It makes sense for people who are good at fighting to go out and do it-because if they're good at it, that means the fewest number of other people die.

We're none of us quite so sure of our place in the world that we can't be rocked off our feet by bad times. It's the getting back up again that counts. Not that you fall, but getting back up again counts for more in the long run.

A book's alright when the weather's foul and there's nothing else to do, but why sit and read when the wind is calling your name?

You jackass. We're all going to die here. You know that, right?' Harrier said. Yeah," Eugens said shakily. '...Guess I might as well die here with you as out on the desert with a bunch of other jackasses.

It's just as easy to be lonely in a city as out in the wilderness. Easier, really. It's harder to get to know someone when you meet in a crowded place. People can freely ignore you in the city; they can assume they don't have any responsibility for you. When there are fewer people, (...) they begin assuming some kind of responsibility, simply because you naturally do the same.

...Though drowned was just as dead as any other way of dying.

It's only gossip if you repeat it. Until then, it's gathering information.