Leon Uris Quotations

Writing, basically breaks down to relationships between people and that is what you write about.

Before I was nine I had learned the basic canon of Arab life. It was me against my brother; me and my brother against our father; my family against my cousins and the clan; the clan against the tribe; and the tribe against the world and all of us against the infidel.

A novel takes the courage of a marathon runner, and as long as you have to run, you might as well be a winning marathon runner. Serendipity and blind faith faith in yourself won't hurt a thing. All the bastards in the world will snicker and sneer because they haven't the talent to zip up their flies by themselves. To hell with them, particularly the critics. Stand in there, son, no matter how badly you are battered and hurt.

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.

A soldier has one item that cannot be neglected. His feet. They are his wheels, his mechanised warfare.

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

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.

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

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.

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.