“I inherited this country when I was only a child, Nahuseresh. I have held it. I have fought down rebellious barons. I've fought Sounis to keep the land on this side of the mountains. I have killed men and watched them hang. I've seen them tortured to keep this country safe and mine. How did you think I did this if I was a fool with cow eyes for any handsome man with gold in his purse?”

“Don't you understand anything?" He shook her. "It never mattered what you are, or what I should have done. Not since the very beginning. I fought my own uncle to keep you safe. I've fought my own people. I have no intention of letting the demon have you now. You're mine.”

“Coyotes move within a landscape of attentiveness. I have seen their eyes in the creosote bushes and among mesquite trees. They have watched me. And all the times that I saw no eyes, that I kept walking and never knew, there were still coyotes. When I have seen them trot away, when I have stepped from the floorboard of my truck, leaned on the door, and watched them as they watched me over their shoulders, I have been aware for that moment of how much more there is. Of how I have only seen only an instant of a broad and rich life.”

“(this I wrote for our troops, amazing men & women serving our country - sometimes with great sacrifice.)Owen’s OwnHis girls were his world,He built his life around them.Their laughs,Their smiles,Their tears,Their sorrows;He fought for it all.Thousands of miles away,Day after day,He fought to keep them safe,Keep them from harm,But being gone, he could do it all.They weren’t hurt, his girls,But they weren’t safe anymore.Finally he could come homeAnd truly protect his own.”

“did anybody ever come back from the dead any single one of the millions who got killed did any one of them ever come back and say by god i'm glad i'm dead because death is always better than dishonor? did they say i'm glad i died to make the world safe for democracy? did they say i like death better than losing liberty? did any of them ever say it's good to think i got my guts blown out for the honor of my country? did any of them ever say look at me i'm dead but i died for decency and that's better than being alive? did any of them ever say here i am i've been rotting for two years in a foreign grave but it's wonderful to die for your native land? did any of them say hurray i died for womanhood and i'm happy see how i sing even though my mouth is choked with worms?”

“..I've been trying to argue myself into thinking these things don't matter, A. Really,I have. But I've lost the argument. And I can't keep having it, when I know what the real answer is.”