“Its a powerful moment, when you discover a vocabulary exists for something youd thought incommunicably unique. Personally, I felt it reading Joseph Conrads Lord Jim. I have friends whove found them...”

“I've worked hard to remember it...The problem is I'm not sure what's real memory and what's my brain filling in details, like a guy whose heart stops and he thinks he sees a bright light. Except I'...”

“If you're going to write about war, the ugly side is inevitable. Suffering and death are obviously part of war.”

“I don't believe in any Greatest Generation. I believe in great events. They sweep ordinary people up, expose them to extremes of human behavior and unimaginable tests of integrity and courage, and ...”

“War is an arena for the display of courage and virtue. Or war is politics by other means. War is a quasi-mystical experience where you get in touch with the real. There are millions of narratives w...”

“I got to travel around Anbar Province, had a great group of Marines who worked for me who traveled around Anbar Province. I got to hang out with a lot of different types of Marines and soldiers and...”

“What was it like? Hell if I know. But next time someone asks.... I'll answer crooked, and I'll answer long. And when they get confused or angry, I'll smile. Finally, I'll think. Someone who underst...”

“Worry only about what you control. The rest is war.”

“Youll never let me go, will you? Giving me the space and freedom I want isnt your idea of love, is it? Youd rather cut me deep on earth to spare me pain in hell, whereas I think hell is right here.”

“You don't need an ocean to feel like you're drowning. You feel it, between your chest and your throat, the weight of it stretching you outside your self, like a dead fish on the shore.”

“He danced across my heart like a pirate,Constantly discovering my secrets,Turning over every hidden treasure,Drowning me in his fantasy.”

“I'm drowning and you're stealing every breath.”

“As truth be told, homecoming never gets old.”

“How long since he'd been back home? Ten years? Fifteen? He'd stopped keeping track around the time he'd finally stopped looking over his shoulder. At the time, leaving had seemed too good to be tru...”

“You've been away from home too long if you can get lost on the way from the harbor to the palace.”