“Gli americani sono bambini che devono andare da qualche altra parte a crescere, e a volte a morire.” — Ben Fountain Copy Share Image
“At some point Billy realized he was expecting the president to act, well, embarrassed? Ashamed? For how fucked up everything obviously was.… — Ben Fountain Copy Share Image
“Why?' He kept asking in his sweetly belling voice, its tone as pure as marbles swirled around a crystal pail. Why him… — Ben Fountain Copy Share Image
“But then self-doubt has always been there for Billy, self-doubt and its cousin the berating voice, these faithful companions have always been… — Ben Fountain Copy Share Image
“So perhaps, it occurs to Billy, this is the whole point of civilization, the eating of beautiful meals and the taking of… — Ben Fountain Copy Share Image
“And Billy, if it'll ease your mind any, I want you to know you've got a standing offer to come work for… — Ben Fountain Copy Share Image
“No matter their age or station in life, Billy can't help but regard his fellow Americans as children. They are bold and… — Ben Fountain Copy Share Image
“You could practically see the neurons firing in the kid’s skull. His body was all spring and torque, a bundle of fast-twitch… — Ben Fountain Copy Share Image
“Without ever exactly putting his mind to it, he's come to believe that loss is the standard trajectory. Something new appears in… — Ben Fountain Copy Share Image
“Billy tries to imagine the vast systems that support these athletes. They are among the best-cared for creatures in the history of… — Ben Fountain Copy Share Image
“The singing triggers a soft detonation at his core, molten parts of him are flying everywhere and his ears ring to the tune of… — Ben Fountain Copy Share
“Even harder was describing his sense that Shroom’s death might have ruined him for anything else, because when he died? when I felt his… — Ben Fountain Copy Share
“Without ever exactly putting his mind to it, he's come to believe that loss is standard trajectory. Something new appears in the world—a baby,… — Ben Fountain Copy Share
“But I am scared. Everybody's scared." "You know what I mean, like scared scared. Like coward scared, like if you never went to begin… — Ben Fountain Copy Share
“God knows the war sucks, but he sees no great appeal in these tepid peacetime lives.” — Ben Fountain Copy Share
“What he'd like to say is that he's lived it, if not the entire breadth and depth of the Christian faith then certainly the… — Ben Fountain Copy Share
By the end of the first decade of writing, I considered myself a confirmed failure in the eyes of the world. — Ben Fountain Copy Share
I started publishing stories in small magazines early on, but after seven or eight or nine years you feel like you need a little… — Ben Fountain Copy Share
“I think sometimes nothing is better than something. I mean, I’d rather have nothing than let this guy use me like his bitch.” — Ben Fountain Copy Share
“No it was my choice. It's what I wanted to do. And I knew they'd probably send me to Iraq. It's not like anybody… — Ben Fountain Copy Share
It's amazing what happens when you stick yourself in a place and let things take their more or less natural course. — Ben Fountain Copy Share
“As if sorrow is the true reality? Without ever putting his mind to it, he's come to believe that loss is the standard trajectory.” — Ben Fountain Copy Share
If you want to see a bunch of happy Americans, go out to opening day at any baseball stadium in the land. — Ben Fountain Copy Share
There was no such thing as perfection in this world, only moments of such extreme transparency that you forgot yourself, a holy mercy if… — Ben Fountain Copy Share
“He decides he wants both more and less. He’d like to hang out with Beyonce in a nice way, get to know her by… — Ben Fountain Copy Share
