--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It came to him in the night sometimes…" description: "\"“It came to him in the night sometimes with a sudden appalling shock that the boys he was fighting were boys he had grown up with. The war had come as ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f3c/michael-shaara-13044_war_it-came-to-him-in-the-night-sometimes-wi_2894211.jpg" --- # It came to him in the night sometimes with a sudden… ![“It came to him in the night sometimes with a sudden appalling shock that the boys he was fighting were boys he had grown up with. The war had come as a nightmare in which you chose your nightmare side. Once chosen, you put your head down and went on to win.” quote by Michael Shaara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f3c/michael-shaara-13044_war_it-came-to-him-in-the-night-sometimes-wi_2894211.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f3c/michael-shaara-13044_war_it-came-to-him-in-the-night-sometimes-wi_2894211.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f3c/michael-shaara-13044_war_it-came-to-him-in-the-night-sometimes-wi_2894211.jpg) > ““It came to him in the night sometimes with a sudden appalling shock that the boys he was fighting were boys he had grown up with. The war had come as a nightmare in which you chose your nightmare side. Once chosen, you put your head down and went on to win.”” [Michael Shaara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shaara/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. War forces soldiers to fight familiar faces, turning conflict into personal nightmare. **In simple terms:** War pits friends against each other. Key Takeaway Recognize war’s human cost. Themes war morality friendship Mood somber thoughtful Type historical philosophical When to use this quote - battlefields - military training - civil war Key Concepts combat ethics psychological trauma Questions to Reflect On - How does fighting friends affect morale? - What can reduce wartime trauma? A Different Perspective War may be inevitable in some contexts. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) ## Related quotes > [“Whatever it was that came over him that night pulled a cord—her laugh, or her surprise gasp slipping out to think he’d do something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-j-mccoy-dressel/whatever-it-was-that-came-over-him-that-night-pulled-a-cord-her-laugh/) [Mary J. 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Turner [Browse all 38,922 War quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It came to him in the night sometimes with a sudden appalling shock that the boys he was fighting were boys he had grown up with. The war had come as a nightmare in which you chose your nightmare side. 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