“I wondered vaguely if this was when it would end, whether I would pull...” — William Manchester Quote

“I wondered vaguely if this was when it would end, whether I would pull up tonight's darkness like a quilt and be dead and at peace evermore.”

“He was a great thundering paradox of a man.”

“As she sallied forth from her boudoir, you would never have guessed how quickly she could strip for action.”

“An Edwardian lady in full dress was a wonder to behold, and her preparations for viewing were awesome.”

“Men do not fight for flag or country, for the Marine Corps or glory or any other abstraction. They fight for one another. And if you came through this ordeal, you would age with dignity.”

“Japanese naval officers in dress whites are frequent guests at Pearl Harbor's officers' mess and are very polite. They always were. Except, of course, for that little interval there between 1941 and 1945.”

“I have this JPM thing: jokes per minute. I've worked out that I should get in about 12 punchlines in five minutes. I need them all. It's like when you walk down a road, if there's a lamp post that's out, it's fine if you can see the next one's alight, but if there's two out, that's a period of frightening darkness.”

“I like to write about the moment of light in the hour of darkness.”

“You know, I've read Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' about fifteen times.”

“It is like visiting one's funeral, like visiting loss in its purest and most monumental form, this wild darkness, which is not only unknown but which one cannot enter as oneself.”

“I love a little darkness at the table with just enough light from IKEA white candlesticks. Seriously! They look elegant but are simple and unscented and create mood lighting.”

“We made it known that we were trying to show the reality of France. People think of Paris as the city of love or the city of light, but where you got love you got hate, where you got light you got darkness.”