“The wounded were crying, and the rest were dying. Jack stood alone in a hallway of mangled men, who had been trained for this”

“And then their voices stopped and their souls stood still and they ceased being who they had been. Because who they were had always been determined by him.”

“Major Major had been born too late and too mediocre. Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major Major it had been all three. Even among men lacking all distinction he inevitably stood out as a man lacking more distinction than all the rest, and people who met him were always impressed by how unimpressive he was.”

“Pain and guilt tore through him. His soul was bleeding to death. He stood there, waiting to die. How could he not? But such wounds were not fatal.”

“Men she knew'? - she had conceded vaguely to herself that all men who had ever been in love with her were her friends.”

“The ferocious virtues that had been necessary for survival on the American frontier were theirs: they were men who lived freely, wastefully, independently, and they lived by killing--animals as a rule, men if necessary.”