Character Quote 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…

— Karl Marlantes

“There it is.”

— Karl Marlantes

Quitting is unthinkable and pain is just weakness leaving the body

— 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…

— 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…

— Karl Marlantes

Everything is touched by the holy when it is in the presence of death.

— 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…

— Karl Marlantes

Once we recognize our shadow's existence we must resist the enticing step of going with its flow.

— 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…

— 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…

— 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…

— 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…

— Karl Marlantes