Mark Bowden Quotes (15 Quotes)

Catch-22' undermines the whole heroic logic of World War II, ... It was really refreshing and interesting for me, as a young man learning about modern history and literature, to see how powerful a single writer could be in undermining the whole social mind-set.

Staring at all the green bundles, ... Joey felt suddenly overwhelmed by the challenge of hanging onto it. The idea of finding that much money was proving to be more thrilling than the actual experience, much as the highs he got by shooting speed had long ago stopped living up to his expectations. The hard truth about life, which most people learned but that Joey had not, was that things had to be earned to be fully enjoyed. Success, accomplishment, the admiration of the world -- these were all things that could not be faked, or purchased with a needle or a windfall.

He essentially betrayed many of those people who had relied on him.

The world was wracked with pain in 2005, enduring a parade of natural disasters. And, of course some of the pain was self-inflicted -- war, terrorism, rebellion, violence, crime, drug abuse, business fraud. ... There is never a slow day in the news business.

There's just a stench of things rotting, decaying - dead seafood, poultry, other things I can't talk about. It gets into your nose it gets into your clothes. You can't get away from it.

I'm tired of the FEMA-bashing. All you hear is that FEMA didn't do enough. What people don't understand is that FEMA had a game plan, but when the devastation was so widespread, their game plan kind of went out the window.

Saddam accumulated power over a period of 10-12 years. When you've evidenced considerable charm and an ability to get things done, even very idealistic and ambitious people begin to side with you.

The Pentagon was officially displeased, ... 'Killing Pablo' tells a much murkier tale (than 'Black Hawk Down'), what with death squads and Pablo's sordid end. This being the second peek behind the walls at Ft. Bragg, it was received with considerably less good humor.

To me, this says 'I'm a survivor. I'm proud to be an American. Things like that left me amazed at how resilient those people are.

The question posed by Yossarian in 'Catch-22,' ... is one of the great questions of modern times Is this huge industrial military that we've constructed, has it become more deadly and powerful than the cause for which is was constructed

He sees himself as the figure whose name will be revered ... hundreds of years from now in Arab culture and Arab history.

If you go down there and see that, and you're not more appreciative of what you've got and how lucky you are, there is something wrong with you.

In order to make it more difficult for people to tell exactly where he was, all the palaces functioned as though he were present.

That's why I'm going to go back next year, to have a little reunion. I saw these people when they were down, and I want to see them when they rebuild. If they were this good when they were down, I can't wait to see what they do when they're back on the upswing.

These people couldn't thank us enough. They had lost their employers, their homes, their cars, and here they were trying to give us what little bit they still had. One man had nothing but watermelon cut up, and he kept trying to give us some.