Tim O'Brien Quotes

Tim O'Brien
American Author
Born: Oct 1, 1946
About Life Me People War You
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
Life Disappointment Courage Revenge Mistakes Unloved Find Feel Know Also Make Go Want Forward Suffer
I carry the memories of the ghosts of a place called Vietnam - the people of Vietnam, my fellow soldiers. Tim O'Brien
Memories People Soldiers Ghosts Carry Fellow Place Vietnam
A bullet can kill the enemy, but a bullet can also produce an enemy, depending on whom that bullet strikes. Tim O'Brien
Enemy Strikes Also Bullet Depending Produce Whom
We tend to regard history as true and 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' as untrue. That's always puzzled me. Tim O'Brien
Me History Tend True Puzzled Adventures Untrue Always Huckleberry Huckleberry Finn Regard
I showed up in October 1946, part of an early surge that would become a great nationwide baby boom. My sister Kathy was born a year later. Tim O'Brien
Great Become Year Sister Baby Later Boom Would Born Part Surge Year Later October Up Nationwide Early
From the year of his birth in 1914 until the outbreak of war in 1941, my father lived in a mostly white, mostly working-class, mostly Irish Catholic neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. Tim O'Brien
War Father Year White Birth Neighborhood Outbreak Brooklyn New Until Mostly Catholic His Irish Irish Catholic York New York Working-Class Lived
Life is never all one thing. It bounces around. Certainly, my own life has. Tim O'Brien
Life Own One Thing My Own Never Around Certainly Thing
The world comes at me that way - comes at me in clumps of stuff, sometimes little vignettes and sometimes whole stories. And then the rest is erased by the internal filter that erases things for the same reason you'd forget swatting a mosquito. Tim O'Brien
Me You World Sometimes Mosquito Rest Filter Way Stuff Erased Forget Same Stories Little Then Reason Internal Whole Things
At the bottom, all wars are the same because they involve death and maiming and wounding, and grieving mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. Tim O'Brien
Death Fathers Wounding Daughters Bottom Sons Involve Because Mothers Same Grieving Wars
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
War Writing Focus Thinking About Takes Bullets Story Place Rhythm Sentences Working Even Bombs
Sure, best seller. I'd love to knock Stephen King off the top of the list. I know I won't, but, after all, I spend my life inventing a different reality. Tim O'Brien
Life Love Best Reality King My Life Spend Top Inventing Stephen King Knock Know Sure Off Seller List Different After
The goal, I suppose, any fiction writer has, no matter what your subject, is to hit the human heart and the tear ducts and the nape of the neck and to make a person feel something about the characters are going through and to experience the moral paradoxes and struggles of being human. Tim O'Brien
Heart Experience Matter Human Heart Characters Paradoxes Moral About Something Struggles Through Writer Feel Suppose Make Subject Goal Hit Person Any Going Human Being Fiction Fiction Writer Being Human Your Tear Neck
A small, seemingly inconsequential event can determine a life. Tim O'Brien
Life Determine Seemingly Small Event Inconsequential
In a war without aim, you tend not to aim. You close your eyes, close your heart. The consequences become hit or miss in the most literal sense. Tim O'Brien
War You Heart Eyes Become Sense Consequences Aim Tend Miss Most Without Close Hit Literal Your
A true war story is never moral. Tim O'Brien
War Moral Never True Story
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
War People Military Those Only Join Least Were Wanted Who Draft
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
Science Obligation World Mysteries Live Our Writers Does Math Fiction Fiction Writers Stories Explanations Enhance
If I see a phrase that strikes me as ugly, I'll delete it. Or, if I find a way to say something a bit more freshly than it was expressed originally, I'll do it. Ultimately, you want to try to leave behind the best possible paragraph or sentence. Tim O'Brien
Best Me You Ugly Try Strikes Way Say Bit I See Possible Paragraph Find Phrase See Delete Something More Leave Ultimately Than Behind Want Sentence Expressed Originally
I learned that moral courage is harder than physical courage. Tim O'Brien
Courage Moral Moral Courage Physical Physical Courage Learned Than Harder
I live in my head all day long and the world is a little dreamy. Tim O'Brien
Day World Long Live All Day Head Little
I've been surprised by Austin. I had a cowboy image of the place. It's a pretty sophisticated city - in some ways, more sophisticated than Boston. And there's a lighter feel to the place. It's very good for my spirits. Tim O'Brien
Good Ways City Some Pretty Spirits More Boston Had Lighter Feel Sophisticated Surprised Been Austin Cowboy Very Than Place Image
The wars don't end when you sign peace treaties or when the years go by. They will echo on until I'm gone and all the widows and orphans are gone. Tim O'Brien
You Peace Will Gone Sign Echo Until Go Years End Wars Orphans Treaties Widows
I grew up with the Gene Kelly look at war. The cheerful kind of stories you tell about a horrendous war. Tim O'Brien
War You Tell Kind Horrendous About Gene Gene Kelly Look Cheerful Up Grew Stories Kelly
In February 1969, 25 years ago, I arrived as a young, terrified PFC on this lonely little hill in Quang Ngai Province. Back then, the place seemed huge and imposing and permanent. Tim O'Brien
Lonely Young Back Seemed February Hill Terrified Permanent Arrived Imposing Years Years Ago Province Huge Place Little Then
'The Things They Carried' is labeled right inside the book as a work of fiction, but I did set out when I wrote the book to make it feel real... I use my own name, and I dedicated the book to characters in the book to give it the form of a war memoir. Tim O'Brien
Work War Book Own Carried Out Characters Memoir Inside Give My Own Feel Name Wrote Make Real Labeled Did Fiction Form Use Dedicated Right Things Set
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
Later Ways Those Rightly Some Remained Returned Around Walking Decades Afraid Place Then Vietnam Even
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