James K. Morrow Quote

You want a motive, William? I've got a motive. Vengeance may not be a pretty word, but it's what's expected of us.
Right! said Sverre. We owe it to all those millions of dead people to make more millions of dead people. Be careful how you rewrite strategic doctrine, General, or you'll come out of this war without a single medal.

Chapter 7, In Which Our Hero Makes a Strategic Decision and Acquires a Reason Not to Curse God and Die (p. 80) - This Is the Way the World Ends (1986)