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A Separate Peace
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"A Separate Peace" Quotes

A friendship between two boys at a New England boarding school takes a dark turn during World War II.

Quotes

I felt fear's echo, and along with that I felt the unhinged, uncontrollable joy which had been its accompaniment and opposite face.

John Knowles

fearjoy

I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case.

John Knowles

funeralgrief

He was everywhere, he enjoyed a unity and a wholeness I would never know.

John Knowles

envyunity

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.

John Knowles

warignorance

I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn't help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little.

John Knowles

envyfriendship

The more things remain the same, the more they change after all.

John Knowles

change

We were careless and wild, we were heavy and ready to fall, we were floundering in the same ditch.

John Knowles

carelesswild

The real world is cold, and the trick is not to notice it.

John Knowles

real worldignorance

I lost part of my life. I could not speak about it. I could not change it.

John Knowles

losssilence

In the same way, he loved the school, because it was a world without the war, without the big angry world, without the big, well-fed men who had created it.

John Knowles

loveschool