30 Tim O'Brien Quotes About War, Love, And Life

Tim O'Brien is a novelist noted for his writings and works on American soldiers.

Tim O'Brien 'The Things They Carried' quotes are mainly about his experiences. The author and his stories are quite heart-touching.

Tim O'Brien is an American author who won many national awards for his books and is also known for his quotes from the book 'The Things They Carried' based on his personal experience in Vietnam. The 'Things They Carried' character quotes are quite famous and so are quotes from specific chapters such as 'Speaking of Courage' quotes. One of the Kiowa quotes where the Kiowa character won everyone's hearts with his compassionate and honest nature by being a true friend to Tim is quoted by many. Metaphors in 'The Things They Carried' are so well written. He has also written books like 'Going After Cacciato', 'Northern Lights', and many more.

Make sure to check out 'The Things They Carried' quotes and [anti-war quotes] for some great inspiration.
 

You can understand Tim O'Brien's experiences in 'The Things They Carried' quotes about war. We present to you the list of such quotes written by the author in 1979. All of these quotes are from 'The Things The Carried', Chapter 7 called 'How To Tell a True War Story.'

1. "In war, you lose your sense of the definite, hence your sense of truth itself, and therefore it's safe to say that in a war story nothing is ever absolutely true."

-Chapter 7: How To Tell a True War Story, 'The Things The Carried', 1990.

2. "And in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war. It's about sunlight. "

-Chapter 7: How To Tell a True War Story, 'The Things The Carried', 1990.

3. "A true war story is never moral..."

-Chapter 7: How To Tell a True War Story, 'The Things The Carried', 1990.

4. "War is hell, but that's not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love."

-Chapter 7: How To Tell a True War Story, 'The Things The Carried', 1990.

5. "In any war story, but especially a true one, it's difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen."

-Chapter 7: How To Tell a True War Story, 'The Things The Carried', 1990.

6. "It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather, they were too frightened to be cowards."

-Chapter 7: How To Tell a True War Story, 'The Things The Carried', 1990.

7. "If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie."

-Chapter 7: How To Tell a True War Story, 'The Things The Carried', 1990.

The quotes from 'The Things They Carried' prove that love is the greatest feeling. Here are Tim O'Brien quotes on love.

8. "Even then, at nine years old, I wanted to live inside her body. I wanted to melt into her bones - THAT kind of love."

- Chapter 22: The Lives of the Dead, 'The Things They Carried', 1990.

9. "It wasn't a war story. It was a love story."

- Chapter 7 'How to tell a true war story,' 'The Thing They Carried,' 1990.

10. "Laughter does not deny pain. Laughter - like a wail - acknowledges and replies to pain."

- 'Tomcat In Love', 1998.

11. "His love was too much for him; he felt paralyzed; he wanted to sleep inside her lungs and breathe her blood and be smothered."

- 'The Things They Carried', 1990.

12. "'I love you,' someone says, and instantly we begin to wonder - 'Well, how much?' - and when the answer comes - 'With my whole heart' - we then wonder about the wholeness of a fickle heart."

-'In the Lake of the Woods', 1994.

13. "Love, as wonderful and horrible as it is, has at its center a kind of pitiful humor."

-Tim O'Brien.

Tim speaks about fear, guilt, truth, and everything he felt between day and night during the war. His feelings are reflected in 'The Things They Carried' truth quotes. We present to you a list of such amazing and motivating Tim O'Brien quotes on life.

14. "My life is storytelling. I believe in stories, in their incredible power to keep people alive, to keep the living alive, and the dead."

-Tim O'Brien.

15. "A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth."

- Chapter 7: How to tell a true war story,' 'The Thing They Carried,' 1990.

16. "I learned that moral courage is harder than physical courage."

-Tim O'Brien.

17. "A place where your life exists before you live it, and where it goes afterwards."

-Tim O'Brien.

18. "A small, seemingly inconsequential event can determine a life."

-Tim O'Brien.

19. "I survived, but it's not a happy ending."

- Chapter 4: On The Rainy River,' 'The Things They Carried,' 1990.

20. "Life is never all one thing. It bounces around. Certainly, my own life has."

-Tim O'Brien.

21. "When you're afraid, really afraid, you see things you never saw before; you pay attention to the world."

- Chapter 22: The Ghost Soldiers, 'The Things They Carried,' 1990.

22. "The presence of danger has a way of making you feel fully awake."

- Chapter 22: The Ghost Soldiers, 'The Things They Carried,' 1990.

23. "You're never more alive than when you're almost dead."

- Chapter 7: How To Tell a True War Story, 'The Thing They Carried,' 1990.

Tim O'Brien has experienced fear, guilt, courage, and so much more, which is seen in 'The Things They Carried' quotes about fear and 'The Things They Carried' guilt quotes.

24. "In Vietnam, there was a general aimlessness, not just in the physical sense, but beyond that in the moral and ethical sense."

- Chapter 2 'War in the things they carried,' 'The Things They Carried,' 1990.

25. "Can the foot soldier teach anything important about war, merely for having been there? I think not. He can tell war stories."

- 'If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home,' 1975.

26. "I carry the memories of the ghosts of a place called Vietnam - the people of Vietnam, my fellow soldiers."

-Tim O'Brien.

27. "Vietnam was the defining event for my generation. It spilled over into all facets of American life - into music, into the pulpits, in churches of our country."

-Tim O'Brien.

28. "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."

- 'Vietnam In Me,' 1994.

29. "Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons."

-Chapter 4, 'On The Rainy River,' 'The Things They Carried,' 1990.

30. "Men killed and died because they were embarrassed not to."

-Chapter 1: 'The Things They Carried,' 1990.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 30 Tim O'Brien Quotes About War, Love, And Life, then why not take a look at [Tom Robbin Quotes] or [Faulkner Quotes].