"I was effortlessly expert with many of our weapons, but I excelled in the use of one: the lie. I brandished it most often against my own troops. I whipped them to the bone with lies of duty and discipline. I smothered them with the lie that the war could be won. I pierced them with the lie of my favour, my most esteemed regard for them. Alone, in private, I turned that weapon on myself. Oh, how I bled."












