The world makes liars of us all.

To understand the world, one’s place in it, is to be always at the risk of drowning.

There is a sharp distinction between what is remembered, what is told and what is true.

I can't envision an honest war novel that left war in a positive light.

My personal opinion is that if someone writes honestly about war, it will inherently be anti-war.

It's not just: you get off the plane, you're back home, everything's fine. Maybe the physical danger ends, but soldiers are still deeply at risk of being injured in a different way.

All choices are illusions, or if they are not illusions their strength is illusory, for one choice must contend with the choices of all the other men and women deciding anything in that moment.

As human beings, we have the blessing and the curse that we're able to adapt to almost anything. No matter how extreme the circumstances you're in, they become normal.

Freedom is not the same as lack of accountability.

I understood that 'The Yellow Birds' would be a peculiar representation of the experience of being at war. I intended it to be so.

Joining the military is not to be taken lightly. You're putting every part of yourself at risk, not just your body but your moral and spiritual centre.

The truth of the matter is a matter of knowing and abiding by the truth.

As any distance we take from things give us an outside perspective, so does taking a geographical distance—offering us a new vantage point over our lives.

To maintain your honesty, one must know to keep alive the spirit of chidhood

I see no way out of the problems that organized religion and tribalism create other than humans just becoming more honest and fully aware of themselves.

Well, I would hardly say I do write as yet. But I write because I like words. I suppose if I liked stone I might carve. I like words. I like reading. I notice particular words. That sets me off.

In reality there is no cause or effect, there is only the indifference of the universe.

If you want to know, life is the principle of self-renewal, it is constantly renewing and remaking and changing and transfiguring itself.

[Albert Camus] was not an existentialist!

Most scripts that get written in Hollywood dont go anywhere.

Our minds have been built by selfish genes, but they have been built to be social, trustworthy and cooperative.