"I cannot see the war as historians see it. Those clever fellows study all the facts and they see the war as a large thing, one of the biggest events in the legend of the man, something general, involving multitudes. I see it as a large thing too, only I break it into small units of one man at a time, and see it as a large and monstrous thing for each man involved. I see the war as death in one form or another for men dressed as soldiers, and all the men who survived the war, including myself, I see as men who died with their brothers, dressed as soldiers. There is no such thing as a soldier. I see death as a private event, the destruction of the universe in the brain and in the senses of one man, and I cannot see any man's death as a contributing factor in the success or failure of a military campaign."
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Pulitzer Prize winnersHumanistsPlaywrights from the United StatesNovelists from CaliforniaNovelists from Armenia
Original Language: English
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William Saroyan
William Saroyan (31 August 1908 β 18 May 1981) was an Armenian American author, famous for his novel The Human Comedy (1943) and other works dealing with the comedies and tragedies of everyday existence.
193 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by William Saroyan β
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