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.

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

There is no adversity that cannot bear a gift and no gift that cannot bring adversity.

We can do whatever we wish to do provided our wish is strong enough. ... What do you want most to do? That's what I have to keep asking myself in the face of difficulties.

I can't pretend that I don't subscribe to Internet music culture in that I discover new music and old music simultaneously.

All flatterers are mercenary, and all low-minded men are flatterers.

Paloma you cry out, you beg for connection The dreams you seek are straight ahead in every direction

I guess high verbal skills are highest in my list of necessary qualifications for a man - for anyone actually. I like to talk. And I don't necessarily move far, but I move fast.

I am not qualified to be a Dame. To be Dame you have to represent England in a way that I don't.

If you have a crisis, whether on a ship or wherever, there are heroes who rise above it.

We all have two lives. The second one starts when we realize that we only have one

There's nothing about me that's selfish.