You have to do what you think is the right thing, but just make sure it’s the right thing in the long run, and not just for the moment.

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

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

Stranded in this mill town railroad yard while the whole world was converging elsewhere, we seemed to be nothing but children playing among heroic men.

All of them, all except Phineas, constructed at infinite cost to themselves these Maginot Lines against this enemy they thought they saw across the frontier, this enemy who never attacked that way-if he ever attacked at all; if he was indeed the enemy.

It is a sad day when one looks back and sees that his largest regrets have become some of the most integral elements of his dreams.

Always say some prayers at night because it might turn out that there is a God.