“...the very, very old fae tended to go through an unhealthy stage of boredom that was often followed by a period of ‘goin’ doololly.”

“But there's time yet. The old women of the tribe have almost always been the wiser. If they keep their marbles long enough. Old men forget--or tend to reminisce, and reminisce falsely and sententiously as a rule. We are often very silly in our middle years but we tend to improve”

“The very young and the very old often saw what others could not. Or would not.”

“...this protracted war will pass through three stages. The first stage covers the period of the enemy's strategic offensive and our strategic defensive. The second stage will be the period of the enemy's strategic consolidation and our preparation for the counter-offensive. The third stage will be the period of our strategic counter-offensive and the enemy's strategic retreat.”

“I think I was very often bored as a child, but boredom is not what I knew it as—what I knew was that I worried a lot”

“War is sometimes described as long periods of boredom punctuated by short moments of excitement. History is often similar, if rather safer.”