Favourite snatches (10)

'That night she cradled me in her arms and soothed me; told me what I needed to be told; strengthened me. I needed that love Cherie gave me, selfishly. I devoured it to give me strength. I was an animal following my instinct.'

From Tony Blair's memoirs. Why is this a favourite snatch? 

It serves to remind us that a man's prose is a reflection of his character. There are just 43 words, five of which are 'me' and four 'I'. That's about 20% of the lexical total, which is high by any political standard.

See how it looks with appropriate emphasis (or what linguists call 'contrastive stress'):

'That night she cradled me in her arms and soothed me; told me what I needed to be told; strengthened me. I needed that love Cherie gave me, selfishly. I devoured it to give me strength. I was an animal following my instinct.'

"Devoured" is beyond parody. And shouldn't "my instinct" be "its instinct"? What a horrible tosser.