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Karl Marlantes Biography

Karl Marlantes (born December 24, 1944) is an American author, businessman, and decorated U.S. Marine Corps veteran. He has written two books: Matterhorn and What It Is Like to Go to War.

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Karl Marlantes Quotes

For every veteran who goes through a divorce, a wife goes through one, too. For every veteran alone in the basement, there is a wife upstairs, bewildered, isolated and in despair from the dark clouds of war that hangs over family life.

Dark, Divorce, Family, Veteran, War, Wife

I was given the ability to create stories and characters. That's my part of the long chain of writers, publishers, agents, booksellers, librarians, and a host of others who eventually deliver literature to the world. I want to do for others what Eudora Welty did for me.

Ability, Character, Given, Long, Stories

In the military I could exercise the power of being automatically respected because of the medals on my chest, not because I had done anything right at the moment to earn that respect. This is pretty nice. It's also a psychological trap that can stop one's growth and allow one to get away with just plain bad behavior.

Allow, Exercise, Military, Nice, Right

Everything is touched by the holy when it is in the presence of death.

Everything, Holy, Presence, Touched

Matterhorn is my metaphor of the Vietnam War - we built it, we abandoned it, we assaulted it, we lost, and then we abandoned it again.

Abandoned, Matterhorn, Metaphor, Vietnam, War

We all want to be special, to stand out; there's nothing wrong with this. The irony is that every human being is special to start with, because we're unique to start with. But we then go through some sort of boot camp from the age of zero to about 18 where we learn everything we can about how not to be unique.

Camp, Human, Nothing, Special, Unique, Zero

War is society's dirty work, usually done by kids cleaning up failures perpetrated by adults.

Adults, Dirty, Failures, Kids, War

He ran as he'd never run before, with neither hope nor despair. He ran because the world was divided into opposites and his side had already been chosen for him, his only choice being whether or not to play his part with heart and courage. He ran because fate had placed him in a position of responsibility and he had accepted the burden. He ran because his self-respect required it. He ran because he loved his friends and this was the only thing he could do to end the madness that was killing and maiming them.

Love, Maiming, Responsibility, Running, Thing, World

We mistakenly assume that bodily survival has a higher precedence than ego survival. This is simply not generally true. Ego will happily destroy the body for its own sake. Look at overweight executives headed for heart attacks on the way to getting their pictures in Fortune or anorexic models suffering slow starvation on their way to getting their pictures in Vogue. Protecting ego is the general case.

Anorexic, Bodily, Ego, General, Heart, Suffering

He lay before God as a woman opens herself to a man, with legs apart, stomach exposed, arms open. But unlike some women, he did not have the inner strength that allowed them to do such a thing without fear. There was no woman’s strength in Mellas at all.

Fear, Inner, Inner Strength, Legs, Man, Men

Cynicism is no more mature than naïveté. You're no more mature, just more burned.

Cynicism, Mature, Naïveté, Vets

When the peace treaty is signed, the war isn't over for the veterans, or the family. It's just starting.

Veterans Day, War, Starting, Signed, Peace

Victory in combat is like sex with a prostitute. For a moment you forget everything in the sudden physical rush, but then you have to pay your money to the woman showing you the door. You see the dirt on the walls and your sorry image in the mirror.

Like, Prostitute, Sex, Sorry, Sudden, Wall

This nation should be less worried about putting the Vietnam syndrome behind us than restarting the World War II victory syndrome that resulted in the Vietnam syndrome in the first place.

Place, Victory, Vietnam, War

Quitting is unthinkable and pain is just weakness leaving the body

Body, Leaving, Pain, Quitting, Weakness

Really important books to me are the classics. I try very hard to read them well - you know, especially once I got serious about writing.

Book, Classics, Hard, Important, Serious, Writing

I knew many Marines had done brave deeds that no one saw and for which they got no medals at all. I was having a very hard time carrying those medals and didnt have the insight or maturity to know what to do with my combination of guilt and pride.

Combination, Hard, Marine, Maturity, Medals, Pride

The Marine Corps taught me how to kill, but it didn't teach me how to deal with killing.

Deal, Kill, Killing, Marine, Taught, Teach

Vietnam was the first time that Americans of different races had to depend on each other. In the Second World War, they were segregated; it was in Vietnam that American integration happened in the military - and it wasn't easy.

Happened, Military, Race, Races, Vietnam, War

I began writing 'Matterhorn' in 1975 and for more than 30 years I kept working on my novel in my spare time, unable to get an agent or publisher to even read the manuscript.

Agents, Kept, Working, Writing, Years

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Karl Marlantes Biography

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