“You mentioned . . . one of the two great labyrinths into which the mind is drawn. What . . . is the other?""The other is the composition of the continuum, or: what is space?”

“This is one of the two great labyrinths into which human minds are drawn: the question of free will versus predestination.”

“If you sincerely believed in God, how could you form one thought, speak one sentence, without mentioning Him?”

“This "sir, yes sir" business, which would probably sound like horseshit to any civilian in his right mind, makes sense to Shaftoe and to the officers in a deep and important way. Like a lot of others, Shaftoe had trouble with military etiquette at first. He soaked up quite a bit of it growing up in a military family, but living the life was a different matter. Having now experienced all the phases of military existence except for the terminal ones (violent death, court-martial, retirement), he has come to understand the culture for what it is: a system of etiquette within which it becomes possible for groups of men to live together for years, travel to the ends of the earth, and do all kinds of incredibly weird shit without killing each other or completely losing their minds in the process. The extreme formality with which he addresses these officers carries an important subtext: your problem, sir, is deciding what you want me to do, and my problem, sir, is doing it. My gung-ho posture says that once you give the order I'm not going to bother you with any of the details--and your half of the bargain is you had better stay on your side of the line, sir, and not bother me with any of the chickenshit politics that you have to deal with for a living. The implied responsibility placed upon the officer's shoulders by the subordinate's unhesitating willingness to follow orders is a withering burden to any officer with half a brain, and Shaftoe has more than once seen seasoned noncoms reduce green lieutenants to quivering blobs simply by standing before them and agreeing, cheerfully, to carry out their orders.”

“But what little I’d heard had left me amazed by how clever people were at finding ways to make each other crazy and miserable.”

“There followed one of those comical interludes in which the jihadists were confused about what to do next and fell to bitter recriminations.”

“Which path do you intend to take, Nell?' said the Constable, sounding very interested. 'Conformity or rebellion?'Neither one. Both ways are simple-minded - they are only for people who cannot cope with contradiction and ambiguity.”