And as a writer now, I want to save Linda's life. Not her body--her life. — Tim O'Brien Body Copy Share Image
“Garden of Evil. Over here, man, every sin’s real fresh and original.” — Tim O'Brien Evil Copy Share Image
Words, too, have genuine substance -- mass and weight and specific gravity. — Tim O'Brien English language Copy Share Image
“Proximity to death brings with it a corresponding proximity to life.” — Tim O'Brien Death Copy Share Image
“It was boredom with a twist, the kind of boredom that caused stomach disorders.” — Tim O'Brien Boredom Copy Share Image
“He thought about the difference between good times and bad times, and how funny it was that he could not state the… — Tim O'Brien Copy Share Image
“Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story.” — Tim O'Brien Eternity Copy Share Image
In any war story, but especially a true one, it's difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen. — Tim O'Brien Copy Share Image
“I have tried, of course, to be faithful to the evidence. Yet evidence is not truth. It is only evident.” — Tim O'Brien Faithful Copy Share Image
“You're a shadow. You slip out of your own skin, like molting, shedding your own history and your own future, leaving behind… — Tim O'Brien Shadow Copy Share Image
It wasn't a question of deceit. Just the opposite; he wanted to heat up the truth, to make it burn so hot… — Tim O'Brien Deceit Copy Share Image
Storytelling is the essential human activity. The harder the situation, the more essential it is. — Tim O'Brien Copy Share Image
The bad stuff never stops happening: it lives in its own dimension, replaying itself over and over. — Tim O'Brien Copy Share Image
“when a nation goes to war it must have reasonable confidence in the justice and imperative of its cause. You can't fix… — Tim O'Brien Confidence Copy Share Image
We are fascinated, all of us, by the implacable otherness of others. And we wish to penetrate by hypothesis, by daydream, by… — Tim O'Brien Copy Share Image
“The story' Sanders would say "the whole tone, man, you're wrecking it." Tone?' The sound. You need to get a consitent sound,… — Tim O'Brien Copy Share Image
“Not a minister," he said, "but I do like churches. The way it feels inside. It feels good when you just sit… — Tim O'Brien Churches Copy Share Image
“There should be a law, I though. If you support a war, if you think it's worth the price, that's fine, but… — Tim O'Brien Infantry Copy Share Image
By telling stories, you objectify your own experience. You separate it from yourself. You pin down certain truths. You make up others.… — Tim O'Brien Copy Share Image
The thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might then dream along with… — Tim O'Brien Dream Copy Share Image
“Kiowa who saw it happen said it was like watching a rock fall, or a big sandbag or something-Just Boom-then down. Not… — Tim O'Brien Copy Share Image
“He felt crazy sometimes. Real depravity. Late at night an electric sizzle came into his blood, a tight pumped-up killing rage, and… — Tim O'Brien Rage Copy Share Image
“I saw no unity of purpose, no consensus on matters of philosophy or history or law. The very facts were shrouded in… — Tim O'Brien Civil war Copy Share Image
“I detested their blind, thoughtless, automatic acquiescence to it all, their simpleminded patriotism, their prideful ignorance, their love-it-or-leave-it platitudes, how they were… — Tim O'Brien Honesty Copy Share Image
“Still there was so much to say. How the rain never stopped. How the cold worked into your bones. Sometimes the bravest… — Tim O'Brien Courage Copy Share Image
“A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor… — Tim O'Brien Habits Copy Share Image
“To generalize about war is like generalizing about peace. Almost everything is true. Almost nothing is true. At its core, perhaps, war… — Tim O'Brien Death Copy Share Image
In any war story, but especially a true one, it's difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen. What seems… — Tim O'Brien Copy Share Image
It’s a hard thing to explain to somebody who hasn’t felt it, but the presence of death and danger has a way… — Tim O'Brien Copy Share Image
“How crazy it was that people who were so incredibly alive could get so incredibly dead” — Tim O'Brien Crazy people Copy Share Image
Did I choose this life of illusion? Don't be mad. My bed was made, I just lied in it. — Tim O'Brien Copy Share Image
