"He knew that he had screwed up but he was the kind of guy who, after he shoots his mouth off, cannot back down or admit any failing. The world is full of those people. All of us would be better off if their fathers would strangle them as soon as they showed signs of being that way. This particular fool was willing to sacrifice an army rather than admit his error."

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“Rich men have dreams. Poor men die to make them come true.”

“We are not really a godless bunch. We are just the sort who ignore the gods—probably in the unconscious hope that the gods will not notice us.”

“If I had my druthers I’d be twenty-three years old for the rest of my life. Which would last another three thousand years.”

“One’s own yesterday is a ghost that will not be laid. Death is the only exorcism.”

“I have seen it before. Little people have to hate, have to blame someone for their own inadequacies.”

“Exact words were of no consequence. At heart the squabble was as old as humanity itself, fug-headed antiques locking horns with omniscient youth.”

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