John Mccullough

“The demons of critical path analysis swarmed around his brain. There was always something that you had to do before you could do the thing you wanted to do and even then you might get it wrong.”
― Terry Pratchett, Raising Steam

“I suspect most copies were used to wipe arses or light fires.”
― Bernard Cornwell, War of the Wolf

“One day, Harry Anslinger was told that there were also white women, just as famous as Billie, who had drug problems—but he responded to them rather differently. He called Judy Garland, another heroin addict, in to see him. They had a friendly chat, in which he advised her to take longer vacations between pictures, and he wrote to her studio, assuring them she didn’t have a drug problem at all. When he discovered that a Washington society hostess he knew—“a beautiful, gracious lady,” he noted—had an illegal drug addiction, he explained he couldn’t possibly arrest her because “it would destroy . . . the unblemished reputation of one of the nation’s most honored families.” He helped her to wean herself off her addiction slowly, without the law becoming involved.”
― Johann Hari, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs

“The fragrance of the wildflowers was no longer sweet. After years of fighting, and often soaked by rain, their once handsome uniforms, immaculate when the soldiers had posed for studio portraits or during private farewells, were now tarnished with a noxious layer of perspiration, campfire smoke and cordite. The blood spatters, some from their comrades, some from the enemy, had become ingrained in the fabric and were now indiscernible from the overall grime.”
― Colin Baldwin, A Soldier's Quartet