113 Quotes by Phil Klay

One thing I've always liked about the military is there's a certain amount of pragmatism.

I was studying with Peter Carey, Colum McCann; but also, my fellow students were really critical readers for me.

If we fetishize trauma as incommunicable, then survivors are trapped - unable to feel truly known by their nonmilitary friends and family.

I got to travel around Anbar Province, had a great group of Marines who worked for me who traveled around Anbar Province. I got to hang out with a lot of different types of Marines and soldiers and sailors.

I'd been in college studying English creative writing and history when I made the decision to join the Marines in the runup to the Iraq war.

I think that just because you've been through an experience doesn't make you the ultimate arbiter of what it means. We figure things out; we work things out through the help of other people who can engage with us but also be intelligently critical.

I went straight from the Marine Corps to the MFA. The way that you would express things among Marines is somewhat different than the way you're supposed to express things in a creative-writing workshop.

I suppose it is the lot of soldiers and Marines to be objectified according to the politics of the day and the mood of the American people about their war.

Responsibility and accountability is a big part of being in the military.