Latest Sebastian Junger Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• I would never want to pass a law limiting freedom of speech, but that doesn't mean we have to condone statements that undermine basic national unity and respect. Imagine being asked to defend a country where some citizens say the man in the White House isn't their president. Or a major presidential contender accuses the commander in chief of not even being a U.S. citizen. Those kinds of statements erode trust in our democracy, and it's up to both parties to publicly reject them. We have to restore confidence that we are a nation that loves and believes in itself.

  Sebastian Junger

  Country, Party, Believe

  Source: www.oprah.com

• Right now, America doesn't ask us to do anything besides pay taxes. We don't even have to vote. But as psychologists will tell you, when you have to sacrifice for something, you value it more. What about national service for young people? Everybody between 18 and 24 could spend a year or two working for this country in some capacity. It'd be an amazing thing. And it would mix this country racially, culturally, economically.

  Sebastian Junger

  Country, Sacrifice, People

  Source: www.oprah.com

• Soldiers join the military to serve their country, but when bullets are flying, it's hard to fight for an abstract notion like patriotism. They're fighting for the people standing next to them, and it doesn't matter who's a Republican or a Democrat, or who's black or white or Christian or Muslim or gay or straight. If Congress and all Americans could manage to ignore those differences, we would have a perfect country, but somehow we cannot rise to that level of nobility.

  Sebastian Junger

  Christian, Country, Military

  Source: www.oprah.com

• The most profound question is, "What would I risk dying for?" The natural answer is "for my family." But for most of history, we didn't live in families. We lived in small communities that gave us our sense of safety and place in the world, so the natural answer would be "for my people." The blessing and the tragedy of modern life is that we don't need our community to survive anymore. When we lose that idea, we lose a sense of who we are.

  Sebastian Junger

  Blessing, People, Safety

  Source: www.oprah.com

• If hardship brought out the worst in people, the human race wouldn't have survived. Right after 9/11, for instance, the murder rate actually went down in New York City. In World War II during the Blitz, the civilians of London were bombed almost every night for six months, but psychiatric admissions declined.

  Sebastian Junger

  War, Night, People

  Source: www.oprah.com

• Often people who live through the trauma are nostalgic when it's over. When I went back to Bosnia 20 years after the brutal civil war, even people who had been badly wounded told me they missed those times. They were missing their more courageous selves.

  Sebastian Junger

  War, People, Missing

  Source: www.oprah.com

• One interesting thing I found was that if you take an affluent modern society and collapse it during a crisis, like a war or a natural disaster, people begin relating in a more ancient, organic way. They're functioning in small interdependent groups and putting others first. And another irony is that even in terrible times, cooperating makes people feel good.

  Sebastian Junger

  War, People, Interesting

  Source: www.oprah.com

• Ironically, though our society of affluence brings safety and stability, it doesn't bring psychological health. As wealth goes up, suicide and depression rates tend to go up. I read one study that compared women in North America with women in Nigeria, and the group with the highest rates of depression was urban North American women, which is the wealthiest. Now, there are obviously huge stresses that come with poverty, but the poorer the society, the more collaborative people have to be.

  Sebastian Junger

  Suicide, Stress, People

  Source: www.oprah.com

• My reporting in Africa wouldn't be political per se, but it's certainly the point of my reporting - and of a lot of other reporters I know: Human suffering is bad, and if reporting stories about it brings it to light and someone does something, that's part of the point of journalism. And it's a thin line between that and activism, and you have to be careful about that.

  Sebastian Junger

  Political, Suffering, Journalism

  "A Few Good Men". Interview With Adam Weinstein, www.motherjones.com. September/October 2010.

• I was surprised how open and unguarded the military was. I expected more scrutiny, more supervision from command.

  Sebastian Junger

  Military, Scrutiny, Supervision

  "Oscar Nominee Sebastian Junger Speaks About His Year in Deadliest Place on Earth". Interview With Joshua Kors, www.huffingtonpost.com. February 18, 2011.

• At 19, your brain hasn't finished wiring itself. So the first time you have a good friend die, most people don't go through that at 19. Soldiers do. They're facing life in this accelerated, compressed form, and a lot of times, they're not ready for it.

  Sebastian Junger

  Good Friend, People, Soldier

  "Oscar Nominee Sebastian Junger Speaks About His Year in Deadliest Place on Earth". Interview With Joshua Kors, www.huffingtonpost.com. February 18, 2011.

• Bad news is dramatic. It makes good TV. If there's a firefight on the same day that a school opens up, the media will show the firefight even though the school is way more important and will affect the community for much longer.

  Sebastian Junger

  School, Media, Community

  "Oscar Nominee Sebastian Junger Speaks About His Year in Deadliest Place on Earth". Interview With Joshua Kors, www.huffingtonpost.com. February 18, 2011.

• People who do really dangerous tasks can't afford to sit around and discuss the merits of what they're doing.

  Sebastian Junger

  People, Tasks, Merit

  "Oscar Nominee Sebastian Junger Speaks About His Year in Deadliest Place on Earth". Interview With Joshua Kors, www.huffingtonpost.com. February 18, 2011.

• Firemen don't talk about whether a burning warehouse is worth saving.

  Sebastian Junger

  Burning, Saving, Fireman

  "Oscar Nominee Sebastian Junger Speaks About His Year in Deadliest Place on Earth". Interview With Joshua Kors, www.huffingtonpost.com. February 18, 2011.

• There's no reason to do anything twice, and certainly no reason to do something that almost killed you.

  Sebastian Junger

  Reason, No Reason

• All journalists hope that their work will inspire a broader conversation. I think that's just what journalism is.

  Sebastian Junger

  Thinking, Inspire, Journalism

  "Director Sebastian Junger Talks RESTREPO Follow-Up KORENGAL, Helping People Understand the Realistic Effects of War, and More". Interview with Sheila Roberts, collider.com. June 14, 2014.

• War affected my family a lot, and I was quite curious about it. I first went off to war in the early 90's as a journalist, partly out of curiosity and partly because I needed a career. War reporting has been very glamorous and exciting, and everything else that young men like.

  Sebastian Junger

  War, Men, Careers

  "Director Sebastian Junger Talks RESTREPO Follow-Up KORENGAL, Helping People Understand the Realistic Effects of War, and More". Interview with Sheila Roberts, collider.com. June 14, 2014.