1
Life took longer to reassemble than it did to blow apart, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be lovely, providing that one remembered to go for country walks, and to tune the wireless to music.Chris Cleave
2
One could always imagine that one's life, though smoldering in parts, might be undamaged in the west.Chris Cleave
3
One could always imagine that one's life, though smoldering parts, might be undamaged in the west." "We also serve who live with grace." "If there had been more time, or less, it all would have been easier. If its an hour one can say what one likes. If it's a year, one can be what one is like. A day is exactly the wrong lenght of time to be oneself in, don't you think?" "In the end I suppose we lay flowers on a grave because we cannot lay ourselves on it." "The dead were filthy, half buried, sometimes barely distinguishable from the mud or the rubble they lay in. One didn't understand, until one had seen a great many bodies, the unconscious effort that one must be making every minute simply to keep one's hands and face and clothes clean. The world's surfaces were so filthy that the living touched them only with the tips of their fingers and the soles of their shoes. How grubby it was to die, to give up making that effort." Life took longer to reassemble than it did to blow apart, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be lovely, providing that one remembered to go for country walks, and to tune the wireless to music. .Chris Cleave
4
But what good is it to teach a child to count, if you don't show him that he counts for something?Chris Cleave
5
Sorry. But it isn’t for us to change how things are. I’m just an administrator. You’re just a teacher.”“ Oh, I hope I don’t teach. Because look what we did: we saved the zoo animals and the nice children and we damned the afflicted and the blacks. You know what I do every day in that classroom? I do everything in my power to make sure those poor souls won’t learn the obvious lesson.”“ If I were you, ” said Tom, “I should stick to reading, writing and arithmetic.”“ But what good is it to teach a child to count, if you don’t show him that he counts for something? .Chris Cleave
6
They spoke of small things at first, since it was best, when reattaching threads, to begin with the easiest knots.Chris Cleave
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People spoke in whispers, as if the war was listeningChris Cleave
8
She knew, now, why her father had not spoken of the last war, nor Alistair of his. It was hardly fair on the living.Chris Cleave
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I suppose we ought to be getting home, in any case.”“ Oh god, is it wartime already?”“ Look on the bright side: it’ll be dinner when we get back.Chris Cleave
10
The first problem of war was that no one was any good at it yet.Chris Cleave
11
Her mother set to with the hairbrush again. “But would that be so awful, darling? To be the prettiest thing in Brimscombe-and-Thrupp?”“I should rather die.”“ You nearly did.”“ Yes, but I tend to blame the Germans.Chris Cleave
12
Then I’m tempted to die just to … spite him.”“ That’s the spirit that will win us the war.Chris Cleave
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There in the sweet sacking smell of the mail bags he understood that he was dying, and it pleased him that he was going in the company of so many soft words home.Chris Cleave
14
Everything can be restored. If one won't believe that, how does one endure all this?Chris Cleave
15
One didn't understand, until one had seen a great many bodies, the unconscious effort that one must be making every minute simply to keep one's hands and face and clothes clean. The world's surfaces were so filthy that the living touched them only with the tips of their fingers and the soles of their shoes. How grubby it was to die, to give up making that effort.Chris Cleave
16
This helpful war. It makes us better people and then it tries to kill us.Chris Cleave
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There was less of him now. There was less of them all. Officers and men dragged themselves around in uniforms three sizes too big, new holes punched into every belt, every collar hanging loose. They were a garrison of skinny boys performing a play about soldiers.Chris Cleave
18
Alistair smiled. 'How long this war has been.'' I'll say. One hardly remembers how we lived before. Lightly - not worrying much.'' Do you suppose we shall ever live that way again?'' Oh, who knows? Given sufficient champagne and ether.'' Maybe if we stay drunk to the end of our days we shan't remember.Chris Cleave
19
I move we get more wine, ' Alistair said. 'What does the panel think?'... It was obvious that the entire war could be solved in this way. The trick would be to reach for a corkscrew instead, every time some brass hat ordered artillery.Chris Cleave
20
You are a mousetrap of a friend, all soft cheese and hard springsChris Cleave
21
What is the good of influence if one can only use it on strangers?Chris Cleave
22
The true moments of one's life were sadder for the fact that they must always be synchronized with the ordinary: with rail timetables, with breaks in traffic.Chris Cleave
23
Mary leaned back, exhaled, and watched her smoke rise. 'What sort of man do you want anyway?'" Tall. Funny. Never came top of his class or pulled the wings off bees."" Yes, but I mean really? When all of this is over, and assuming we win -" ...Hilda snorted. "(I) just want a tall man and a stiff drink. You could even swap the adjectives.Chris Cleave
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I understand that your brain is large and perpetually at war with itselfChris Cleave
25
After the war of course it will be like the start of spring, which is always so brilliantly sudden. The leaves will burst back onto the trees and close the gaps between the branches and we shall be startled - shan't we? - s we are startled at the end of every winter. We shall think: oh, I had quite forgotten there were three livable seasons.Chris Cleave