Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"Gender is irrelevant whenever I admire something. I like what I like and if I can afford something, I buy it." -- Bryan Boy, as quoted in "The Next Level | Boys With Birkins" by Elizabeth Spiridakis, The Moment (NY Times blog), 2009-02-05 [thanks to sodyera for pointing out the article]

"To be honest, he was sick and tired of the war. Sure, the Throne, the Motherland and all that... but the generals kept doing things whose stupidity was obvious even to a sergeant. One needed no time in a military academy to understand that; the common sense of a craftsman (so he thought) was quite enough. For example, after the rout at Pelennor his scouting company was assigned, among other units that could still fight, to cover the retreat (the headlong flight, rather) of the main forces. His scouts were told to make their stand without long spears in the middle of a plain, and the elite rangers, each with at least two dozen successful missions in enemy territory under his belt, died senselessly under the hoofs of Rohan cavalry, who did not even have time to see who they were trampling.

"Tzerlag decided then that nothing could help the generals; to hell with them and this war!"

-- from The Last Ring-Bearer by Kirill Yeskov, English translation by Yisroel Markov ( ymarkov) [thanks to amethysta for linking to it]