Anyone who’s lived has lost somebody.
When a poor man gives something, that is a sacrifice indeed. When a rich man gives something, it hardly rises to the same level.
Because life doesn’t work that way. You can do everything perfectly. Do everything you think you’re supposed to be doing. Fulfill every expectation that other people may have. And you still won’t get the results you think you deserve. Life is crazy and maddening and often makes no sense.
The human spirit was the strongest medicine on earth. And sometimes all it needed was a little encouragement to pull off a miracle.
Time doesn’t really heal, it just makes you not to give a crap.
I can write with a crying child on my lap. I have. Often.
Passion is a rare commodity. When you find it, treasure it and never give it up!
Libraries rock! Not a sermon, just a fact. As a kid I was a library rat and books changed my life. They can change yours.
The military is a very cool world to write about. I went down to Ft. Benning, Ga., for military training, and I learned a lot about soldiers and officers and why they joined up and what their life has been like.
Some people take 10 years to write a book and some can do one in under a year.
People have given me classified information, but always with the disclaimer ‘This can never end up in a book.’ And it never does.
People who have expertise just love to share it. That’s human nature.
It’s the hardest thing in the world to put yourself in someone else’s place, try to really feel what they feel, figure out why they do the things they do. Especially when it’s easier to stick a label on something. Or someone.
You know what kind of person it takes to run for President? Not normal. They could start out okay, but by the time they reach that level they’ve sold their soul to the devil so many times and stomped the guts out of enough people that they are definitely not like you and me, not even close.
Small mistakes tend to lead to large ones. Ours is a lifetime appoinment, and all you have is your reputation. Once it’s gone, it doesn’t comeback.
We cannot live without memories, but we cannot live within them either.
We build walls because we are afraid. We do not like change. We do not like it when others who do not look or think like us come along and try and change things. Thus we run from it. Or, even worse, attack it.
Lots of people don’t talk about their military service.” “I bet heroes do.” “No. A pretty accurate rule of thumb is the people who did the most talk about it the least. The blowhards are the ones who did squat.
Libraries are the mainstays of democracy. The first thing dictators do when taking over a country is close all the libraries, because libraries are full of ideas and differences of opinion, all the things we say we want in a free and open society. So keep ‘em, fund ’em, embrace and cherish ’em.
That was the way it was, the burial ritual. You set them in the earth and walked away to keep living, until it was your turn to be left behind.