“He possessed an extra vigor, a heightened confidence in himself, a serene capacity for affection which saved him. Nothing as he was growing up at home, nothing at Devon, nothing even about the war had broken his harmonious and natural unity. So at last I had.”

Gene, on Finny's strength.
Source: A Separate Peace (1959), P. 194-195

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John Knowles11

American novelist 1926–2001

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Note to Stanza 27
Spiritual Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom, Notes to the Stanzas
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On Stanley Baldwin, as cited in Churchill by Himself (2008), Ed. Langworth, PublicAffairs, p. 322 ISBN 1586486381 <br class="br">Also quoted by Kay Halle in Irrepressible Churchill: A Treasury of Winston Churchill's Wit http://books.google.com/books?id=b0MTAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Occasionally+he+stumbled+over+the+truth+but+hastily+picked+himself+up+and+hurried+on+as+if+nothing+had+happened%22&pg=PA133#v=onepage (1966). <br class="br">The 1930s <br class="br">Variant: Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.

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“He possessed an extra vigor, a heightened confidence in himself, a serene capacity for affection which saved him. Nothing as he was growing up at home, nothing at Devon, nothing even about the war had broken his harmonious and natural unity. So at last I had.”

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John Knowles11

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