Best Separate Peace Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“Is America becoming decadent? Do we no longer regard our promises and pledges as sacred? ... We promised to make peace with Germany only in conjunction with the Allies; but we brought forward a separate peace, demanding for ourselves all the advantages of the Treaty of Versailles but rejecting all the responsibilities embodied in the Treaty. It was America's President who induced Europe to form a League of Nations; and then America was the first country that refused to joint it.... If these are not the symptoms of national decadency, what are they?”

Source: Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder

“You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.”

“This was the tree, and it seemed to me standing there to resemble those men, the giants of your childhood, whom you encounter years later and find that they are not merely smaller in relation to your growth, but they are absolutely smaller, shrunken by age. In this double demotion the old giants have become pygmies while you were looking the other way.”

Men Way Years Age Peace Growth Tree Childhood Standing Relation Giants Encounters Standing There Separate Peace Demotion

Book:A Separate Peace

Source: A Separate Peace

“Nothing endures. Not a tree. Not love. Not even death by violence.”

Violence Tree Endure Separate Peace

Book:A Separate Peace

Source: A Separate Peace

“Looking back now across fifteen years I could see with great clarity the fear I had lived in, which must mean that in the interval I had succeeded in a very important undertaking: I must have made my escape from it.”

Years Mean Made Important Clarity Fifteen Looking Back Undertakings Intervals Fifteen Years Separate Peace

Book:A Separate Peace

Source: A Separate Peace

“I felt that I was not, never had been and never would be a living part of this overpoweringly solid and deeply meaningful world around me.”

World Would Be Felt Meaningful Separate Peace

Book:A Separate Peace

Source: A Separate Peace

“All of them, all except Phineas, constructed at infinite cost to themselves these Maginot Lines against this enemy they thought they saw across the frontier, this enemy who never attacked that way-if he ever attacked at all; if he was indeed the enemy.”

Ifs Way Lines Enemy Saws Cost Infinite Frontiers Separate Peace

Author:John Knowles

“I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas.”

Firsts Has Beens Desire Purpose Lost Genes Soar Separate Peace

Author:John Knowles

“Stranded in this mill town railroad yard while the whole world was converging elsewhere, we seemed to be nothing but children playing among heroic men.”

Men World Children Whole Peace Towns Whole World Heroic Elsewhere Yards Mills Railroads Children Playing Stranded Separate Peace

Book:A Separate Peace

Source: A Separate Peace

“the scornful force of his tone turned the word into a curse”

Force Curse Tone Separate Peace

Book:A Separate Peace

Source: A Separate Peace

“It seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and their special stupidities, but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart”

Humans Heart Made War Clear Generations Special Stupidity Ignorant Human Heart Separate Peace

Book:A Separate Peace

Source: A Separate Peace

“Always say some prayers at night because it might turn out that there is a God.”

Might Night Turns Prayer Separate Peace

Book:A Separate Peace

Source: A Separate Peace

“Everyone has a moment in history which belongs particularly to him.”

Moments Separate Peace

Book:A Separate Peace

Source: A Separate Peace

“in the last month or so, i have read the great gatsby and a separate peace. i am starting to see a real trend in the kind of books bill gives me to read. and just like the tape of songs, it is amazing to hold each of them in the palm of my hand. they are all my favorites. all of them.”

Giving Kind Book Real Hands Lasts Song Months Give Me Bills Starting Trends Tape Palms Separate Peace

Book:The Perks of Being a Wallflower YA edition

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower YA edition

“But I was used to finding something deadly in things that attracted me; there was always something deadly lurking in anything I wanted, anything I loved.”

Wanted Used Findings Lurking Separate Peace

Book:A Separate Peace

Source: A Separate Peace

“But something held me back. Perhaps I was stopped by that level of feeling, deeper than thought, which contains the truth.”

Feelings Levels Deeper Separate Peace

Book:A Separate Peace

Source: A Separate Peace

“As I said, this was my sarcastic summer. It was only long after that I recognized sarcasm as the protest of people who are weak.”

People Long Said Summer Weak Protest Sarcasm Sarcastic Separate Peace

Book:A Separate Peace

Source: A Separate Peace

“So the more things remain the same, the more they change after all.”

Peace Separate Peace

Author:John Knowles

“I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there.”

War School Levels Enemy Duty Hatred Active Intense My Time Uniforms Separate Peace

Book:A Separate Peace

Source: A Separate Peace