You tell a man the truth about himself and, well, they find they have trouble accepting it.
Patrick NessWar is like a monster," he says, almost to himself. "War is the devil. It starts and it consumes and it grows and grows and grows." He's looking at me now. "And otherwise normal men become monsters, too.
Patrick NessIf a crowd can flinch, they flinch. More than a thousand men flinch under the fist of just one. I don't see what the women do.
Patrick NessCept for Ben, who I canโt describe much further without seeming soft and stupid and like a boy, so I wonโt, just to say that I never knew my pa, but if you woke up one day and had a choice of picking one from a selecshun, if someone said, here, then, boy, pick who you want, then Ben wouldnโt be the worst choice you could make that morning.
Patrick Ness