But if you didn't have more urgent things to do after supper [in boot camp], you could write a letter, loaf, gossip, discuss the myriad mental shortcomings of sergeants and, dearest of all, talk about the female of the species (we became convinced that there was no such creatures, just mythology created by inflamed imaginations - one boy in our company claimed to have seen a girl, over at regimental headquarters; he was unanimously judged a liar and a braggart).

Gratitude is a euphemism for resentment.

Each man is his own prisoner, in solitary confinement for life.

Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. How's that again? I missed something.

His older self had taught his younger self a language which the older self knew because the younger self, after being taught, grew up to be the older self and was, therefore, capable of teaching.

Some people insist that "mediocre" is better than "best." They delight in clipping wings because they themselves can't fly. They despise brains because they have none.

Nursing does not diminish the beauty of a woman's breasts; it enhances their charm by making them look lived in and happy.