“A tearing thrusts this vacant heart Brutal agony does prevail. Incessantly battling for Victory’s love, Its resolute intents to no avail . . . But this singular army will not retreat, It is obligated by penance- Ravenous for Her emotional defeat.”

“But will I always love her? Does my love for her reside in my head or my heart? The scientist in her believed that emotion resulted from complex limbic brain circuitry that was for her, at this very moment, trapped in the trenches of a battle in which there would be no survivors. The mother in her believed that the love she hadd for her daughter was safe from the mayhem in her mind, because it lived in her heart.”

“At the beginning of a campaign it is important to consider whether or not to move forward; but when one has taken the offensive it is necessary to maintain it to the last extremity. However skilfully effected a retreat may be, it always lessens the morale of an army, since in losing the chances of success, they are remitted to the enemy. A retreat, moreover, costs much more in men and materials than the bloodiest engagements, with this difference, also, that in a battle the enemy loses practically as much as you do; while in a retreat you lose and he does not.”

“Love, he thought as he held her to his heart, was an agony beyond compare.”

“To die in a battle is often referred to as a heroic act, but I will never understand that. What glory is there in bleeding to death in agony on the battlefield? I have no intention of dying at the hands of my enemy.”

“Sorrow is not a raven perched persistently above a chamber door. Sorrow is a thing with teeth, and while in time it retreats, it comes back at the whisper of it's name.”