Another person's life, observed from the outside, always has a shape and definition that one's own life lacks.

Pat Barker


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It's the hardest thing in the world to go on being aware of someone else's pain.

Pat Barker

Tags: pain empathy



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I don't think it's possible to c-call yourself a C-Christian and... and j-just leave out the awkward bits.' -Wilfred Owen

Pat Barker

Tags: christianity religion



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The way I see it, when you put the uniform on, in effect you sign a contract. And you don't back out of a contract merely because you've changed your mind. You can still speak up for your principles, you can still argue against the ones you're being made to fight for, but in the end you do the job.

Pat Barker

Tags: war duty rebellion



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The sky darkened, the air grew colder, but he didn't mind. It didn't occur to him to move. This was the right place. This was where he had wanted to be.

Pat Barker

Tags: war satisfaction



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Sometimes, in the trenches, you get the sense of something, ancient. One trench we held, it had skulls in the side, embedded, like mushrooms. It was actually easier to believe they were men from Marlborough's army, than to think they'd been alive a year ago. It was as if all the other wars had distilled themselves into this war, and that made it something you almost can't challenge. It's like a very deep voice, saying; 'Run along, little man, be glad you've survived

Pat Barker


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...the white bowl of the street began to fill with darkness, from the pavement upwards, like somebody pouring tea into a cup.

Pat Barker


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Ghosts everywhere. Even the living were only ghosts in the making. You learned to ration your commitment to them. This moment in this tent already had the quality of remembered experience. Or perhaps he was simply getting old. But then, after all, in trench time he was old. A generation lasted six months, less than that on the Somme, barely twelve weeks.

Pat Barker


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We are Craiglockhart's success stories. Look at us. We don't remember, we don't feel, we don't think - at least beyond the confines of what's needed to do the job. By any proper civilized standard (but what does that mean now?) we are objects of horror. But our nerves are completely steady. And we are still alive.

Pat Barker

Tags: war mental-illness trauma hospitals ptsd



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Murder is only killing in the wrong place.

Pat Barker

Tags: humour satire macabre



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