I have been writing for 50 years and readers still read my first book from when I was in the Marine Corps.

All you have the right to ask of life is to choose a battle in this war, make the best you can, and leave the field with honor.

After all, the only thing that is going to save mankind is if enough people live their lives for something or someone other than themselves.

To me, a writer is one of the most important soldiers in the fight for survival of the human race. He must stay at his post in the thick of fire to serve the cause of mankind.

My first book was rejected nine times. It turned out to be a best seller, Battle Cry? in 1953.

Often we have no time for our friends but all the time in the world for our enemies.

Why must we fight for the right to live, over and over, each time the sun rises?

You aren't a true husband/man until you've done the work of a wife/women

I was too heavy to be a jockey and too honest to be a producer, so I became a writer

The ability of a person to atone has always been the most remarkable of human features.

A novelist must know what his last chapter is going to say and one way or another work toward that last chapter. ... To me it is utterly basic, yet it seems like it's a great secret.

father taught me that the tongue should have three gatekeepers: Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary? If it’s not one of those three, it’s best not to say it

When I was engaged in the struggle for my country, I was very young. My horizons were open.

O wild, dark flower of woman, Deep rose of my desire, An Eastern wizard made you Of earth and stars and fire.

Lights get low and that's when I have my brightest ideas.

I've grown certain that the root of all fear is that we've been forced to deny who we are.

When God wants to judge a nation, He gives them wicked rulers.

As soon as you are complicated, you are ineffectual.

The man upstairs is pushing the buttons, and if your name happens to be on that button, well, thank you.

I will practice coming back to the present moment...not letting regrets and sorrow drag me back into the past or letting anxieties, fears, or cravings pull me out.

We are big fans of fear, and in investing it is clearly better to be scared than sorry.