“Christ--the quickest way to send a bloke mad is to let him go on re-fighting his war till he gets it right.”

“The oceans never stop. They know no beginning or end. The wind never finishes. Sometimes it disappears, but only to gather momentum from somewhere else, returning to fling itself at the island, to make a point which is lost on Tom.”

“I can leave myself to rot in the past, spend my time hating people for what happened, like my father did, or I can forgive and forget.""But it's not that easy."He smiled that Frank smile. "Oh, but my treasure, it is so much less exhausting. You only have to forgive once. To resent, you have to do it all day, every day. You have to keep remembering all the bad things...”

“You've had so much strife but you're always happy. How do you do it? " "I choose to," he said. "I can leave myself to rot in the past, spend my time hating people for what happened...or I can forgive and forget... You only have to forgive once. To resent, you have to do it all day, every day. You have to keep remembering all the bad things.”

“It is so much less exhausting. You only have to forgive once. To resent, you have to do it all day, every day. You have to keep remembering all the bad things ... I would have to make a list, a very, very long list and make sure I hated the people on it the right amount ... No ... we always have a choice. All of us.”

“We can't rightly ever talk about the future, if you think about it. We can only talk about what we imagine or wish for. It's not the same thing.”

“This focusing outward...painful as it was, saved her from a more intolerable examination.”

“It is a luxury to do something that serves no practical purpose: the luxury of civilization.”

“Then he remembered Ralph's words--"no point in fighting your war over and over until you get it right.”

“That's how life goes on - protected by the silence that anesthetizes shame.”

“Being over there changes a man. Right and wrong don't look so different anymore to some.”