“This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.”

“People who have faith in life are like swimmers who entrust themselves to a rushing river. They neither abandon themselves to its current nor try to resist it. Rather, they adjust their every movement to the watercourse, use it with purpose and skill, and enjoy the adventure.”

“There are two kinds of adventurers: those who go truly hoping to find adventure and those who go secretly hoping they won't.”

“To all those who lead monotonous lives in the hope that they may experience at second hand the delights and dangers of adventure.[author's dedication]”

“There are but two types of men who desire war: those who haven’t the slightest intention of fighting it themselves, and those who haven’t the slightest idea what it is. … Any man who has seen the face of death knows better than to seek him out a second time.”

“Those who are afraid of what comes after death because it is unknown may tend to be those who cannot face the unknown in life.”