“I have tried, of course, to be faithful to the evidence. Yet evidence is not truth. It is only evident.” — Tim O'Brien Trust 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 Angle Copy Share Image
“he wanted to sleep inside her lungs and breathe her blood and be smothered. He wanted her to be a virgin and… — Tim O'Brien Eyes wide open Copy Share Image
“In many ways he was like America itself, big and strong, full of good intentions, a roll of fat jiggling at his… — Tim O'Brien America 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 Copy Share Image
“In battle, in a war, a soldier sees only a tiny fragment of what is available to be seen. The soldier is… — Tim O'Brien Battle Copy Share Image
A good piece of fiction, in my view, does not offer solutions. Good stories deal with our moral struggles, our uncertainties, our… — Tim O'Brien Blunders Copy Share Image
Stories are for joining the past to the future. Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember… — Tim O'Brien Eternity Copy Share Image
“Most of this I've told before, or at least hinted at, but what I have never told is the full truth. How… — Tim O'Brien Truth Copy Share Image
Storytelling is the essential human activity. The harder the situation, the more essential it is. — Tim O'Brien Activity Copy Share Image
“Looking back after twenty years, I sometimes wonder if the events of that summer didn’t happen in some other dimension, a place… — Tim O'Brien Life Copy Share Image
You can tell a true war story by the questions you ask. Somebody tells a story, let's say, and afterward you ask,… — Tim O'Brien Answers 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 Certain Copy Share Image
Laughter does not deny pain. Laughter - like a wail - acknowledges and replies to pain. — Tim O'Brien Acknowledge Copy Share Image
When your afraid,reallyafraid, you see things you never saw before, you pay attention to the world. — Tim O'Brien Attention Copy Share Image
“Mitchell sanders was sitting under a banyan tree and using a thumbnail to pry off all the body lice, working slowly, carefully… — Tim O'Brien Fuck you Copy Share Image
And in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war. It's about sunlight. It's about the special way… — Tim O'Brien Crosses Copy Share Image
“War is hell, but that's not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and… — Tim O'Brien Adventure 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 Attention Copy Share Image
They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried. — Tim O'Brien Awe Copy Share Image
They carried the sky. The whole atmosphere, they carried it, the humidity, the monsoons, the stink of fungus and decay, all of… — Tim O'Brien Atmosphere Copy Share Image
“Proximity to death brings with it a corresponding proximity to life.” — Tim O'Brien Death Copy Share Image
The goal, I suppose, any fiction writer has, no matter what your subject, is to hit the human heart and the tear… — Tim O'Brien About Copy Share Image
