“So I guess maybe that’ll be the next step in evolution – to break clean like those first amphibians who crawled out of the mud into the sunshine, and who never did go back to the sea.”

“As I crawled out of the abyss of combat and over the rail of the Sea Runner, I realized that compassion for the sufferings of others is a burden to those who have it. As Wilfred Owen's poem "Insensibility" puts it so well, those who feel most of others suffer most in war.”

“I don't get it. Why are many people drawn to someone who's hurt them? Maybe it's an ego thing- being hurt sucks, and you think you can erase that hurt by going back to the person who caused it. Then it will be like it never happened in the first place. Only problem is that it did happen.”

“So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them.”

“Then I'd crawl back into bed, smelling her all around me, and tell myself that next time, I would lock that window. But I never did.”

“Maybe I will go to Paris. Who knows? But I’ll sure as hell never Go back to Texas again”