The men loved jokes, though they had heard each one before. Jack's manner was persuasive; few of them had seen the old stories so well delivered. Jack himeself laughed a little, but he was able to see the effect his performance had on his audience. The noise of their laughter roared like the sea in his ears. He wanted it louder and louder; he wanted them to drown out the war with their laughter. If the could should loud enough, they might bring the world back to its senses; they might laugh loud enough to raise the dead.

It's only after the change is fully formed that you can see what's happened.

I suppose that each of us may have a great moment in our life, a month, a week a year, when we are most fully what we are meant to be

Inhale and hold the evening in your lungs.

I don't like being rumbled, I like to be invisible.

A bit of the vagueness of music stops you going completely mad, I imagine.

You can't recall someone whose name has worn away.