Your war memories will be with you forever, you'll be asked about them thousands of times after the war is over. People will get their respect for you from that-partly from that, don't get me wrong-but if you can say that you were up front where there was some real shooting going on, then that will mean a whole lot to you in years to come.

I felt that I was not, never had been and never would be a living part of this overpoweringly solid and deeply meaningful world around me.

the scornful force of his tone turned the word into a curse

It was demeaning to scrape affection from virtually everyone you encountered. That was immature.

Peace is indivisible, and the surrounding world confusion found no reflection inside me.

As I said, this was my sarcastic summer. It was only long after that I recognized sarcasm as the protest of people who are weak.

Nothing endures. Not a tree. Not love. Not even death by violence.