The Forever War

by Joe Haldeman

I would have felt like I would have to be original, even to the detriment of being good.

it keeps speaking to readers outside its time, because what’s in the book touches on something that never goes away, or at the very least keeps coming around.

Surely he had nothing so primitive and unmilitary as a will to live.

Doctors don’t seem to realize that most of us are perfectly content not having to visualize ourselves as animated bags of skin filled with obscene glop.

‘Life,’ she said plaintively, ‘life is …’ ‘Life is a bunch of cells walking around with a common purpose. If that common purpose is to get my ass—’

We were remarkably healthy victims of a terminal disease, trying to cram a lifetime of sensation into a half of a year.

But love, he said, love was a fragile blossom; love was a delicate crystal; love was an unstable reaction with a half-life of about eight months.

It was the cat, who had the usual talent for hiding from people who like cats and cleaving unto those who have sinus trouble or just don’t like sneaky little animals.