Quotes from Fields of Fire

James Webb ·  496 pages

Rating: (4.5K votes)


“If they didn't want to know, they shouldn't have asked.”
― James Webb, quote from Fields of Fire


“You know what we've lost, William? We've lost a sense of responsibility, at least on the individual level. We have too many people like Mark who believe that the government owes them total, undisciplined freedom. If everyone thought that way, there would be no society. We're so big, so strong now, that people seem to have forgotten that a part of our strength comes from each person surrendering a portion of his individual urges to the common good. And the common good is defined by who wins at the polls, and the policies they make. Like it or lump it.”
― James Webb, quote from Fields of Fire


“My war is not as simple as yours was, Father. People seem to question their obligation to serve on other than their own terms. But enough of that. I fight because we have always fought. It doesn't matter who.”
― James Webb, quote from Fields of Fire


“You know what we’ve lost, William? We’ve lost a sense of responsibility, at least on the individual level. We have too many people like Mark who believe that the government owes them total, undisciplined freedom. If everyone thought that way, there would be no society. We’re so big, so strong now, that people seem to have forgotten that a part of our strength comes from each person surrendering a portion of his individual urges to the common good. And the common good is defined by who wins at the polls, and the policies they make. Like it or lump it.”
― James Webb, quote from Fields of Fire


“He sensed that it was all here, everything, and there was none of it there. All of life's compelling throbs, condensed and honed each time a bullet flew: the pain, the brother-love, the sacrifice. Nobility discovered by those who'd never even contemplated sacrifice, never felt an emotion worth their own blood on someone else's altar.”
― James Webb, quote from Fields of Fire



“I just look at you and say, ‘that used to be me. But it isn't anymore.”
― James Webb, quote from Fields of Fire


“Well, what kind of hello is that? Besides. You wouldn't want me as a supply officer, Bagger. I'd fuck it up so bad you'd starve.”
― James Webb, quote from Fields of Fire


About the author

James Webb
Born place: in Saint Joseph, MO, The United States
Born date February 9, 1946
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“And myself? Observe me. There is something to be gained from my surface uses, and perhaps a little more from my lower depths, but my very bottom? That's where I am alone, the observer and the observed.”
― Jeanette Winterson, quote from Art and Lies


“You cannot be anything you want to be—but you can be a lot more of who you already are.”
― Tom Rath, quote from Strengths Finder 2.0


“Thats all we should be, a squishy golem, an extremely articulate automaton, Without one thing- Spirit”
― P.C. Cast, quote from Nyx in the House of Night: Mythology, Folklore and Religion in the PC and Kristin Cast Vampyre Series


“Money is a trivial thing. How you spend it is nothing compared to how you spend your life.”
― Isamu Fukui, quote from Truancy


“He would come to feel that history, even more than memory, distorts the present of the past by focusing on big events and making one forget that most people living in the present are otherwise preoccupied, that for them omens often don't exist.”
― Tracy Kidder, quote from Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness


Interesting books

The Terror
(26.9K)
The Terror
by Dan Simmons
The Cask of Amontillado
(52.7K)
The Cask of Amontill...
by Edgar Allan Poe
The Husband
(39.5K)
The Husband
by Dean Koontz
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
(7.3K)
The Marriage of Heav...
by William Blake
The Fire Chronicle
(6.7K)
The Fire Chronicle
by John Stephens
Season of Migration to the North
(14.4K)
Season of Migration...
by Tayeb Salih

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.