Quotes from Louis L'Amour

Sometimes I think it is not the money, but the game. It isn't the winning so much as it is to play the cards right.

I mean what I say, Hyatt. That young man is all that stands between us and savagery. He's the thin line of protection, and when he walks out there on the street his life is on the line every minute he wears that badge.

shoulders. Between sips of coffee, he explained what happened. "How are the girls?" Dal

Seems to me folks waste a sight of time crossing bridges before they get to them. They clutter their minds with odds and ends that interfere with clear thinking.

One of the easiest ways to be brave is to have bravery expected of you.

We accepted all people as they were and trusted nobody until they had proved themselves trustworthy.

for what man does not love that which he himself has built?

practically occupied Fortaleza. The planes are flown inland." "To Teresina and his mines and plantations, I'll bet. He has bases there for them." Jim looked around. "What will happen now?

Knowledge is awareness, and to it there are many paths, not all of them paved with logic. But sometimes one is guided through the maze by intuition. One is led by something felt on the wind, something seen in the stars, something that calls from the wastelands to the spirit.

Peaceful change is the healthiest change, but if you will look closely you will see what the so-called revolutionary who deals in violence wants is simply violence. He is unhappy with himself, believes himself incapable of coping with the situation as it is, so tries to disrupt it. He wants violence to relieve his own anger and pent-up hatred.

A lady should be allowed to choose her comp'ny, an' should be treated like a lady until she shows she prefers different.

I have only strength and ingenuity, and neither trade nor land.

We're all responsible," he said presently to Laurie. "Law and order is a job for all of us. If we shirk it long enough we will have anarchy, and all we've built will be destroyed. It is like building a beautiful building and then turning a lot of wild animals into it and letting them go. "This is the old war, the war of civilization against the barbarian; of peacefulness, order, and hard work against the heedless, the cruel, the destructive.

There's two kinds of people in the world, son, those who wish and those who will. The wishers wish to be rich, they wish to be famous, they wish to own a farm or a fine house or whatever. The ones who will, they don't wish, they start out and do it. They become what they want to or get what they want. They will it.

City folks dress a sight different than we-uns and you don't want to shame yourself.

A man can get information and education at any age; you can only get wisdom from experience.

See? I am here. Why? Because I wanted to see, to know, to understand. I wanted to go beyond the Great River. I wanted to go beyond the plains. I want even to go beyond these mountains where we now are. I think I am in this world to find beauty in lonely places. At least, that is what I wish to think.

protect her interests. Of late she had refused to admit there might be occasions when fighting could not be avoided. She had yet to learn that in order to have peace both sides must want it

brow. He was beginning to feel the letdown after an action, and it was too soon.

Sakim had taught me to be wary of evidence given by others, for in all evidence there is some interpretation. The eyes see, the mind explains. But does the mind explain correctly? The mind only has what experience and education have given it, and perhaps that is not enough. Because one has seen does not mean one knows.

What a woman she is! Why, she'd make two of me!

nothing here that

wide-shouldered

He'd better be one who keeps his eyes from the others or she'll have him over her knee.