Quote 1
"It’s no life being a steer," Robert Cohn said.
"Don’t you think so?" Mike said. "I would have thought you’d loved being a steer, Robert." "What do you mean, Mike?"
"They lead such a quiet life. They never say anything and they’re always hanging about so." […] "Is Robert Cohn going to follow Brett around like a steer all the time?" (13.48)
Mike uses one of the oldest insults in the book here. His taunt that Cohn is like a steer (a castrated bull), implies that Cohn has no… well, you know.
Quote 2
"I’m rather drunk," Mike said. "I think I’ll stay rather drunk. This is all awfully amusing, but it’s not too pleasant for me. It’s not too pleasant for me." (17.42)
Mike finally articulates something we’ve all been wondering about—he’s perfectly aware of his own abuse of alcohol and its psychological reasons, and consciously chooses to continue it.
Quote 3
"He calls her Circe," Mike said. "He claims she turns men into swine." (13.52)
Cohn’s association of Brett with Circe, a seductive enchantress of Greek mythology, is fairly accurate —she reduces the men who love her to a kind of animal-like state of worship and abjection.