A Separate Peace

by John Knowles

Because, unfamiliar with the absence of fear and what that was like, I had not been able to identify its presence.

It was quite a compliment to me, as a matter of fact, to have such a person choose me for his best friend.

It was an insult to the class, and Finny had tremendous loyalty to the class, as he did to any group he belonged to, beginning with him and me and radiating outward past the limits of humanity toward spirits and clouds and stars.

“Don’t be stupid. I wouldn’t waste my time on anything like that.” “You never waste your time. That’s why I have to do it for you.”

I wanted to break out crying from stabs of hopeless joy, or intolerable promise, or because these mornings were too full of beauty for me, because I knew of too much hate to be contained in a world like this.