The United states has usually prepared for its wars after getting into them

The United states has usually prepared for its wars after getting into them. Never was this more true than the Civil War. the country was less ready for what proved to be its biggest war than for ant other war in history. In early 1861 most of the tiny 16,000-man army was scattered n seventy-nine outposts west of the Mississippi.

J. M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom (1988), 312-13

The only way to make everybody listen was to start a fire in the middle of the room and then identify the location of all the emergency exits

You never got everyone's attention, not if you were the Pope saying mass in St. Peter's Square or Renee Fleming in recital at Carnegie Hall or Czeslaw Milosz reading his poetry in Polish for the very last time. The only way to make everybody listen was to start a fire in the middle of the room and then identify the location of all the emergency exits. Even then, if you took the time to notice, there would always be someone running frantically in the opposite direction. Doyle knew this. Jesse Jackson knew this. But Teddy and Tip, at the ages of twenty and twenty-one respectively, each believed he was the only person there who had drifted off to other things.

A. Patchett, Run, (2007), 37

The beer had been far too inadequate to make them drunk; it made them only moody and reflective

One of the infrequent rations of beer was given out the same night, and the men finished their three cans quickly, and sat around without saying very much,. The beer had been far too inadequate to make them drunk; it made them only moody and reflective, it opened the gate to all their memories, and left them sad, hungering for things they could not name.

N. Mailer, The naked and the dead (1948), 258

Kennington! What a place for a poet to die!

'I wish you had left him in Soho,' he said, with a wave of his long, thin hands. 'There was a touch of romance in that sordid attic. I could even bear it if it were Wapping or Shoreditch, but the respectability of Kennington! What a place for a poet to die!'

W. Somerset Maugham, Of human bondage (1915), 475

Church of England services ... harmless enough compared to murder.

What your grandfather would feel if he knew we had the police in the house - it's enough to make him turn in his grave. A strict Plymouth Brother he was all his life. The fuss there was when he found out I'd been attending Church of England services in the evening! And I'm sure that was harmless enough compared to murder.

A. Christie, A pocket full of rye (1953), 87

Enthusiasm was ill-bred. Enthusiasm was ungentlemanly.

It was Winks who summed up the general impression and put it into a form they all felt was conclusively damning
...

'He's very enthusiastic,' said Winks.

Enthusiasm was ill-bred. Enthusiasm was ungentlemanly. They thought of the Salvation Army wit its braying trumpets and its drums. Enthusiasm meant change. They had goose-flesh when they thought of all the pleasant old habits which stood in imminent danger. They hardly dared to look forward to the future at all.

W. Somerset Maugham, Of human bondage (1925), 65

It had a reputation for few gods and great violence. But good schools

Despite attending a nominally Christian school, I had not yet been inside a church - and I wasn't about to dare the deed now. I knew very little about the religion. It had a reputation for few gods and great violence. But good schools.

Y. Martel, Life of Pi (2002), 51