“The appetites of the body were private battles.”
“The belief that life was hard and often its worst battles were fought in private, that it was possible to walk through fear and come out scorched but still breathing.”
“Battles are sometimes won by generals; wars are nearly always won by sergeants and privates.”
“Each of us wages a private battle each day between the grand fantasies we have for ourselves and what actually happens.”
“I see that any materialism in life coarsens the soul, and that the hunger of the body and the appetites of the flesh desecrate always, and often destroy.”
“Their long years together had shown him that it did not so much matter if marriage was a dull duty, as long as it kept the dignity of duty: lapsing from that, it became a mere battle of ugly appetites.”