Hannah

“He struggled to answer. Should he lie? He remembered his father’s voice, something he’d heard more than once. Don’t ever lie, boy. Do and you’ll just have to tell another lie to cover that one up. And before long you gonna need more lies than you’re smart enough to think up.”
― Alfred Nicols, Lost Love's Return

“Elizabeth had given him a convincing lesson in an ageless and immutable truth: aphrodisiacs will ever be sought; aphrodisiacs will ever be touted; but there will never be an aphrodisiac with the innate power of the right woman’s love.”
― Alfred Nicols, Lost Love's Return

“His voice had a tremor in it, a tone of anguish. “I don’t even know how many I’ve done killed . . . least five or six. . . maybe more’n that . . . and I never wanted to kill nobody. Nobody.”
“Peter, you couldn’t help it. You did what you had to do, because you are a soldier, and this is a war, an awful, senseless, bloody war. When soldiers fight a war, they kill people. Because that is war.”
“But I’ll always wonder if they was just like me; they didn’t want to kill nobody neither. Somebody made them think killing me was their duty, and all . . . that them German fellas I killed was just fellas like me, not knowing what they was doing . . .just doing what they thought they was expected to do. Like I was.”
“Peter, the Germans started this awful war. They deserved what they
got. You have nothing to feel bad about.”
“You think them German fellas I killed knew who started it?” Elizabeth wasn’t sure how to take the question. Was it an expression of cynical doubt . . . or sincere hope?”
― Alfred Nicols, Lost Love's Return

“Peter gave Casey a stern but loving look. “Son, you know that Golden Rule?'
Casey did, but it was Carrie who articulated it.
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” she said, slowly and softly, but with confidence. The Golden Rule was the cornerstone of Peterism, something he wanted them to think more about.”
― Alfred Nicols, Lost Love's Return