39 Quotes by Michael Shaara

A Frenchman may fight for France, but the American fights for mankind, for freedom; for the people, not the land.

Never let them see you run.

If men were equal in America, all these Poles and English and Czechs and blacks, then they were equal everywhere, and there was really no such thing as foreigner; there were only free men and slaves.

…[W]e have a country here where the past cannot keep a good man in chains, and that's the nature of the war.

The truth is, Colonel, that there's no divine spark, bless you. There's many a man alive no more value than a dead dog. Believe me, when you've seen them hang each other... equality? Christ in Heaven. What I'm fighting for is the right to prove I'm a better man than many.

I tell you, Colonel, we got to win this war. What will happen, do you think, if we lose? Do you think the country will ever get back together again? Doubt it. Would it too deep. The differences. . .If they win there'll be two countries, like France and Germany in Europe, and the border will be armed. Then there'll be a third country in the West, and that one will be the balance of power.

A little eccentricity is a help to a general. It helps with the newspapers. The women love it too. Southern women like their men religious and a little mad. That’s why the fall in love with preachers.

Southern women like their men religious and a little mad.

Longstreet stayed up talking, as long as there was company, as long as there was a fire. Because when the fire was gone and the dark had truly come there was no way he could avoid the dead faces of his children.