Quote 4
Montag sensed it was a rhymeless poem. Then the old man grew even more courageous and said something else and that was a poem, too. Faber held his hand over his left coat pocket and spoke these words gently, and Montag knew if he reached out, he might pull a book of poetry from the man's coat. But he did not reach out. His hands stayed on his knees, numbed and useless. "I don't talk things, sir," said Faber. "I talk the meaning of things. I sit here and know I'm alive." (2.36)
Books hold value for Faber only in so far as they apply to life. He’s not a pedant by any stretch of the imagination.
Quote 5
A bomber flight had been moving east all the time they talked, and only now did the two men stop and listen, feeling the great jet sound tremble inside themselves.
"Patience, Montag. Let the war turn off the ‘families.’ Our civilization is flinging itself to pieces. Stand back from the centrifuge."
"There has to be someone ready when it blows up."
"What? Men quoting Milton? Saying, I remember Sophocles? Reminding the survivors that man has his good side, too? They will only gather up their stones to hurl at each other. Montag, go home. Go to bed." (2.178-81)
Faber scoffs at Montag’s idealism, but really, the man has a point. It is books and knowledge that will help the world re-build "when it blows up." In fact, this is what happens at the end of the novel. Right?
Quote 6
"Ten million men mobilized," Faber's voice whispered in his other ear. "But say one million. It's happier." (2.231)
If one million deployed soldiers is a happy thing, what does that tell you about violence in this world?