Michael F. Flynn

“He believed because he wanted to believe. And that, too, is madness.”

“What the prisoner said made some sense. He could see how technological progress—and social change with it—was coupled with free trade and the free exchange of ideas. Yet, he wasn’t at all sure that it was necessarily a good thing. There was a lot to be said for stability and continuity.”

“But scouts, he told himself firmly, must observe what is, not what they wish to see.”

“Cigars were for talk; pipes for reflection.”

“Brilliance cannot improvise on faulty data.”

“The stories I have to tell are not for the ears of youngsters. What were the stories, really? A crowd of men charged from the trench. Later, some of them came back. What more was there to say? Once, a long time ago, war had been glamorous, with pageantry and uniforms to shame a peacock. Now it was only necessary, and the uniforms were the color of mud.”