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

This nation should be less worried about putting the Vietnam syndrome behind us than restarting the World War II victory syndrome that resulted in the Vietnam syndrome in the first place.

I knew many Marines had done brave deeds that no one saw and for which they got no medals at all. I was having a very hard time carrying those medals and didnt have the insight or maturity to know what to do with my combination of guilt and pride.

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 of them cared about

War is society's dirty work, usually done by kids cleaning up failures perpetrated by adults.

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 possible psychological problem. You know, when I was in Vietnam, it was just considered malingering. And we're making progress.

Really important books to me are the classics. I try very hard to read them well - you know, especially once I got serious about writing.