“It is because the children of the empire were not suckled by wolves that they were conquered & displaced by the children of the northern forests who were.”

“Now Preacher might manage a bar and hang out with men primarily, but he was unaccustomed to fathers who pushed their children out of sight. Rudely, at that. In his crowd, families were appreciated. Most of his friends were married with children, and the children were a part of everything. The women were nearly worshiped.”

“How strange was the relation between parents and children! When they were small the parents doted on them, passed through agonies of apprehension at each childish ailment, and the children clung to their parents with love and adoration; a few years passed, the children grew up, and persons not of their kin were more important to their happiness than father or mother. Indifference displaced the blind and instinctive love of the past. Their meetings were a source of boredom and irritation. Distracted once at the thought of a month's separation they were able now to look forward with equanimity to being parted for years.”

“They were with their mother, and so they were acting like children.”

“Probably these children were not demonic. Possibly they were quite typical. But collectively, they were hell.”

“People who get nostalgic about childhood were obviously never children.”