Every war is ironic because every war is worse than expected. Every war constitutes an irony of situation because its means are so melodramatically disproportionate to its presumed ends.

Anyone telling about his travels must be a liar, . . . for if a traveler doesn't visit his narrative with the spirit and techniques of fiction, no one will want to hear it.

The wise traveler learns not to repeat successes but tries new places all the time.

I am working on a book urging the beating to death of baby whales using the dead bodies of baby seals.

Chickenshit refers to behavior that makes military life worse than it need be: petty harassment of the weak by the strong; open scrimmage for power and authority and prestige; sadism thinly disguised as necessary discipline; a constant 'paying off of old scores'; and insistence on the letter rather than the spirit of ordinances.

If truth is the main casualty in war, ambiguity is another.

Chickenshit can be recognized instantly because it never has anything to do with winning the war.