Anybody who notices unpleasant facts in the have-a-nice-day world we live in is going to be designated a curmudgeon.

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.

To get home you had to end the war. To end the war was the reason you fought it. The only reason.

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

If the guidebook used to be critical, today it seems largely a celebratory adjunct to the publicity operations of hotels, resorts, and even countries.

Travel at its truest is thus an ironic experience.

Understanding the past requires pretending that you don't know the present.