“Each one's no longer consciousOf the high wall, or the rest:Since the one enduring fortress,Is the soldier's iron breast.If you’d live unconquered,Quickly arm, and fight the real foe:Every wife an Amazon bred,And every child a hero.”

“Every decision you make can change the world. The best life is the one the gods don't notice. You want to live free, boy, live quietly.""I want to be a soldier. A hero.""You'll grow out of it.”

“To live is to hold your child, your own flesh, your very blood, in your arms. To see her smile and wrap five tiny fingers around just one of yours. To live is to hold your wife close to you as you lie in bed and listen to her breathe -- to fall asleep, one against the other, fitted as if you were made for each other, and then awaked in the dawn when she turns to you and whispers your name. To live is to walk your land, knowing every tree and footpath and foxhole, and come home to the smell of a pot of stew, boiling over the fire. Home, wife, children. That is what it is to live.”

“One mark of a great soldier is that he fight on his own terms or fights not at all.”

“A hero is one who knows how to hang on one minute longer.”

“The love of a man for his wife, his child, of the land where he lives and works, is for me the real meaning of mystical experience.”