It seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and their special stupidities, but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart

This was the tree, and it seemed to me standing there to resemble those men, the giants of your childhood, whom you encounter years later and find that they are not merely smaller in relation to your growth, but they are absolutely smaller, shrunken by age. In this double demotion the old giants have become pygmies while you were looking the other way.

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.

Never say you are five feet nine when you are five feet eight and a half" was the first one I encountered. Another was, "Always say some prayers at night because it might turn out that there is a God.

I knew that part of friendship consisted in accepting a friend’s shortcomings, which sometimes included his parents.

It seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and their special stupidities, but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart

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.