I don't want any romantics to go into the military. I'm not a pacifist. I think we need a military, and the better one we have, the better off we are. I don't want kids going in there thinking that… — Karl Marlantes Copy Share Image
“Emotion constricted Hawke’s throat. He suddenly understood why the victims of concentration camps had walked quietly to the gas chambers. In the face of… — Karl Marlantes Copy Share
I began writing 'Matterhorn' in 1975 and for more than 30 years I kept working on my novel in my spare time, unable to… — Karl Marlantes Copy Share
“We have an idea of what is right or wrong. And we can debate moral issues as ideas. But moral *standards* are not ideas;… — Karl Marlantes Copy Share
It was all absurd, without reason or meaning. People who didn't know each other were going to kill each other over a hill none… — Karl Marlantes Copy Share
In the military I could exercise the power of being automatically respected because of the medals on my chest, not because I had done… — Karl Marlantes Copy Share
Once we recognize our shadow's existence we must resist the enticing step of going with its flow. — Karl Marlantes Copy Share
“Many will argue that there is nothing remotely spiritual in combat. Consider this. Mystical or religious experiences have four common components: constant awareness of… — Karl Marlantes Copy Share
When I first got back from the war, I said, 'I'm gonna write the Great American Novel about the Vietnam War.' So I sat… — Karl Marlantes Copy Share
“But just below the grim tranquility he had learned to display, he cursed with boiling intensity the ambitious men who used him and his… — Karl Marlantes Copy Share
And I think that it's - the military has actually made improvements, so people are considering post-traumatic stress disorder as, at the least, a… — Karl Marlantes Copy Share
When the peace treaty is signed, the war isn't over for the veterans, or the family. It's just starting. — Karl Marlantes Copy Share
'Matterhorn' is my metaphor of the Vietnam War - we built it, we abandoned it, we assaulted it, we lost, and then we abandoned… — Karl Marlantes Copy Share
Really important books to me are the classics. I try very hard to read them well - you know, especially once I got serious… — Karl Marlantes Copy Share
