Quotes from Elmore Leonard

She said, Coming across the yard you had your hat off, but as you reached the door you put it on. I guess I did, didn't I? You were being...I want to say official, and your hat's like a badge of office. You like to set it forward a little, close over your eyes. I've had that hat eight years, Raylan said. I never thought I wore it any special way, I just put it on my head.

What is it with you and Nazis?" "They fun to watch," Ordell said. "Look at the flag they got, with the boogied-up lightning flash on it. You can't tell if it's suppose to be SS or Captain Marvel.

knew where they were and was sure of it even before he

That's right, you got a divorce. You remarried— what about your present husband?" "He died last year." "You go through 'em," Nicolet said. "What kind of work did he do?" "He drank," Jackie said.

That was the essence of the good feeling: to be able to remain calm and relax while he was keyed up and confident. Never panic. Never run. Face whatever had to be faced. Be practical, reasonable, up to a point. And if reason doesn't work, get up and kick it in the teeth. Whatever the problem is.

She liked to argue, especially with people who were serious about weird ideas they swore were true.

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it

The Sierra Madre was like the sea, he thought. Both of them deathless, monotonously eternal, and so indifferent in their magnitude that either could accept the dust of all the world's dead and not have the decency to show it in posture.

What you'll have to do now is ride the rap, as they say. It's all anybody has to do.

If you're going to spend your life standing on principle, you want to be sure everyone understands what the principle is.

know what happens when you play a country tune backwards? You get your girl and your truck back, you're not drunk anymore and your hound dog comes back to life." She

God is God and He lets things happen and that's all there is to it. But He has reasons, and His reasons for something happening would be more important than a man's reason for questioning whatever it might

He did look at his photos and decided he didn't like any of them: all that black and white, all that same old stuff, characters trying to be characters. He said, Are you trying to be a character?

She was beginning to look older to him. The view was the same. It didn't change.

I might ask you, since you seem to be the expert in these matters, when the last time was you shot anybody.' 'Yesterday,' Raylan said.

And there was a stocky black guy named Desmond that Raylan met who went after offenders who missed their court dates.

Jesus," Roland said, not meaning the little Cuban but the other Jesus.

She's a ball buster," Robbie said. "I told her that. I said you don't care what I think. You interview somebody with a name, you just want to cut off his balls, make him look like a wimp. You know what she said? She said, 'I don't have to cut 'em, they come off in my hand.

You know what happens when you play a country tune backwards? You get your girl and your truck back, you're not drunk anymore and your hound dog comes back to life.

The colonel was maybe five seven and would go about a hundred and a half. One thing that could be said in favor of this deal, all the bad guys so far were little fuckers.

Part of Creation. Back at the beginning of time you got your mud people, referred to as beasts 'cause they don't have souls. Okay, Adam jumped Eve and she begat Abel, the beginning of the white race as God intended. But then Satan in the form of a snake jumped Eve. She begat Cain and things got out of hand. Cain began fucking mud people, the women, and out of these fornications came the Edomites. And you know who the Edomites are?" "Tell me." "The Jews.

Here's the deal,' Raylan said. 'I'm giving you twenty-four hours to get out of this county and never come back.' Raylan looked at his watch. 'That means you have until … two-fifteen tomorrow afternoon to clear out. If I see you're still around after that, I won't hesitate to shoot you on sight. You have any questions?

You get out," Foley said, "you're free, they can't deport you?" "Fidel won't take us back." "You glad you came to America?" "I'm grateful for the ways they are to improve myself since I come to La Yuma. I respect how justice wears a blindfold, like a fucking hostage.

THEY WERE QUIET MEN who discussed murder in normal tones.