that publishers love obviously because they can make a lot of money and they build an audience from book to book, but I don't like that as a writer. I prefer the idea of just telling a story, completing it within your book, and moving on and not forcing a child to read eight of them.

There is cruelty in the world Eliza, you can see that, can't you? It surrounds us. It breathes on us. We spend our life trying to escape it.

The dot that became a speck that became a blob that became a figure that became a boy

Don't make it worse by thinking it's more painful than it actually is.