“I was the only person in the world who thought it was a military duty to appear to be in a good mood.”

“It always shocked me when I realized that I wasn’t the only person in the world who thought and felt such strange and awful things.”

“And like the old soldier in that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the sight to see that duty.”

“In stating these matters, I speak an open and disinterested language, dictated by no passion but that of humanity. To me, who have not only refused offers, because I thought them improper, but have declined rewards I might with reputation have accepted, it is no wonder that meanness and imposition appear disgustful. Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.”

“Outside, the world had become a formless, swirling mist with noshapes or shadows behind it, while the house itself seemed tohave twisted and stretched. It appeared to Coraline that it wascrouching and staring down at her, as if it were not really ahouse but only the idea of a house—and the person who hadhad the idea, she was certain, was not a good person.”

“The first duty of the sovereign [is] that of protecting the society from the violence and invasion of other independent societies, [which] can be performed only by means of a military force”