“Something must be left to chance; nothing is sure in a sea fight above all.”

“In order to know men, something must be chanced. Who risks himself of nothing knows nothing.”

“The world is a sea in which we all must surely drown.”

“I was running from one problem or place to another, with no time left to study, or sleep, or just breathe. I felt pulled in all directions, fighting to keep all these obligations circling in the air above me. It was only a matter of time before something fell.”

“If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight, even though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result in victory, then you must not fight even at the ruler's bidding.”

“We must have perserverence and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something.”

“We must fight our way to victory on a sea of blood and a horizon of fire.”

“You must write for yourself, above all. That is your only hope of creating something beautiful.”

“…this is a story and, therefore, "something must happen", "something" bad, "something" that breaks your safe journey towards the bookstore and, surely, towards "love", because love is the last refuge left in my head or in the depths of any fucking soul.”

“We left our element, the sea, to make ourselves into a conscript nation fighting on the Continent with four million soldiers out of a population of forty millions.”