Quotes from Max Brand

When in doubt, head into the wind.

A slope of buttercups flashed suddenly when the wind struck it and wild morning glory spotted a stretch of daisies with purple and dainty lavender. To be sure, the blossoms never grew thickly enough to make strong dashes of color, but they tinted and stained the hillsides. He began to cross noisy little watercourses, empty most of the year, but now the melting snow fed them. From eddies and quiet pools the bright watercress streamed out into the currents

awakened her.

the stranger met every remark; not a thoughtful pause, but rather as though he wondered if it were worth while to make any answer.

I've come here for the silence," he said. "Silence," repeated

If it doesn't make callouses on a girl's hands it will make them on her heart. I've been waiting all my life for a chance, and the chance has never come." Something flared in her.

if a man ain't got the heart inside, it don't make no difference how big around the chest he measures.

Dan — Whistling Dan," he said, "I'm seeing you a long, long ways off. Partner, I'm done for." The whole body of Dan stiffened. "Done? Tex, you can't be! Five minutes ago you sat at that there table, smilin' an' talkin'!" "It doesn't take five minutes. Half a second can take a man all the way to hell!

I don't know him. I'm done in. I can't come," said Kildare. "Sure, you don't know half the people that come here yammering to see you," said the orderly, "but the word's gone around this precinct that nobody counts except Doctor Kildare.

This is a short cut to knowing one another," he explained. "School and college and medical school first, please. Joiner and Vickery are from Groton and Harvard; I'm only from Andover and Yale, so they won't let me stay in the same room with them; but we can keep the door ajar and get some of the air from the high life, now and then.

Since the days of Bluebeard the Best way of getting a man to do a thing is to tell him not to do it

he had said it in such a manner that they were fairly certain he would never make what he had done a subject of boasting. There

A fitted shoe is a right good shoe," said the old man, enthusiastically. "I'll fit that shoe to the breadth of a hair." "And you'll be all the night about it," declared the son. "Better a late start than a never ending," said the father.

Some damn fools say they ain't a God! Some damn fools! Something for nothing. That's what He gives! Steady

A thing half done is a game not won," said he. "If there's only one window in the house unlocked the devil may fly through it as easy as if the whole place was open.

But then, there's a thing that's harder to watch than a sword or nitroglycerin. It cuts and it tears—a tongue does!

Word's is worse'n bullets. You never know what they'll hit.

It ain't every hand that can move as fast as the eye can jump, and faster. But patience climbs the highest hill and—

It had been very well done, Ronicky decided, Blondy had acquitted himself with just the right edge to his voice. He had not been sickeningly acquiescent. Neither had he been stupidly defiant. But

Don't you aim to work with iron. Aim to work with men. They're what need the bendin'. They're what it pays to shape. Heat 'em and temper 'em. Hammer 'em and form 'em. If you break one of 'em, here and there, it don't make no difference. Throw the pieces outside the shop. Leave

In the Far West there is one thing which is more fabulously valuable then gold, even. And that is a story, whether it be truth or good, true-sounding fiction. Stories

he had avoided the full brunt of danger and still retained his dignity. And

He softened his voice. "Gaspar," he said, "keep your head up. Make up your mind that you'll fight to the last gasp. Why, it makes me plumb sick to see a grown man give up like you do!

I hate your infernal croaking, but, if you're bound to talk, I suppose that I got to listen. Blaze away and finish up.