---
title: "1 Need Military Quotes By Karl Marlantes"
description: "1 Need Military quotes by Karl Marlantes. Plus more from Karl Marlantes and more Need Military sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/153/karl-marlantes-13122_any_i-don-t-want-any-romantics-to-go-into-th_2950823.jpg"
---

> [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marlantes/i-don-t-want-any-romantics-to-go-into-the-military-i-m-not-a-pacifist/)

[Karl Marlantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marlantes/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/153/karl-marlantes-13122_any_i-don-t-want-any-romantics-to-go-into-th_2950823.jpg)

## More by Karl Marlantes

> [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marlantes/emotion-constricted-hawke-s-throat-he-suddenly-understood-why-the/)

[Karl Marlantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marlantes/)

> [Quitting is unthinkable and pain is just weakness leaving the body](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marlantes/quitting-is-unthinkable-and-pain-is-just-weakness-leaving-the-body/)

[Karl Marlantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marlantes/)

> [I began writing 'Matterhorn' in 1975 and for more than 30 years I kept working on my novel in my spare time, unable to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marlantes/i-began-writing-matterhorn-in-1975-and-for-more-than-30-years-i-kept/)

[Karl Marlantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marlantes/)

> [“We have an idea of what is right or wrong. And we can debate moral issues as ideas. But moral \*standards\* are not ideas;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marlantes/we-have-an-idea-of-what-is-right-or-wrong-and-we-can-debate-moral/)

[Karl Marlantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marlantes/)

> [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marlantes/it-was-all-absurd-without-reason-or-meaning-people-who-didn-t-know/)

[Karl Marlantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marlantes/)

> [Everything is touched by the holy when it is in the presence of death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marlantes/everything-is-touched-by-the-holy-when-it-is-in-the-presence-of-death/)

[Karl Marlantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marlantes/)

> [In the military I could exercise the power of being automatically respected because of the medals on my chest, not because I had done…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marlantes/in-the-military-i-could-exercise-the-power-of-being-automatically/)

[Karl Marlantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marlantes/)

> [Once we recognize our shadow's existence we must resist the enticing step of going with its flow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marlantes/once-we-recognize-our-shadow-s-existence-we-must-resist-the-enticing/)

[Karl Marlantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marlantes/)

> [“Many will argue that there is nothing remotely spiritual in combat. Consider this. Mystical or religious experiences have four common components: constant awareness of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marlantes/many-will-argue-that-there-is-nothing-remotely-spiritual-in-combat/)

[Karl Marlantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marlantes/)

> [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marlantes/when-i-first-got-back-from-the-war-i-said-i-m-gonna-write-the-great/)

[Karl Marlantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marlantes/)

> [“But just below the grim tranquility he had learned to display, he cursed with boiling intensity the ambitious men who used him and his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marlantes/but-just-below-the-grim-tranquility-he-had-learned-to-display-he/)

[Karl Marlantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marlantes/)

> [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marlantes/and-i-think-that-it-s-the-military-has-actually-made-improvements-so/)

[Karl Marlantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marlantes/)

> [When the peace treaty is signed, the war isn't over for the veterans, or the family. It's just starting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marlantes/when-the-peace-treaty-is-signed-the-war-isn-t-over-for-the-veterans/)

[Karl Marlantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marlantes/)

> ['Matterhorn' is my metaphor of the Vietnam War - we built it, we abandoned it, we assaulted it, we lost, and then we abandoned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marlantes/matterhorn-is-my-metaphor-of-the-vietnam-war-we-built-it-we-abandoned/)

[Karl Marlantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marlantes/)

> [Really important books to me are the classics. I try very hard to read them well - you know, especially once I got serious…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marlantes/really-important-books-to-me-are-the-classics-i-try-very-hard-to-read/)

[Karl Marlantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marlantes/)

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