Cynicism is no more mature than naïveté. You're no more mature, just more burned.

Matterhorn is my metaphor of the Vietnam War - we built it, we abandoned it, we assaulted it, we lost, and then we abandoned it again.

I began writing 'Matterhorn' in 1975 and for more than 30 years I kept working on my novel in my spare time, unable to get an agent or publisher to even read the manuscript.

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

When the peace treaty is signed, the war isn't over for the veterans, or the family. It's just starting.

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

It won't hurt you. It's just to kill plants. It's called Agent Orange...and it won't bother humans.

The Marine Corps taught me how to kill, but it didn't teach me how to deal with killing.

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

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

Quitting is unthinkable and pain is just weakness leaving the body

I can only strive for what is important

Demand the best from yourself, because others will demand the best from you... Successful people don't simply give a project hard work. They give it their best work.

Just because you can make a choice, doesn’t mean you should. Some things are better left alone.

Chakras are organizational centers for the reception, assimilation, and transmission of life-force energy. They are the stepping stones between heaven and earth.

Jest with your equals.

But whoever heard of enchanted bacon anyway?

Because the living environment is what really sustains us.

Unfortunately, Governor Bush is a Pat Robertson Republican who will lose to Al Gore.

I had no immediate knowledge of the world of Batman at all. I'm quite incubated. I just keep myself to myself and my dog.

I happen to be kind of an inquisitive guy and when I see things I don't like, I start thinking, why do they have to be like this and how can I improve them?