“In spite of all the training you get and precautions you take to keep yourself alive, it's largely a matter of luck that decided whether or not you get killed. It doesn't make any difference who you are, how tough you are, how nice a guy you might be, or how much you may know, if you happen to be at a certain spot at a certain time, you get it.”

— James Jones

Letter to his brother Jeff from Guadalcanal (28 January 1943); p. 27
To Reach Eternity (1989)
Context: In spite of all the training you get and precautions you take to keep yourself alive, it's largely a matter of luck that decided whether or not you get killed. It doesn't make any difference who you are, how tough you are, how nice a guy you might be, or how much you may know, if you happen to be at a certain spot at a certain time, you get it. I've seen guys out of one hole to a better one and get it the next minute, whereas if they'd stayed still they wouldn't have been touched. I've seen guys decide to stay in a hole instead of moving and get it. I've seen guys move and watch the hole they were in get blown up a minute later. And I've seen guys stay and watch the place to which they had intended to move get blown up. It's all luck.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "In spite of all the training you get and precautions you take to keep yourself alive, it's largely a matter of luck tha…" by James Jones?

James Jones 52

American author 1921–1977

Related quotes

“It doesn't matter how you travel it, it's the same road. It doesn't get any easier when you get bigger, it gets harder. And it will kill you if you let it.”

James Brown (1933–2006) American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist

Brown, J. & Tucker, B.B. (1986). James Brown: The Godfather of Soul. Macmillan: New York. ISBN 0-02517-430-4

“You know how you let yourself think that everything will be all right if you can only get to a certain place or do a certain thing. But when you get there you find it's not that simple.”

Richard Adams book Watership Down

Source: Watership Down

“You can’t protect yourself. No matter how safe you think you are. No matter how much precaution you take, the rodents always find a way in.’ (Kiara)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Born of the Night

“It Ain’t How Hard You Hit…It’s How Hard You Can Get Hit and Keep Moving Forward. It's About How Much You Can Take And Keep Moving Forward!”

Sylvester Stallone (1946) American actor, screenwriter, and film director

Source: Rocky Balboa

“After you get stung, you can't get unstung
no matter how much you whine about it.”

Sue Monk Kidd book The Secret Life of Bees

Source: The Secret Life of Bees

“No matter how far you travel, you can never get away from yourself.”

Haruki Murakami (1949) Japanese author, novelist

Source: After the Quake

“What doesn't kill you maims you, cripples you, leaves you weak, makes you whiny and full of yourself at the same time. The more pain, the more pompous you get. Whatever doesn't kill you makes you incredibly annoying”

Rob Sheffield (1966) American music journalist

Source: Love Is a Mix Tape

“Just because you keep something a secret doesn't mean it never happened, no matter how much you want that to be true.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Vanishing Acts

“The trick is that as long as you know who you are and what makes you happy, it doesn't matter how others see you.”

Wendy Mass book Every Soul a Star

Variant: As long as you know who you are, and see what makes you happy, it doesn't matte how others see you
Source: Every Soul a Star

“No matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you are, no matter how many people admire you, being black in America is tough.”

LeBron James (1984) American basketball player

LeBron James Responds to Racial Vandalism: ‘Being Black in America Is Tough’, NY Times, June 1, 2017 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/sports/lebron-racist-graffiti-home.html?_r=0,

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

James Jones 52

Related quotes

Related topics