Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect. We take what we get and are thankful it's no worse than it is.
I'd never look back. It hurts too much, it drags at your heart till you can't ever do anything else except look back... This is what happens when you look back to happiness, this pain, this heartbreak, this discontent.
Any fool can be brave on a battle field when it's be brave or else be killed.
— But, Ashley, what are you afraid of?
— Mostly of having life suddenly become too real.
I do mind, very much, the loss of the beauty of the old life I loved. And I am fitted for nothing in this world, for the world I belonged in has gone. When the war came, life as it really is thrust itself against me. I saw my boyhood friends blown to bits and heard dying horses scream and learned the sickeningly horrible feeling of seeing men crumple up and spit blood when I shot them. Scarlett, before the war, life was beautiful.
And now it is gone and I am out of place in this new life, and I am afraid.
— Scarlett, you know, you get prettier all the time. You haven't changed a bit since our last barbecue at Twelve Oaks, where you set under the tree surrounded by dozens of boys.
— That girl doesn't exist anymore. Nothing's turned out as I expected, Ashley, nothing.
— Yes, we've travelled a long road since the old days, haven't we, Scarlett? Oh, the lazy days...the warm, still, country twilight, the high, soft Nigro laughter from the quarters... the golden warmth and security of those days.
— Don't look back, Ashley. Don't look back! It drags at your heart till you can't do anything but look back.