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Even at this distance Worth’s long groan could be heard, followed by some explosive farting. ‘Trooper Worth is fighting his first engagement with our real enemy out here. An implacable, merciless, liquid foe.’ He
‘Sooner or later, I’ve no doubt, you will all be called upon to fight your own battle of the latrines. Courage, boys, courage. Now, while we wait for Worth to force out the enemy or die bravely in the attempt, would any of you boys care for a friendly game of cards?’
Savour the little moments, son, that’s my advice. They’re what life is. All the things that happen while you’re waiting for something else.
When you’re planning what to do, always think of doing nothing first, see where that gets you.
Perhaps that was the moment you grew up, when you learned your parents were just as fallible as everyone else.
It is easy to forget how much you have, when your eyes are always fixed on what you have not.
‘You can’t say that civilisation don’t advance, however, for in every war they kill you in a new way’
That’s what war does. Strips people and places of their identities and turns them into enemies in a line, positions to be taken, resources to be foraged. Anonymous things that can be carelessly crushed, and stolen, and burned without guilt. War is hell, and all that. But full of opportunities.
‘The path of progress is ever a crooked one.’
it seems to me a man can do an awful lot of evil in no time at all. Swing of a blade is all it takes. Doing good needs time. And all manner of complicated efforts. Most men don’t have the patience for it. ’Specially not these days.’
A meeting of champions! All gritted teeth and clenched buttocks! All glorious lives, glorious deaths and glorious … glory?
‘The truth is like salt. Men want to taste a little, but too much makes everyone sick.’
Being in charge can seem like a thing iron-forged, but in the end it’s just an idea everyone agrees to.
loyalty’s a dangerous foundation. Tends to wash away in a storm. Self-interest stands in any weather.’
