All that peace, man, if felt so good it hurt. I want to hurt it back. Tim O'Brien More Quotes by Tim O'Brien More Quotes From Tim O'Brien I was a coward. I went to the war. Tim O'Brien rainy coward war A lot like yesterday, a lot like never. Tim O'Brien yesterday time Place is so important to me. The Midwest is like a ghost in my life. It's present as I look out the window now. I see Texas, but if I close my eyes and look out the same window, I'm back in my hometown in Worthington, Minnesota, and I cherish those values and that diction. Tim O'Brien my-life eyes me life I know what it is to feel unloved, to want revenge, to make mistakes, to suffer disappointment, yet also to find the courage to go forward in life. Tim O'Brien disappointment revenge courage life Fantasy has a dark side to it. It also has a light hemisphere - the power of the human imagination to keep going, to imagine a better tomorrow. Tim O'Brien tomorrow light imagination power I hated the draft, but at the same time, it's something that made every American take war seriously. Tim O'Brien seriously something time war I think I'm a pretty moral guy, a very moral guy, but I'm not perfect. Tim O'Brien think not-perfect moral perfect I returned to Vietnam in '94, and even then, all those decades later, walking around that place, I remained afraid. And, in some ways, rightly so. Tim O'Brien afraid some place walking The people in 'July, July' do find themselves looking backward, talking to others and to themselves about those over-the-cliff, fork-in-the-road moments in their lives. I imagine this is what must happen at a 30th college reunion. Tim O'Brien looking moments college people Unlike Chicago or New York, small-town Minnesota did not allow a man's failings to disappear beneath a veil of numbers. People talked. Secrets did not stay secret. Tim O'Brien secrets new man people A bullet can kill the enemy, but a bullet can also produce an enemy, depending on whom that bullet strikes. Tim O'Brien whom bullet also enemy I carry the memories of the ghosts of a place called Vietnam - the people of Vietnam, my fellow soldiers. Tim O'Brien soldiers place memories people There's something about being amid the chaos and the horror of a war that makes you appreciate all you don't have - and all you may lose forever. Tim O'Brien lose you chaos war Above all, a well-imagined story is organized around extraordinary human behaviors and unexpected and startling events, which help illuminate the commonplace and the ordinary. Tim O'Brien help story unexpected events With no draft, the only people who went to war were those who wanted to, or at least those who wanted to join the military. Tim O'Brien only military war people Stories are not explanations of the world we live in. Science does that, and math does that. Our obligation as fiction writers is to enhance the mysteries. Tim O'Brien live obligation science world In the summer of 1954, after several years in Austin, Minnesota, our family moved across the state to the small, rural town of Worthington, where my dad became regional manager for a life insurance company. To me, at age 7, Worthington seemed a perfectly splendid spot on the earth. Tim O'Brien me family age life Fiction is a lie that is told in the service of truth. Tim O'Brien lie service truth fiction Who do you call a civilian in a guerilla war? I mean, it might be a farmer by day or a merchant, a housewife, and by night the housewife may be helping to make landmines and booby traps and who knows. Tim O'Brien day you night war When writing, I'm not thinking about war, even if I'm writing about it. I'm thinking about sentences, rhythm and story. So the focus, when I'm working, even if it's on a story that takes place at war, is not on bombs or bullets. It's on the story. Tim O'Brien place focus war thinking
